Court Opinion

ID: 9453733
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:22:04.975661+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:46.771338
License: Public Domain

COMBS, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the result for reasons other than those stated in the majority opinion. The District Court’s statement in regard to burden of proof doesn’t give me any great concern. There being a counterclaim here and the District Court having found, after full hearing, that both parties were negligent, it seems to me that the academic question of who had the burden of proof becomes relatively unimportant.
I am of the opinion, however, that the District Court in weighing the evidence placed on plaintiff Mitchell too high a standard of care and on Wright, the driver of the Government’s vehicle, too low a standard. Mitchell testified that he had observed through his rear view mirror that the Government vehicle was behind him in the right traffic lane. *652He testified that five hundred to six hundred feet from the turnoff he turned on his mechanical signal for a left turn, and that he gave a hand signal for a left turn three hundred feet from the turnoff. He also testified that he had no warning that Wright wanted to pass. Wright admits that he did not sound his horn before attempting to pass. He therefore was in violation of K.R.S. 189.340 which makes it mandatory that the overtaking vehicle give an audible signal. Wright testified that he did not see Mitchell signal for a left turn and, if the District Court had held that Mitchell failed to give a proper signal, I would vote to affirm the judgment. But, he did not make such a finding. As I read his remarks from the bench, he held that Mitchell was negligent for failure to anticipate that the Government car might overtake him and attempt to pass. For instance, he stated that since Mitchell had observed the car behind him “that relieves Mr. Wright of giving any warning.” This I think was error.
Mitchell was driving his pick-up truck at a reasonable rate of speed on a straight stretch of road in broad daylight. Even though he had observed the Government car behind him, he had the right to expect that this car would not attempt to pass without the driver giving warning of his intention. In the absence of such a warning and assuming— as the District Court apparently did —that Mitchell gave the proper left turn signals then, I think he did all that the law required of him. It is true that K. R.S. 189.350 requires the operator of a vehicle about to be overtaken and passed to give way to the right in favor of the overtaking vehicle, but this statutory duty is invoked by “audible signal being given by the overtaking vehicle.” It is not required that a motorist keep a continuous lookout for vehicles behind him. He must use reasonable care in this respect, of course, but he must also keep a lookout ahead. Obviously it would be a physical impossibility for a driver to keep a continuous lookout through his rear view mirror for vehicles behind him and at the same time keep a lookout ahead.
The point I make is that under the circumstances here shown, and again assuming that Mitchell gave the proper left turn signals whereas Wright attempted to pass without giving an audible signal, the judgment should have gone for Mitchell. I think Collett v. Taylor, Ky., 383 S.W.2d 692 (1964) is more applicable to this case than are the cases cited by the District Court.
I realize that the District Court’s finding of negligence by Mitchell is based on the reasoning that, since the right front fender of the Government car struck the left front fender of the Mitchell vehicle, Wright must have been immediately behind Mitchell, or even in the act of passing, when Mitchell made his turn. I do not think the case can be decided on this point. It seems to me the place of collision between the two vehicles and the point of impact would be determined by the relative rates of speed of the vehicles immediately before the collision. This we do not know with mathematical certainty.