Court Opinion

ID: 9624132
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:51:58.077275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:39.623703
License: Public Domain

WOOD, J., Dissenting.
I dissent. Since the appeal is from a judgment following a directed verdict the evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to plaintiff. The houses in which the plaintiff and the defendant lived were four-family flat buildings approximately ten feet apart. A concrete pavement covered the ground on all of the space between the buildings, which was divided into four sections each thirty inches in width. The northerly three sections were used by defendant as a driveway and the southerly section, belonging to the property where plaintiff lived, was used as a pedestrian passageway. The pavement was practically level from the northerly to the southerly edge. Although defendant knew that “lots of children” were accustomed to play on the lawns in front of the premises, he did not sound his horn as he drove his ear along the driveway. Several witnesses testified that they arrived immediately after the accident and found defendant’s car on the pedestrian passageway, one of them stating that it “was very close to the house” where plaintiff lived.
If reasonable minds might draw different conclusions on the question of the alleged negligence of the parties the issues should be left to the determination of the jury. (Wise v. Scott, 114 Cal. App. 702 [300 Pac. 883].) Although there is no direct statutory requirement that automobile horns must be sounded in private driveways, it is nevertheless the duty of the driver of an automobile, wheresoever he may be driving, to sound his horn in circumstances which would require a reasonably prudent person to sound a warning of his approach. (Moss v. Stubbs, 111 Cal. App. 359, 368 [295 Pac. *764572, 296 Pac. 86].) In my opinion a finding by a jury that defendant was negligent in failing to sound his horn and in driving upon the pedestrian passageway could not be held to be so unreasonable as to require that a verdict based upon such finding be set aside.
A petition for a rehearing was denied April 21, 1941. Wood, J., voted for a rehearing.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied May 26, 1941.