Court Opinion

ID: 9753843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:32:35.437849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:43.825662
License: Public Domain

Orth, C. J.,

concurring in part and dissenting in part:

I concur in the action of the majority of the panel in remanding the case for the entry of final judgments in favor of Henry Charles Hensel and Russell William Hensel in accordance with the directed verdicts granted by the trial judge. I agree that Stitzel v. Kurz, 18 Md. App. 525, cert. den. by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, 9 October 1973, permits this course of action. I dissent from the mandate of the majority to the trial judge to strike the judgment and order a new trial as to Russell William Hensel. I would affirm the judgment as to him as well as the judgment as to Henry Charles Hensel.
I do not agree with the opinion of Davidson, J. that Creaser v. Owens, 267 Md. 238 is not controlling. Judge Davidson would carve out an exception to the boulevard rule which, in my opinion, Creaser does not permit. As Powers, J. states in his concurring opinion in this case: “The Court of *562Appeals, in a firm and clear opinion written by Judge Digges, dispelled any lingering thought of an exception to the boulevard rule.”
I do not agree with Judge Powers’s view, however, that under the facts of this case, the boulevard rule is not applicable. The unfavored driver proceeded onto the boulevard and had not entered the flow of favored traffic when the collision occurred. I think the court below was correct in ruling that the unfavored driver was contributorily negligent as a matter of law.
The message of Creaser is that the boulevard rule is not to be eroded. See Tippett v. Quade, 19 Md. App. 49, 59. Both the opinion of Judge Davidson and the opinion of Judge Powers erodes it, although on a different basis of justification. I think both are wrong.