Court Opinion

ID: 9807572
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:10:03.228304+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:45:36.556936
License: Public Domain

ClaRksoN, J.,
dissenting; The following rule in Hall v. Rinehart, 192 N. C., at p. 708, has often been approved by this Court: “In Hud*167son v. R. R., 176 N. C., 492, Allen, J., says: ‘In support of tbe first two propositions tbe defendant relies on tbe definition of proximate cause, in Ramsbottom v. R. R., 138 N. C., 41, approved in Bowers v. R. R., 144 N. C., 686, and in Chancey v. R. R., 174 N. C., 351, as “A cause tbat produces tbe result in continuous sequence, and without which it would not have occurred, and one from which any man of ordinary prudence could have foreseen that such a result was probable under all the facts as they existed,” to which we adhere, with the modification contained in Drum v. Miller, 135 N. C., 204, and many other cases, that it is not required that the particular injury should be foreseen, and is sufficient if it could be reasonably anticipated that injury or harm might follow the wrongful act.’ ”
Defendant undertook to get his automobile out of the garage. He got it out in the snow. Plaintiff was in the yard, seeing how it was going to be done. Snow was on the ground 10 or 12 inches deep and the wheels would not catch, but kept spinning. It is a matter of common knowledge that frequently in snow or soft dirt the wheels of an automobile without chains do not move forward but spin, and when the power is put on the wheels when spinning throw dirt and debris in'the air and in the rear of the car. This was known to defendant, or in the use of due or ordinary care ought to have been known. Defendant, to try to get the rear wheels to catch on something and stop the spinning, put two boards in front of the two rear wheels. Frequently chains .and brush are used. After putting the boards or plank on the slick ground for the wheels to catch on, defendant put on “all power,” the rear wheels caught on the planks, one about 4 feet long, 8 inches wide and %-inch thick, was thrown backward on plaintiff. When the rear wheel ran over the plank, the plaintiff was some 10 or 15 feet distant, standing -to the left side of the car, the plank struck her on the right leg and breaking it about 8 or 9 inches up. Anybody who has been in such a plight and had experience in running an automobile could reasonably' anticipate that wrong and harm might follow if any one was in the rear or near the rear from such a situation and when the driver of the automobile put on “all power,” as the evidence disclosed in the present case. When the “all power” was put on by the driver of the car he gave no warning to the plaintiff standing at the left side of the car in the rear.
The questions of negligence'and contributory negligence were questions of due care or the care that a prudent man would exercise under all the circumstances, and this is for the jury to determine'. The judge below left it to the jury, they decided that the defendant was negligent and the plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence. No doubt the jury had experience in such matters and I think it was for them to decide and not the court.
*168Negligence has been defined in numerous ways:. The omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do. It must be determined in all cases by reference to the situation and knowledge of the parties and all the attendant circumstances. It is conceded by all the authorities that the standard by which to determine whether a person has been guilty of negligence is the conduct of the prudent or careful or diligent man.