Court Opinion

ID: 9753796
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:29:50.155552+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:42.402435
License: Public Domain

Grimes, J.,
dissenting: I dissent from that part, of the opinion of the court which holds it to have been error for the Trial Court to submit the issue of the passenger’s contributory negligence to the jury. She was actually looking south prior and during the turn, she had lived in the area of the accident, knew the location of the Cummings’ driveway with respect to the crest of the hill, knew there was a “blind spot,” knew that the driver was going to turn left into a driveway flanked by snowbanks and a stonewall, and knew they would be traveling very slowly across a dangerous area.
It was also findable that the rays of defendant’s lights were in fact visible to one in the-passenger’s position who was looking carefully and that she should have expected that the driver’s attention would be divided between looking south and at the driveway entrance.
In Hoen v. Haines, 85 N. H. 36 the plaintiff was a passenger in the front seat of an automobile which collided with another car proceeding in the opposite direction on a bridge with single line traffic. The question of her contributory negligence was submitted to the jury. A new trial was ordered, not because the issue should not have been submitted but because the Trial Judge *24erred in failing to instruct the jury in part that in determining whether she kept “a reasonable lookout ahead” they should consider among other factors the circumstances that she was a passenger and not the driver, that the precautions.she was bound to take were much less than if she were the driver and that she was not called upon to warn of the approach of danger unless she knew or should have known that the driver was unaware of it. The court said that the standard of duty is the same for passenger and driver but that the conduct required to fulfill that duty is different because the circumstances are different.
In submitting the issue in the case at bar the Trial Judge fully instructed the jury as to those matters which the Trial Judge in Hoen v. Haines had omitted.
Cyr v. Railroad, 88 N. H. 278 held that there was an issue for the jury with respect to the negligence of a passenger at a grade crossing but that the evidence did not require a finding of negligence. In French v. York, 99 N. H. 90 involving an intersection accident it was said not that no watchfulness on the part of the passenger was required but simply that less watchfulness was required of her than of the driver, citing Hoen v. Haines. While it was held that the passenger could not be found negligent as a matter of law the issue was returned for determination as a matter of fact by the jury. Laflamme v. Lewis, 89 N. H. 69 held there was no issue for the jury but the question related to the operation of a windshield wiper and there were no circumstances which would cause a reasonable person to anticipate danger.
Mason v. Andrews, 86 N. H. 277 and LePage v. Theberge, 97 N. H. 375 were both cases where the accident occurred while the passenger, with no reason to expect danger, had turned to do something in the rear of the car. Griswold v. Richards, 105 N. H. 214 involved passengers who had consented to a speed test in one direction. The court held the issue of their contributory negligence on the return trip where the accident happened was a question for the jury.
The cases indicate that factors other than the unsuitableness of a driver may impose upon the passenger a duty to keep a reasonable lookout as for example those encountered in Hoen v. Haines, Cyr v. Railroad and French v. York. There is at least as much reason for care on the part of the passenger in the case at bar. While I agree that lacking knowledge of unsuitableness of *25the driver, and in the absence of any reason to anticipate danger, a passenger may be justified in sleeping, reading or otherwise directing his attention from the road ahead as in Mason and LePage. But when the passenger is in fact observing the road ahead and has reason to anticipate danger as in this case it is in my opinion a jury question under proper instructions whether he exercised due care with respect to lookout and warning.