Court Opinion

ID: 9536299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:57:18.181968+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:32:11.079642
License: Public Domain

CROCKETT, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent based on these propositions :
(1) As I view this record there is a reasonable basis in the. evidence to justify the trial court in submitting the issues to the jury, as he did; (2) therefore to justify the jury in finding the issues for the plaintiff, as it did; (3) that in my opinion the reversal of the judgment is an unwarranted intrusion into the prerogatives of the jury and of the trial court; and (4) that it deprives the plaintiffs of their right of trial by jury and unjustly takes from them a judgment which in all fairness they are entitled to.1
It is true that in this situation where everybody in both cars were killed and there were no eyewitnesses to the accident there are difficulties in ascertaining the facts. Nevertheless, where the results are so tragic and have such a serious impact on the lives of survivors, one should not simply give up in frustration, but earnest efforts should be made, as has been done here, to use such evidence as is available to determine what happened.
In preface to reviewing the facts, it seems necessary to again reiterate basic rules of review: the reviewing court should assume that the jury believed those aspects of the evidence and drew such reasonable inferences therefrom as will support their verdict; and on the other hand should not select particular aspects of the evidence which would disagree with the jury verdict, and base a decision thereon. Looked at in that light, the physical evidence and the testimony of the officers provide a reasonable basis from which the jury could have viewed the facts as I discuss them below.
It seems to be assumed that because both cars came to rest on the east side of the highway after the collision that it was the DeMille Chevrolet (plaintiff) going south which was on its wrong (east) side and there can be no recovery on behalf of its driver, the husband. But if he was negligent, that would not be imputed to his wife *285as a passenger. If her death resulted from the concurrent negligence of her husband and of the driver of the Volkswagen (Spendlove), her children should be able to recover from the latteri Therefore the critical question here is whether there is any substantial evidence to support the verdict of the jury finding negligence on the part of Spendlove. This resolves itself into the question: was there evidence that he encroached on or over the center line onto his wrong (west) side of the highway?
From the best analysis I can make of the testimony and the physical evidence as indicated in the pictures which show the cars in the positions they came to rest, and the markings on highway, it is my judgment that there is not only substantial, but ample, basis in the evidence to justify the

jury in believing that the Volkswagen was over the center line and on its wrong (west) side of the highway. This is clearly to be seen in the accompanying picture and the testimony referring to the points marked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 thereon.
The picture is looking south. The Volkswagen, overall width 60 inches, was traveling north. The point marked No. 6 is described as a gouge mark. Officer Reid stated it was made at the point of “maximum impact” between the vehicles by the *286undercarriage, or frame of the Volkswagen. It is adjacent to and runs into the center line. If it was made by the undercarriage of the Volkswagen, which is not only the officer’s testimony, but seems to be the most reasonable deduction, then the left front wheel and fender of the Volkswagen would be further west, thus extending to a foot or more over the center line. This is firmly corroborated by the point marked No. 2. It is a tire scruff mark beginning one foot five inches west of the center line and running southeasterly across the highway to where the Volkswagen left it. Officer Burch explained that it was made by the tire of the Volkswagen, and being pressed as to his certainty about the matter stated:
Q Was there any question in your mind as to the vehicle that made that mark ?
A No.
Q Nothing was left to your opinion or conjecture?
A No.
The third significant physical mark on the highway in the collision area, indicated as No. 1, is also consistent with the conclusion I have stated above, though admittedly giving a slightly different measurement. The testimony is that it was a tire scruff mark, made by the right front wheel of the Volkswagen; and that from the middle of it westward to the center line is 49 inches. If it be assumed that the wheel was approximately in the center of the scruff mark at the time of impact, that would still put the Volkswagen (60 inches wide) several inches over the center line.
I am appreciative of the fact that other views may be taken of the evidence. But I cannot see how the foregoing facts can be ignored, nor how the proposition can be gainsaid that they provide a reasonable basis upon which the jury could have believed, as it apparently did, that the Volkswagen was over the center line and thus at least concurrently at fault in causing the collision.
In regard to the instructions: They told the jury the duties imposed by law: of keeping a lookout ahead, of keeping car under control, and of keeping on the right side of the highway, which if found to be violated, and proximately causative, would be a ground for recovery. This impresses me as having been carefully fashioned upon the evidence and reasonable inferences that might be drawn therefrom and as properly and correctly presenting the plaintiff’s theory of the case. And in any event, if there were such error, it would only justify remanding for a new trial.
*287Much has been written and could be as to the importance of the right of trial by jury and of the desirability of courts respecting and safeguarding it as one of the fundamental rights. A good example is the statement made thereon by Justice Murphy in Jacob v. City of New York:2
The right of jury trial in civil cases at common law is a basic and fundamental feature of our system of federal jurisprudence which is protected by the Seventh Amendment. A right so fundamental and sacred to the citizen, whether guaranteed by the Constitution or provided by statute, should be jealously guarded by the courts.
This is equally true in our state courts and under our state constitution.3
The true test of respecting and safeguarding this so often praised right is not in doing so when the courts agree with the jury verdict, but when they do not. If the jury verdict is set aside whenever the court does not agree with it, then the jury trial is but a delusion, a false promise of justice, which is snatched away when justice requires fulfillment of the promise.
Based on what I have said herein I am impelled to reiterate: that in my judgment this reversal deprives the plaintiffs of their right of trial by jury and unjustly takes from them a verdict which in all fairness they are entitled to. I would sustain the jury verdict and the judgment of the trial court.

. As to Right to Trial by Jury see: Gibbs et al. v. Blue Cab Inc., 122 Utah 312, 249 P.2d 213; Newton v. Oregon Short Line R. Co., 43 Utah 219, 134 P. 567, 570; Stickle v. Union Pac. R. Co., 122 Utah 477, 251 P.2d 867; Right to Civil Jury Trial in Utah, 8 Utah Law Review (1962 Winter).

. 315 U.S. 752, 753, 62 S.Ct. 854, 86 L.Ed. 1166 (1942).

. See footnote 1 above.