Court Opinion

ID: 9560816
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:56:42.779828+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:13.928710
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing. SADLER, Justice. Only one claim in the motion for rehearing moves us to say something regarding the motion. Additional allegations or grounds relied upon, in substance, are simply a reargument of claims put forth in the briefs of defendant filed prior to submission. It is asserted, however, that our opinion mistakenly stated the station wagon came to a stop', “19 feet beyond where plaintiff’s body was lying, or a total of 102 feet north of the point where the skid marks made their first impression on the highway,” in employing the underscored portion “or a total of 102 feet” north of where the skid marks began. We must confess it was inaccurate to give the stated distance “102 feet” as the distance north of the point where the skid marks began, or made the first impression on the paving. Counsel for plaintiff so asserted in their brief but we can find no place in the record where that distance was actually given as the measured distance indicated. But as plaintiff’s counsel point out there was confusion in the evidence as to just where the skid marks did begin. Officer White who testified on this point could not, himself, give exact figures on the distance. That it was a greater distance than the 64 feet claimed by defendant’s counsel seems obvious. The 64 feet mentioned failed to take into account the overall length of the car, either before or after the skid. Officer White testified the skid marks started at a point 27 feet plus the length of the vehicle south of the line of intersection and that the station wagon was located 19 feet, 10 inches, from the body of plaintiff; and further that the skid marks started in some area “from the car back.” The officer, himself, could give no exact figures on distances for he said: “Q. In other words, the 64 feet end up here and drop back 64 feet south of that point. Would you indicate there about where they started? A. Well on the drawing they start right about along here, but I just don’t remember where they start, the southern-most portion, place.” So it is there is no specific testimony in the record that the station wagon came to a stop exactly 102 feet north of the point where the skid marks made their first impression on the highway. Nevertheless, in the confused state of the testimony on the issue, the jury very well may have found the distance was more than the 64 feet contended for by defendant, if not only little less than the distance stated in the opinion. We do not feel that the error in this statement in the opinion is of sufficient consequence to change our announced view that whether the plaintiff was guilty of con-tributary negligence was a matter for the jury, and not to be declared as a matter of law. The motion for rehearing will be denied. It Is So Ordered. LUJAN, C. J., and McGHEE and COMPTON, JJ., concur.