Court Opinion

ID: 9559146
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:23:22.968623+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:50.596942
License: Public Domain

EDMONDS, J.
I concur in the reversal of the judgment upon the ground that the court erroneously instructed the jury “that there was no county ordinance or law or regulation at the time of this accident prohibiting the ditch in question from being left open at night, or in other words, requir*437ing the ditch to be covered at night.” In view of the fact that the application and the permit specified that “no excavation authorized by this permit shall be left open between sunset and sunrise without first securing written permission from the Road Commissioner,” that instruction was contrary to the evidence. However, for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinions in Polk v. City of Los Angeles, 26 Cal.2d 519, 543 [159 P.2d 931], and Clinkscales v. Carver, 22 Cal.2d 72, 76 [136 P.2d 777], I do not agree with the majority that the jury should have been instructed that if the defendant violated the provision of the application or permit requiring the excavation to be covered at night, he was negligent as a matter of law. At most, the jury might have considered the existence of that requirement in determining the question of defendant’s negligence.