Court Opinion

ID: 9844194
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:58:50.859213+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:29.660084
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I dissent.
It was prejudicial error for the trial court to submit to the jury the issue of contributory negligence, and the judgment should be reversed on this ground. Under no rational theory can it be said that there was any negligence on the part of plaintiff which in any way contributed to the accident here involved. According to the undisputed evidence, plaintiff was walking along the far right side of a street in a residential district pulling a wagon on which was loaded a bale of hay which he was taking to feed his horses that were pastured on the right-hand side of the street. It was daytime, the street was straight and visibility good. There were no sidewalks nor place for him to travel except where he was. Defendant, driving a car, struck him from the rear. I say there was no contributory negligence because there was nothing he, the pedestrian, could have done.
Inasmuch as the street was in a residential section it was not necessary for him to be traveling along his left side of it as is required by section 564 of the Vehicle Code when a person is walking on a road outside a business or residential district.
The conclusion reached by the majority is contrary to the following authorities: Wilson v. Kestenholz, 113 Cal.App. 13 [297 P. 954]; Stealey v. Chessum, 123 Cal.App. 446 [11 P.2d 428]; Buchignoni v. DeHaven, 23 Cal.App.2d 76 [72 P.2d 159]; Keating v. Zumwalt, 91 Cal.App.2d 845 [206 P.2d 10]; Raymond v. Hill, 168 Cal. 473 [143 P. 743]; Burk v. Extrafine Bread Bakery, 208 Cal. 105 [280 P. 522]; and Hatzakorzian, v. Bucker-Fuller Desk Co., 197 Cal. 82 [239 P. 709, 41 A.L.R. 1027]. (See also 93 A.L.R. 551; 67 id. 96.) These cases either hold or state that where a pedestrian is in the roadway where he is entitled to be and proceeding forward along the road he has no duty to look to the rear. There *480is nothing for him to do. He may assume that the traffic approaching from his rear will observe him and take proper precautions especially since the view is unobstructed. Even if he looked back there still would be no occasion for him to do anything as he could assume that any car approaching him would see him and avoid hitting him.
While the issue of defendant’s negligence may have been one for the jury, the only reasonable conclusion is that plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence and the jury should have been instructed accordingly.
The holding of the majority here is in direct conflict with Gray v. Brinkerhoff, 41 Cal.2d 180 [258 P.2d 834], and the very recent case of Weeks v. Raper, 139 Cal.App.2d 737 [294 P.2d 178] (hearing denied by this court on May 2, 1956).
While the evidence here is such that reasonable minds might differ on the issue of defendant’s negligence, this cannot be true as to plaintiff’s conduct, which was entirely blameless under the law applicable to-one in his position.
I would therefore reverse the judgment.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied June 6, 1956. Carter, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.