Court Opinion

ID: 9650910
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:55:33.239982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:27.180399
License: Public Domain

BRATTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
The principles which govern in making disposition of a motion for a directed verdict for insufficiency of evidence or for contributory negligence are well defined, but their application sometimes presents difficulty. In testing the sufficiency of the evidence to take a cause of action to the jury, the evidence and all inferences which may reasonably be drawn from it should be construed in the light most favorable to the party asserting the. cause. All conflicts must.be resolved in his_ favor. Waddell v. A. Guthrie & Co. (C.C.A.) 45 F. (2d) 977; Schwartzman v. Lloyd, 65 App. D.C. 216, 82 F. (2d) 822. If, when viewed in that manner, there is substantial .evidence tending to support the cause of action, all countervailing evidence should be disregarded and the issue submitted to the jury. Grand Trunk Western R. Co. v. Collins (C.C.A.) 65 F.(2d) 875; Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Chapman (C.C.A.) 72 F.(2d) 112; Wood Lumber Co. v. Andersen (C.C.A.) 81 F.(2d) 161. A verdict should not be directed unless the evidence is uncontradicted or of such conclusive character that, should a verdict be returned for the plaintiff or cross-petitioning defendant as the case may be, the court in the exercise of sound judicial discretion would be obliged to set it aside. A. B. Small Co. v. Lamborn & Co., 267 U.S. 248, 45 S.Ct. 300, 69 L.Ed. 597; Stanolind Oil & Gas Co. v. Kimmel (C.C.A.) 68 F. (2d) 520.
Only two witnesses to the accident testified at the trial. They were the defendant and the driver of the truck. Defendant testified that he was an experienced driver; that he had been driving automobiles since 1913; that he was thoroughly familiar with the highway on which the accident occurred and had traveled' it probably 250 times; that his automobile had been in use about four months and that its steering device and brakes were in perfect condition; that he was traveling at about 45 miles per hour when he came over the brow of the hill; that he saw a cattle truck or old model automobile coming from the west and on the south side of the road; that they were about 300 feet apart at the time he first saw the approaching vehicle; that he did not see the Skelly truck at that time; that it evidently was immediately behind and following the other vehicle; that when he was within about 150 feet of the other vehicle the Skelly truck suddenly swerved to the left across the center of the highway and came to a point on the north side about three or four feet from the center; that at first he thought it would get back on its side of the road and that it started back, but failed to go back; that there were just a few seconds from the time the truck swerved across the road until the collision occurred; that he took his foot off the gas and went as far to the right as he could without going into the ditch; that he tried to get out of the way, but did not check the speed of the car. He later testified that he may have applied his brakes and he may not have done so. He was rendered unconscious and remained so for several days.
A merchant in Wichita and an employee of many years in the postal service there were the first persons to arrive at the scene. They arrived within a few minutes after the accident occurred. The first testified that the truck was standing on the south side of the road in a slanting position, with the front end headed off the shoulder toward the ditch; that the left rear corner of the truck was not so very far from the center of the road; that the Pontiac was on the north side headed west and slightly south; that it was a little west of the rear of the truck; that it was on the mat with the rear wheels one foot or a foot and a half from the edge; that there *859was broken glass in the road; that the broken parts were on the north side close to the Pontiac; that there were some small, shattered parts on the south side; that to avoid cutting his tires he gathered up some of the large pieces and threw them in the ditch and kicked the rest out of the way; .and that he drove past on the south side of the center. He further testified that the larger portions of the glass were on the north side, while the small, shattered parts were on the south side. The other testified that the truck was on the south side of the road; that it was probably on the mat; that the left rear wheel was on the mat and three or four feet from the edge; that the left corner of the truck extended to within five or six feet of the center of the mat; that the Pontiac was facing southwest; that its front part was four or five feet back of the oiled mat and that it was about in line with the rear end of the truck; that there was some broken glass scattered about on the mat; that most of it was on the north side; and that the majority of the fine glass was on the north side of the line. They were disinterested persons and there is nothing in the record to becloud their credibility.
A brother of defendant testified that he arrived at the place of the accident the next day; that the truck was there, but the Pontiac was not; that the front part of the truck was resting against the bank of the south ditch; that there was a marked depression in the bank; that there were three marks or gouged out places in the oil mat; that they were two to two and a half feet long, about eighteen inches wide and from two to two and a half inches deep; that they were about thirty feet west of the rear of the truck; that two of them were on the north side of the highway and one on the south side; that there was red paint in them; that the truck, including its running gears, was painted red; that he picked up a small piece of lime rock and drew a circle around each gouged out place and that a picture was then taken of the scene; that the mat was sixteen and a half feet wide; that there was a ditch about eighteen inches deep on the south side and one between three and four feet deep on the north; that he examined the shoulder west of .the truck and did not see any marks, lines or tracks; that he examined the pavement east of the truck and did not find any marks indicating skidding tires or cars; and that there was some shattered glass on the edge of the mat and in the ditch. Aside from kinship, there is nothing in the record to detract from his credibility. The picture was introduced in evidence and is before us. It shows substantial indentations in the pavement, but the red paint is not discernible.
The majority lay stress upon the respective positions of the truck and the coupe and conclude that, in view of the difference in their weight and other facts to which witnesses for Skelly testified, the collision could not have occurred on the north side of the road. Defendant testified that the truck was immediately behind a cattle truck or automobile; that, in an effort to pass it, the truck suddenly swerved to the left across the center and to the north side; and that it turned back toward the south side. The truth of that testimony should be assumed. Rationally minded persons could reasonably conclude from such facts that at the time of the collision the truck had started back to the south side and was headed in a southeasterly direction; and that it continued in that direction until it came to rest in the ditch on the south side. That is a permissible inference or deduction from the facts and circumstances disclosed in the record. The position of the truck is persuasive, but no more so than the position of the broken glass on the north side. The freshly gouged holes in the pavement opposite the cab of the truck and on the south side of the road constitute a persuasive circumstance; but a court cannot say that they overcome or wipe out the indentations behind the truck and on the. north side. These circumstances are in sharp conflict, and, when taken into consideration in connection with the contradictions in the testimony of witnesses, they accentuate the conclusion that the issues should have been submitted to the jury. Furthermore, daily experience teaches that strange things frequently happen in traffic accidents. A case should not be withdrawn from the jury merely because physical circumstances are disclosed which may tend to conflict with the contentions of a plaintiff or cross-defendant, and which may seem strange to the court. It is the function of a jury to weigh and resolve such conflicts as this case presents. It was error to direct a verdict on the cross-petition.