Court Opinion

ID: 9669729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:08:07.055707+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:43.190511
License: Public Domain

Per Curiam.
This is an appeal from a decision of the Nebraska Court of Appeals which reversed and remanded for a new trial a judgment of the district court for Douglas County. See Salazar v. Nemec, 5 Neb. App. 622, 562 N.W.2d 728 (1997). We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.
On October 13, 1990, the parties’ automobiles collided at the intersection of 32d Avenue and Vinton Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Both streets are two-lane, two-way streets protected by stop signs at each of four entrances to the intersection. A jury returned a verdict for the defendant-appellee, Amy Nemec. The plaintiff-appellant, Genevieve Salazar, appealed, assigning as error the trial court’s refusal to give requested instruction No. 22, which states:
Nebraska statutes provide that when two vehicles come to an intersection at approximately the same time and *299there is no traffic control device to the contrary, then the vehicle on the right has the right-of-way[.]
Drivers on the right may assume that their right-of-way will be respected by drivers on the left, but they are not relieved of their duty to exercise reasonable care.
Instead, the trial court gave instruction No. 13, which states:
Nebraska statutes provide that drivers must stop for stop signs.
1. If there is a clearly marked stop line, they must stop immediately before crossing that line.
2. If there is no clearly marked stop line, they must stop immediately before entering the nearest crosswalk.
3. If there is neither a clearly marked stop line nor a marked or unmarked crosswalk, they must stop at the point that is nearest the intersecting street and provides a view of traffic approaching on the intersecting street.
A driver at a stop sign must yield the right-of-way to cross traffic that has entered the intersection.
There was testimony that each of the drivers stopped her car at the intersection, did not see the other driver, proceeded into the intersection, and collided with the other driver’s car.
Since the matter involves only a question of law, a reviewing court has an obligation to reach its own conclusion independent of those reached by the lower courts. Sacco v. Carothers, ante p. 9, 567 N.W.2d 299 (1997).
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,148(2) (Reissue 1993) provides that
[e]xcept when directed to proceed by a peace officer or traffic control signal, every driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection where a stop is indicated by a stop sign shall stop at a clearly marked stop line or shall stop, if there is no such line, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if no crosswalk is indicated, at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where the driver has a view of approaching traffic on the intersecting roadway before entering the intersection. After having stopped, such driver shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle which has entered the intersection from another highway or which is approaching so closely on such highway as to constitute an immediate hazard if such driver moved across or into such intersection.
*300Instruction No. 13, as given, correctly reflects the rule set forth in § 60-6,148. On the other hand, requested instruction No. 22 reflects Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,146 (Reissue 1993), which clearly applies on its face to noncontrolled intersections.
Moreover, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,150 (Reissue 1993) provides that “[n]o person shall move a vehicle which is stopped, standing, or parked without yielding the right-of-way to all other vehicles and pedestrians affected by such movement and in no event until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.” Several courts have held that at four-way stop signs, no driver has a preferred or favored status, and all have a duty to stop followed by a duty to use ordinary care as they proceed through the intersection. Zumbo v. Ellis, 232 Pa. Super. 566, 334 A.2d 770 (1975); Elliott v. Hansen, 164 Mont. 107, 519 P.2d 411 (1974); Allstate Insurance Co. v. Angelo, 7 Ohio App. 2d 149, 219 N.E.2d 218 (1966).
The instruction given by the trial court was a correct statement of the law. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, the decision of the trial court is reinstated, and the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.
Reversed.
White, C J., participating on briefs.
McCormack, J., not participating.