Court Opinion

ID: 9794514
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:07:14.867502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:17:02.289941
License: Public Domain

O’CONNELL, J.,
dissenting.
In Henthorne v. Hopwood et al, 218 Or 336, 338 P2d 373, 345 P2d 249 (1959), I criticized the doctrine that the violation of a statute or ordinance is negligence per se 'but I expressed the view that the doctrine should not be discarded because it was firmly established in this state. Upon further reflection I now believe that the doctrine should be abolished.
As I said in the Henthorne case, “it seems little more than a fiction to assume that in the enactment of traffic laws the legislature or a city council intended to prescribe the scope of relief available to persons seeking compensation for injuries in automobile cases.”① (218 Or at 341).
*495It may be conceded that traffic laws represent a legislative declaration of the standard of conduct which a person must meet in using the public highways. However, the standard is meant to be applied in determining whether there has been a violation of the statute warranting the imposition of a criminal penalty; the same standard is not necessarily applicable in determining the rights of a plaintiff in a personal injury case. The legislature may feel that the imposition of strict liability for the violation of the statute is necessary for the effective enforcement of the law. It does not follow that the legislature regarded the same standard as necessary in determining the rights and liabilities of the parties to personal injury litigation.
In Nettleton v. James, 212 Or 375, 319 P2d 879 (1957) it was assumed that the legislative standard necessarily becomes the judicial standard. It was further assumed that the violation of the statute requiring the maintenance of effective brakes gives rise to strict liability. That was clearly erroneous and I agree that Nettleton should be overruled.
The majority appears to give special effect to the statutory standard in another way which I think is also objectionable. The majority holds in effect that the *496violation of a traffic statute creates a presumption of negligence. The majority fails to explain why the violation of a standard set by the legislature should have any different procedural effect (i.e., as to when a case can be submitted to the jury or when submitted, why the fact that a statute was violated should be of evidentiary value) than a violation of a standard set by the court.
The evidence of a party’s fault may be so clear that the court is compelled to find negligence as a matter of law. That conclusion may be reached whether the standard against which the party’s conduct is judged has been set by the court or the legislature. In stating that a violation of the statute creates prima facie negligence the majority opinion leaves the impression that violation of the same standard, if it were established by the court rather than by the legislature, would not create prima facie negligence. I contend that the violation of a standard operates in precisely the same way whether the standard was originally created by 'the court or the legislature. If this is so, there is no reason for us to speak of the violation of a statutory standard as having any special procedural operation and we should, therefore, dispense with statements that the violation of a statute is negligence per se or prima facie negligence or endowed with any other special effect.
The fact that a statute penalizes a person for engaging in a certain type of conduct may be considered by the court in establishing a tort standard. The case of a pedestrian walking on the shoulder of a highway with his back to oncoming traffic is illustrative. In the absence of a statute, a court might refuse to declare this conduct negligent as a matter of law without proof of a failure to exercise care in *497some other respect. Yet if a traffic statute penalized such conduct a court might reach a different conclusion because the legislature regarded the conduct as dangerous. Absent the applicability of the last clear chance doctrine, or evidence sufficient to indicate that the conduct did not cause the injury, or some other reason for leaving the question to the jury, a court might conclude that the pedestrian was contributorily negligent as a matter of law.
Even if the court does fix the standard differently because of the legislative proscription, the fact remains that the court establishes the standard and having done so the statute is no longer of any significance in deciding whether the case should be submitted to the jury.
When we say that the violation of a statute is negligence per se we are merely saying that the violation of the statutory standard is negligence. This is obviously true. If we know the standard and it is assumed that there is a violation, then certainly there must be negligence because by definition negligence is the failure to meet a standard of conduct. It is just as illuminating to say that the violation of a standard fixed by the court is negligence per se. If we assume a violation of the appropriate standard, then it is clear that the court must take the negligence issue from the jury.
The view taken by the majority probably results from a failure to identify the standard it purports to apply. The statement that the violation of a statute is negligence per se must be intended to mean that the violation of the standard set by the legislature is negligence per se. What is this standard? In the case of a statute making it unlawful to drive with defective brakes, is the statute violated within the meaning of *498tort law merely because the defendant drives with defective brakes, irrespective of his freedom from fault? Or is he liable unless he can show that it was impossible to comply with the statute? Or is the standard violated only if the defendant drives with defective brakes under circumstances where he is at fault?
Note that the majority opinion rejects the standard of strict liability once set by this court in the Nettleton case. In so doing, the court has elected to change the standard to something less than strict liability. It must appear obvious that the court, not the legislature, is deciding what the standard is. Why, then,' mention the statute at all? It does not help to explain where the standard should be set.
But even more disconcerting is the fact that the opinion does not explain to the trial bench and bar what is meant by this new standard. Defendant must prove that “his noncompliance was caused by circumstances beyond his control and that it was impossible, regardless of his degree of care, for him to comply with the statute.” What is meant by “noncompliance * * * caused by circumstances beyond his control” ?
I take this language to mean that defendant must show affirmatively that the brake failure was beyond his control. If he shows this, then he has shown that it was impossible for him to comply with the statute. Under this test, would defendant lose in the present ease if he were not negligent in driving over the ditch? Would defendant’s “noncompliance” then be “caused by circumstances beyond his control”? Would the test apply if a defendant showed that immediately prior to the accident his brakes had been tested and were found to be in good working order and he had no reason to believe that his brakes would fail?
