Court Opinion

ID: 9607156
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:55:53.193778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:37.326332
License: Public Domain

BOOCHEVER, Justice
(dissenting).
Sibert was parked at a drive-in window of a bank, a place where he should have anticipated that another car was likely to park behind him. Viewing the evidence in the strongest light in his favor, Mrs. Wilson parked approximately four or five feet behind his vehicle. When he noticed the car in front of him start to back up, he immediately backed up, without looking in his rear view window or sounding his horn. The horn might have served to stop the car in front of him from backing further. Looking in the rear view mirror would have revealed Mrs. Wilson’s vehicle resulting in probable prevention of the collision. In any event, he admitted he did not know whether the car in front of him would have struck him if he hadn’t moved.
While I agree with the majority as to the general application of the emergency doctrine, I do not believe that in the emergency here involved, Sibert acted with requisite care. The emergency doctrine as adopted by the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) § 296 specifies:
(1) In determining whether conduct is negligent toward another, the fact that the actor is confronted with a sudden emergency which requires rapid decision is a factor in determining the reasonable *1041character of his choice of action, (emphasis added)
The question presented is the “reasonable character of his choice of action”. A driver may be presented by an emergency such as skidding on some ice which could not reasonably have been anticipated. Despite the emergency, if he forcefully and continuously applies his brakes, he will be found to have driven negligently.1 Even though he acted more or less instinctively, such application of brakes is not a reasonable choice. Drivers must be prepared for certain types of emergencies to the extent that they take proper precautionary steps to avoid injury to themselves and others.
It seems to me that at the very least, Sibert should have honked his horn or looked at his rear view mirror. This is not the usual type of emergency as when a driver proceeding on a highway is confronted by a person, animal or other vehicle suddenly appearing directly in the path of his vehicle. In that situation, he must make an instantaneous decision whether to proceed into the obstacle or swerve to either side. Either decision may be reasonable under the circumstances, even though if more time were available, the driver could better determine which decision to make.
Here, however, the manner of exercising the decision under no circumstances can be considered reasonable. Sibert was chargeable with knowledge that a car was likely to be behind him. In the admitted emergency confronting him, he had the choice of staying still hoping the other car wouldn’t strike him, staying still and blowing his horn to alert the backing vehicle or of backing himself. I see no problem with his exercising the latter course of action as a reasonable choice, but I do not think that the emergency justifies his backing without looking in his mirror or sounding his horn. In the absence of such precautions, his action was not of “reasonable character”.2

. See Rogers v. Dubiel, 373 P.2d 295 at 297 (Alaska 1962), involving application of brakes while driving on ice, although not referring to the emergency doctrine.

. Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965) § 296(1) quoted at page 1 (of dissent) supra. Backing a vehicle without looking or sounding a warning constitutes negligence. See Brandes v. Freitas, 116 Cal.App. 459, 2 P.2d 830, 831 (1931). Embry v. Reserve Natural Gas Co., 12 La.App. 97, 124 So. 572, 576 (1929). The cases do not, however, involve the emergency doctrine.