Court Opinion

ID: 9850370
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:56:14.301305+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:35.967104
License: Public Domain

Feuton, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
If I did not actually know, I would hardly believe that the arguments and citations of law in the majority opinion relate to this case. The fallacy in the majority opinion is the failure to appreciate the significance of the defendant’s solemn sworn statement that she “did not anticipate him to do anything but stand there at the curb,” which means that she did not anticipate that he would dart or get out suddenly in front of her. Thus, it seems to me the majority is deciding a “sudden unforeseeable appearance” case—not the one we are actually deciding. The sudden appearance doctrine arises from a situation in which a sudden appearance could not be anticipated before the motorist becomes aware of the child or person injured and then the question is: could the driver have avoided the injuries by ordinary care after the person injured is discovered? Kennedy v. Banks, 117 Ga. App. 197, 199 (160 SE2d 208), ruled that a child of tender years could not be presumed to continue in a place of safety in such a situation as *14we have in this case. This ruling simply means that the appellee should have anticipated that the child would run or walk suddenly in front of her automobile. The appellee supplied the first ingredient of her negligence, the failure to anticipate the action of the child, and the uncontradicted facts of her not slowing down more and her not doing anything to protect the child in the face of a fact which she should have anticipated supply the second ingredient of her negligence. I do not see how any ordinarily prudent person could conclude that if the appellee had made the correct assumption that the child might get suddenly out in front of her she could have avoided the collision by the exercise of ordinary care. The facts are undisputed and to me a ruling that the jury could have found either way means that the next time this question comes up a contrary finding may be approved. What kind of justice is that? I do not believe that any case cited is inconsistent with this conclusion. I am of the opinion that Richardson v. Barrett, 90 Ga. App. 714 (84 SE2d 120) and Russell v. Corley, 212 Ga. 121 (91 SE2d 124) should be overruled. The Richardson case closely resembles this one. The ruling in the Russell case gives a jury a right to say that an adult motorist has the right of way over a child of tender years in such a case as this. This point was not made in this case evidently due to the Russell decision. The evidence demanded a finding of negligence against the defendant. This conclusion covers the issues of the charges on accident and sudden emergency. The appellee cannot have protection against an emergency which she created.
“The amount of caution 'demanded of a person by an occasion is the resultant of three factors: the likelihood that his conduct will injure others, taken with the seriousness of the injury if it happens, and balanced against the interest which he must sacrifice to avoid the risk.’ ” Harper & James, The Law of Torts, Yol. 2, p. 929, § 16.9, quoting Judge Hand in Conway v. O’Brien, 111 F2d 611, 612 (2d Cir. 1940).
“Generally it is for a jury to say what the reasonable man would foresee. . . Here as elsewhere in the law, however, courts have put outer limitations on the jury’s sphere and have themselves struck the balance among the variable factors we *15have been discussing by the adoption of some more or less crystallized rules. . . The question of what risks a reasonable man would foresee is also generally left to the jury subject to the usual limitation that the jury will not be allowed to make an altogether irrational judgment on the matter. . . [T]he exercise of due care in an emergency will not insulate an actor from liability for the consequences of the negligence that helped to bring the emergency about. Thus even though a motorist driving at excessive speed does everything that could be done to avoid striking the child who darts out into his path, these precautions taken in the emergency (while constituting due care) will not excuse the driver from liability for the excessive speed.
“Another thing should be noted here. Failure to make some provision for possible emergencies may constitute negligence. In many activities the occurrence of certain types of emergencies is likely enough to call for reasonable steps to meet them.” Harper & James, The Law of Torts, Yol. 2, pp. 936, 938, §§ 16.10, 16.11. (Emphases supplied.)
“The case where the conduct of the other person (i. e., other than the actor whose conduct is being judged) is itself that of a normal, reasonably prudent adult, gives no trouble at all. Such conduct the actor is bound to take into account if under the circumstances of the case it is reasonably foreseeable. . . The obligation to regulate one’s conduct with a view to other people’s disabilities and their sub-standard conduct should stand no differently. People generally do take extra precautions when they drive past a crowd of young children playing by the roadside. . . There are several types of situations where this notion has been applied. . . (1) Where something specific about the situation gives notice of the likelihood of the other person’s disability or his substandard conduct. . . (2) Where the actor’s conduct ... is likely to affect an indeterminate number of people, among whom there will in all probability be some children. . . (3) Where something specific about the situation gives notice of the likelihood of the other person’s probable negligence or crime.” Harper & James, The Law of Torts, Vol. 2, p. 940, § 16.12. (First and third emphases supplied.)
*16“If the rule against excessive speed be viewed as simply designed to prevent automobile accidents or the striking of pedestrians, collision will be seen to have arisen out of the breach of duty if a reasonable speed would not have brought the car to the point of collision when the child was there. Yet if the child darted out from behind a tree on a lonely road immediately in front of defendant’s automobile so that the accident would have been unavoidable then even if defendant had been proceeding at a reasonable rate, most courts will not hold him. The hazards peculiar to speed are those involved in diminished control of the vehicle. . . While it is negligent to speed on an ordinary highway because of the risk of bringing about injury through diminished control, it might be negligent to drive a car in some places crowded with pedestrians at any speed or under any practicable degree of control because of the likelihood of striking someone in any manner at all.” Harper & James, The Law of Torts, Vol. 2, p. 1148, § 2Q.5.