Court Opinion

ID: 9630185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:04:22.11367+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:33.338553
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Me. Justice Bell:
“ ‘In considering a motion for judgment n.o.v. it is hornbook law that the verdict winner must be given the benefit of the evidence which is most favorable to *334him (her or it), together with all reasonable inferences therefrom: Bream v. Berger, 388 Pa. 433, 130 A. 2d 708.’: Farmers’ Northern Market Co. v. Gallagher, 392 Pa. 221, 139 A. 2d 908.”: Shaffer v. Baylor’s Lake Association, Inc., 392 Pa. 493, 494, 141 A. 2d 583.
My understanding of the facts is different from that which is set forth in the majority opinion. When plaintiff’s automobile stalled for the first time, the trolley car was. about 450 feet away. Plaintiff was in the right-hand lane of Rising Sun Avenue, a two-way street, which has northbound and southbound trolley tracks in the center. When plaintiff succeeded in getting his sputtering automobile restarted and came to the sharp bend of the street, he drove his automobile in the most negligent imaginable way from his safe right-hand lane across the northbound trolley tracks into the center strip which. separates the northbound and southbound trolley tracks, when the approaching trolley car, coming down the hill, was 20 to 50 feet away. Plaintiff’s car did not “drift” into the- trolley as the majority opinion inadvertently asserts.
Plaintiff testified as follows: “By the Court: Q. The question is a simple one. Did you have your hand oh the steering wheel as you were moving? A. Yes. Q. It can spurt and you can still drive'your' car? A. Yes. By Mr. Smolens:' Q. As you moved that 10 feet or whatever it was, you were guiding your car? A. YeS. Q. You guided it eventually until you came into contact with the southbound trolley car? A. Yes.”
This was clearly gross contributory negligence for which a judgment non obstante veredicto should be entered.
Mr. Justice Benjamin R. Jones joins in this dissenting opinion.