Court Opinion

ID: 9537808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:24:47.861327+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:03.345582
License: Public Domain

O’CONNELL, J.,
specially concurring.
Today we hold that because the plaintiff crossed the street in violation of a traffic ordinance prohibiting jaywalking he is contributorily negligent as a matter of law and therefore he is not entitled to have the jury consider his claim.
A few days ago in Barnes v. Winkler, 216 Or 130, 337 P2d 816, we held that a plaintiff who crossed a street in a similar manner was entitled to the jury’s deliberation on his claim where no ordinance prohibited jaywalking.
The difference in the result in the two cases rests entirely upon the happenstance that although in both cases the plaintiff was crossing in the middle of the block, in the one case an ordinance prohibiting the crossing of a street outside of the crosswalk was violated and in the other case it was not. The only explanation we can give to the plaintiff in the *340present case for the' summary treatment of his claim is that the violation" of an ordinance is negligence per se in this state and that contributory negligence bars a plaintiff’s recovery. Were he to ask us to justify either of these rules we would be hard pressed to give a convincing explanation. The doctrine of contributory negligence is subject to severe criticism. Prosser, Comparative Negligence, 51 Mich L Rev 465 (1953); James, Contributory Negligence, 62 Yale L J 691 (1953); but cf., Powell, Contributory Negligence, A Necessary Check on the American Jury, 43 A B A J 1005 (1957).
The idea that a negligent plaintiff should bear the entire loss caused principally by the defendant’s negligence is not appealing to one’s sense of justice. Christensen v. Hennepin Transportation Co., 215 Minn 394, 10 NW2d 406, 147 ALR 945 (1943). But the doctrine is too firmly established for us to eliminate it by judicial decision. Justice Holt’s comment in Haeg v. Sprague, Warner & Co., 202 Minn 425, 281 NW 261 (1938) expresses the same view:
“No one can appreciate more than. we the hardship of depriving plaintiff of his verdict and of all right. to collect damages from defendant; but the rule of contributory negligence, through no fault of ours, remains in our law and gives us no alternative other than to hold that defendant is entitled to judgment notwithstanding the verdict. It would be hard to imagine a case more illustrative of the truth that in operation the rule of comparative negligence would serve justice more faithfully than that of contributory negligence. * . * *■ But as long as the legislature refuses to substitute the rule of comparative for that of contributory negligence, we have no option but to enforce the law in a proper case.” 202 Minn 425, 429-30, 281 NW 261, 263.
*341Also susceptible to criticism is the doctrine that the violation of a statute or ordinance is negligence per se. It seems little more than a fiction to assume that in the enactment of traffic laws the legislature or a city council intended to prescribe the scope of relief available to persons seeking compensation for injuries in automobile accident cases. 2 Harper & James, Torts § 17.6. But here also we cannot, consistently with the principle of stare decisis, overthrow former decisions firmly establishing the negligence per se rule in this state. '
Where the plaintiff is met only with the defense of contributory negligence as in Barnes v. Winkler, supra, ordinarily his ease will go to the jury and the unfairness which the rigid application of the doctrine of contributory negligence may produce can be ameliorated by thus permitting a jury to weigh the respective fault of the plaintiff and the defendant. But when the defense of contributory negligence is coupled with the negligence per se rule the plaintiff may be, as he is by our decision in the instant case, deprived of the jury’s consideration of his claim and the chance of recovery in spite of his contributing negligence. The plaintiff’s opportunity to reach the jury should not rest upon the circumstance that the particular street which he was crossing and upon which he was injured was, or was not, affected by a traffic law. The violation of traffic laws should be regarded only as evidence of negligence to be weighed by the jury. At most, such violations should be considered as prima facie evidence of negligence. This is the solution adopted in Minnesota. Minn Stat Ann, § 169.96.
Similar legislation should be enacted in Oregon.