Court Opinion

ID: 9751916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 17:17:49.924763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:01.924029
License: Public Domain

Ryan, J.
(dissenting). I am unable to agree with that portion of the majority opinion wherein the charge of the trial court concerning §§ 14-251 and 14-87 of the General Statutes was approved. While it is true that the plaintiff’s complaint in setting forth the specifications of negligence was unnecessarily prolix, the fundamental claims of negligence are *473quite clear and simple: (1) That the defendant parked his truck on the wrong side of the road facing in the wrong direction in violation of the provisions of § 14-251; (2) that the defendant parked his truck with its lights on, in such a position as to blind the oncoming plaintiff and to make it appear as if he was operating in the wrong lane; and (3) in that he created a hazardous condition on the highway. These specifications of negligence embrace not only the claim that the defendant violated the provisions of § 14-251, hut claims of common-law negligence as well.
The charge of the court must he tested by the claims of proof in the finding. Berniere v. Kripps, 157 Conn. 356, 358, 254 A.2d 496. The plaintiff made the following claims of proof: The defendant’s milk truck was stopped, unoccupied, with the motor turned off, on the wrong side of the road with its headlights on and directed at vehicles approaching in the southbound lane. The defendant admitted that it was dangerous to leave his vehicle standing in this manner, that certain drivers would be confused by the headlights and the position of Ms vehicle, and that he had created a dangerous situation.
The court charged the jury as follows: “In view of the judicial admission made by the defendant during the course of the trial, you are obliged to find in this case that the defendant did in fact violate the parking statute which I have been discussing, and that such violation constitutes negligence in and of itself on the part of the defendant. In connection with the admission that the defendant parked his vehicle with the lights on, I now call to your attention § 14-87 entitled ‘Lights On Standing Motor Vehicles,’ the pertinent portion of which reads as follows: Each motor vehicle when standing upon a *474public highway during the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, shall show at least one light in front, such light to be on the side nearest the center of the road. . . . In applying this statute, you will remember that the parties entered into a stipulation to the effect that the accident in question occurred at 6:00 A.M. and that sunrise on the day of this collision occurred at 7:03 A.M., therefore, the provisions of the statute are applicable to the case at bar, providing you also find that the vehicle of the defendant was standing upon a public highway. If so, then under this statute the defendant was obliged to display at least one light in the front of the vehicle closest to the center of the road.” The plaintiff excepted to the charge on the grounds that § 14-87 applies to parking lights and not to the high beam or regular beam of the headlights, and that where a defendant admits that he is violating a statute he cannot clothe himself with the shield of another statute. It is noteworthy that the complaint did not allege a violation of § 14-87.
The instructions of the trial court left the impression with the jury that the defendant, by displaying one light in the front of his vehicle on the side nearest the center of the road, was in conformance with the statute, thus ignoring the fact that if the defendant was parked in accordance with the provisions of § 14-251 there would be a red taillight instead of two headlights facing the plaintiff. The presumption is that the legislature enacted what is now § 14-251 (Rev. to 1966) in view of the then existing relevant statute, which is now § 14-87 (Rev. to 1966) to be read with § 14-87 so as to make one consistent body of law. The General Assembly is always presumed to know all the existing statutes and the effect that *475its action or nonaction will have on any one of them. It is always presumed to have intended that effect which its action or nonaction produces. Knoll v. Kelley, 142 Conn. 592, 595, 115 A.2d 678; Hartley v. Vitiello, 113 Conn. 74, 82, 154 A. 255. Sections 14-251 and 14-87 must be read together. The intent of the General Assembly in passing § 14-251, as expressed by it, is the controlling factor, and in ascertaining this, “the application of common sense to the language is not to be excluded.” Knoll v. Kelley, supra, 596; State v. Bello, 133 Conn. 600, 604, 53 A.2d 381. While parking on the highway without lights is a violation of § 14-87, it does not follow that the statute authorizes the parking of a vehicle on a highway without other precautions than those expressly required by § 14-87. See Caviote v. Shea, 116 Conn. 569, 574, 165 A. 788; Pratt, Read & Co. v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 102 Conn. 735, 745, 130 A. 102.
The trial court should have realized that the two statutes, A 14-251 and 14-87, must be read together and should have instructed the jury that § 14-87 did not require or authorize the defendant to have his headlights turned on under the conditions then existing. It should have informed the jury that the defendant could have minimized the danger by using his parking lights. Furthermore, the trial court ignored the plaintiff’s allegations of common-law negligence. On the plaintiff’s claims of proof it was a question of fact for the jury to determine whether the defendant was negligent in parking on the wrong side of the road with his headlights turned on facing oncoming traffic under the circumstances then existing. The court’s instructions as to § 14-87 were erroneous.
The case should be remanded for a new trial.
In this opinion Thim, J., concurred.