*499The defendant should not he liable for injury-resulting from the failure of brakes on his car unless the circumstances are such that a reasonable man would have reason to believe that the brakes might not function when needed. The majority has created a more stringent standard which approaches the strict liability of the Nettleton case but yet is somewhere in the area of negligence. There is no explanation as to how the standard can be applied and, what I regard as more objectionable, no reason is given why the standard is set at a level higher than that which obtains when no statute is involved.
The real difficulty facing the courts is that of determining whether the evidence relating to the violation of the standard should be submitted to the jury. This difficulty is the same whether the case involves the alleged violation of a statutory standard or a court-made standard. No problem is presented where there is evidence from which the jury could properly conclude that the standard was not violated. For example, where it is alleged that defendant failed to stop at a stop signal, usually there is an issue as to whether he did or not. If it is conceded or if the evidence clearly shows that he did not stop, the question of negligence is resolved and the case can be submitted to the jury only on a question of causation or last clear chance or justifiable violation or other defense. If there is no such defense, then the verdict must be directed.
I can make my point clearer by comparing the present case with the recent case of Simpson v. The Gray Line Co., 226 Or 71, 358 P2d 516 (1961). In the latter case plaintiff, a passenger on a chartered bus, was injured when a tire blew out and the bus overturned. Plaintiff contended that the doctrine of *500res ipsa loquitur applied aud that it created a presumption of negligence. We held that res ipsa applied but that it did not create a presumption of negligence. There is no statute requiring vehicular tires to be fit tires. We held, however, that “there is a duty upon a carrier to furnish tires that are fit for the intended use.” (226 Or at 74). Thus we set up a standard of conduct. We let the jury decide whether the standard was violated. If, at the time the Simpson case was decided, there had been a statute imposing a penalty for the failure to maintain adequate tires, would the problem be any different? Would the majority then say “the violation of the statute is prima facie negligence and thus creates a presumption of negligence”?
As I have previously stated, there is no reason why the violation of a statutory standard should be treated differently from a court-made standard. In each case the court must decide whether there is evidence to go to the jury on the issues presented. The decisional process is exactly the same in both situations.
In the present case the majority appears to have said that a violation of a statute requiring brakes is is prima facie evidence of negligence. There is as much reason for saying that the violation of the standard created by the court for the maintenance of adequate tires is prima facie evidence of negligence.
Whatever standard is adopted, the court will have to examine the evidence to determine if there is negligence as a matter of law. Some standards are more sharply delineated than others and when they are it is easier for the court to say as a matter of law that the standard has been violated. I suspect that it is in such cases that we most often describe the court’s function in passing upon the sufficiency of *501the evidence in terms of a presumption arising out of the violation of a statute. Thus we are more likely to say that the failure to maintain adequate brakes is presumptive negligence than to say that following another car too closely is presumptive negligence because the former appears to prescribe a more definite standard than the latter.
Where a statute provides a penalty for failure to walk facing oncoming traffic and it is conclusively established that the plaintiff walked with his back to the oncoming traffic, the avenues left open for plaintiff to show that his conduct was not a substantial factor in producing the injury are limited. But simply because the evidentiary scales weigh heavily against him, we should not translate this into a presumption because of the violation of a statute; it is enough to say that he cannot get to the jury because there is insufficient evidence to suport a verdict in his favor. If we wish to regard certain conduct (such as walking ■with one’s back to oncoming traffic) as creating a presumption of negligence, we should not express the idea in terms of the violation of a statute but in terms of the conduct which will give rise to the presumption. Thus we could say that if the evidence conclusively establishes the fact that the plaintiff walked with his back to the oncoming traffic there is a presumption of negligence which would entitle the defendant to a directed verdict unless there is evidence showing that the plaintiff’s conduct was not a substantial factor in producing his injury or some other defense could be based upon the evidence. My point is that whether or not we recognize presumptions in such cases, we should apply the same rule whether the case involves the violation of a traffic statute or the failure to meet a non-statutory standard set by the court.
*502And so with the present ease—nothing is added by speaking of the violation of the statute as creating prima facie negligence. The inquiry in this case should be whether there is evidence from which the jury could decide that the brake failure was the result of defendant’s fault or some unforeseeable cause. I believe that there was evidence from which the jury could conclude that defendant’s brakes failed as a result of factors over which defendant had no control and with respect to which he was not at fault. I would add that because the majority holds, in effect, that violation of a statute gives rise to a presumption of negligence, the jury must be instructed on the presumption and the basis upon which it rests. See U. S. National Bank v. Lloyd’s, 239 Or 298, 396 P2d 765, 775 (1964).
The judgment should be reversed and the cause should be remanded for a new trial.

 The idea has been expressed elsewhere:
“There has been much discussion of the theoretical problem of why the violation of a purely criminal statute which says nothing about tort liability should ever give rise to it. The reason usually given by the courts is that the legislature intended to provide such liability, or that such an intent is to be ‘presumed.’ Ordinarily this is the barest fiction, since the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the silence of the statute as to any civil remedy is that the legislators intended not to provide it, or at least that they did not have the question in mind and had no intention at all. Anyone who has met with legislative committees or has had any experience in drafting statutes will have a strong suspicion that the latter is the truth.” Prosser, Contributory *495Negligence as Defense to Violation of Statute, 32 Minn L Rev 105, 107 (1948).
“* * * [P]urely criminal statutes are not an exercise of the legislature’s power to control damage suit litigation.
“* * * The legislature has not determined the wisdom of using criminal proscriptions as a measure or limit of responsibility to respond in damages.” Morris, the Role of Criminal Statutes in Negligence Actions, 49 Colum L Rev 21, 46, 48 (1949).
See also Lowndes, Civil Liability Created by Criminal Legislation, 16 Minn L Rev 361 (1931); 2 Harper & James, Torts § 17.6 (1956).