Court Opinion

ID: 9662607
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:14:01.598212+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:41.017764
License: Public Domain

Grant, J.,
dissenting.
I disagree with the court’s holding that the evidence supports the trial court’s finding that plaintiff’s driver was guilty of contributory negligence to a degree sufficient to defeat plaintiff’s recovery. Plaintiff’s vehicle was of a height of 12 feet 11 inches. The statutory height limit for trucks is 14 feet 6 inches, as provided in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 39-6,178(1) (Reissue 1984). While § 39-6,178(2) provides that existing structures need not be changed to permit the passage of vehicles exceeding 12 feet 6 inches in height and that owners of vehicles exceeding 12 feet 6 inches assume the risk of damages resulting from an existing “overhead obstruction,” the trial court properly found a tree limb is not an overhead obstruction as defined in the statute. Employees of the State were aware of the tree limb before the accident and that the limb was a “hazard to traffic.” I believe that, under the facts in this case, a person driving a vehicle of legal height at a place on the highway where he is legally entitled to be is not guilty of contributory negligence in assuming that the roadway provided for passage is free of obstructions (except for the statutory obstructions defined in § 39-6,178(2)) which would cause damage from above to passing vehicles.
White, J., joins in this dissent.