Court Opinion

ID: 9583737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:41:41.019557+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:24.781440
License: Public Domain

Judge Phillips
dissenting.
In my view the evidence recorded does not support the finding that plaintiff was contributorily negligent, and a new trial should be ordered. The law does not require people to act on the premise that others have been or will be negligent; in the absence of circumstances indicating otherwise, every person has a right to assume that others have acted and will continue to act with due care. Not a word in the evidence suggests that plaintiff either knew or should have known that defendant had left the switch on and the car in gear; and that, under these circumstances, she stood in front of the car when holding up the hood is no proof whatever of negligence. People holding up the hoods of idle, unattended cars nearly always stand in front because it is the natural and convenient place to stand and there is no reason not to do so if the ignition is not on and the car is not in gear. That plaintiff “could have observed,” as the opinion states, “that the vehicle was in gear and the ‘switch key’ was on” is no indication that she should have observed any such thing. Unless there is some indication of oversight or incompetence, the law permits car passengers *611to trust their drivers to perform the simple act of parking the car safely; certainly it does not require them to verify that the driver cut off the ignition. The law, it is said, does not permit one to profit from his own wrong. Yet this decision permits defendant to escape liability on the brazen, unconscionable and legally absurd ground that plaintiff did precisely what he asked her to do, a seemingly innocuous thing, and did it in a manner entirely suitable to him, since he did not suggest that she stand elsewhere.