Court Opinion

ID: 9660649
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:17:47.739603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:21.098635
License: Public Domain

Thomas Gallagher, Justice
(dissenting).
At the point where the two cars were brought to a stop Excelsior avenue is 40 feet from curb to curb. Its surface, then covered with ice, was slippery and hazardous. Snowbanks extended four or five feet from the curb on the north side of the avenue, and there was also some snow on the opposite side. This lessened considerably the available width for driving.
The position in which the cars were brought to a stop at an angle left both of them extending a substantial distance into Excelsior avenue. Decedent’s wife testified that defendant’s car was about in the middle of Excelsior avenue. The lights on both cars were on.
There is no testimony that anyone saw the eastbound car approaching. Decedent’s view, of course, was cut off by defendant’s car as the cars moved along Excelsior avenue and after they had stopped. Defendant offers no explanation as to his failure to ob*329serve the eastbound car at this time, although the brief interval between the time the cars came to a stop and the impact indicates that it must have been rather close upon defendant’s car at the time he stopped.
The law seems fairly well established by our prior decisions that before an intervening cause may relieve a defendant of responsibility for his negligence it must appear that it would have been unreasonable to expect that an ordinarily prudent man would have anticipated the happening of such cause or would have anticipated the results which followed his acts, even though the particular intervening cause bringing them about was not foreseeable. McDowell v. Village of Preston, 104 Minn. 263, 116 N. W. 470, 18 L. R. A. (N. S.) 190; Robinson v. Butler, 226 Minn. 491, 33 N. W. (2d) 821, 4 A. L. R. (2d) 143; Prosser, Minnesota Court on Proximate Cause, 21 Minn. L. Rev. 19, 53. Unless the facts are undisputed, whether the happening of such cause or factor should have been reasonably anticipated by the original wrongdoer is a question for the jury. Grant v. City of Brainerd, 86 Minn. 126, 90 N. W. 307; Johnson v. Sunshine Creamery Co. 200 Minn. 428, 274 N. W. 404. Cf. Robinson v. Butler, supra.
Applying these principles here, I cannot escape the conclusion that it was for the jury to determine whether defendant should have reasonably anticipated whether the time, place, and manner of his parking his car with decedent’s car attached thereto might cause an oncoming car to collide with decedent as he walked forward to ascertain the trouble; or whether he should have reasonably anticipated that an accident was likely to follow his acts, even though the direction of the particular force producing it could not have been foreseen.
It must be recalled that defendant stopped the two cars diagonally so that they extended out into the cleared portion of Excelsior avenue somewhere between the north curb and the center thereof. The headlights of both cars were on, creating and leaving a situation which may well have been confusing to eastbound traffic. The highway was icy and hazardous to drive upon, and snowbanks on *330either side thereof narrowed the driving area considerably. New Tear’s eve celebrants might be expected to be then using it in both directions, returning to their homes, their powers of observation and timing possibly considerably impaired. Defendant thus brought the cars to a stop within full view of an oncoming speeding car blocked from decedent’s view by defendant’s car, and with the reasonable probability in mind that decedent would get out to assist in separating the two cars.
I do not believe that it would be said, as a matter of law, that a reasonably prudent man would not have anticipated that by acting as above described he was thereby creating a situation fraught with danger from oncoming drivers confused thereby, who in all probability would attempt to slow down, stop, or turn to avoid striking the parked cars or their owners moving about on the highway, with the likelihood of swerving or skidding on the icy pavement in so doing. It seems clear that the determination of this question was for the jury. Its finding thereon implies that it felt that defendant should have reasonably anticipated the danger from oncoming traffic and the resulting harm which might follow his actions, and that hence the acts of the oncoming driver did not constitute an intervening or efficient cause relieving defendant of liability. Edblad v. Brower, 178 Minn. 165, 227 N. W. 193; Rue v. Wendland, 226 Minn. 119, 33 N. W. (2d) 593.
For the reasons stated, I am unable to concur in the majority opinion.
Frank T. Gallagher, Justice (dissenting).
I concur in the dissent of Mr. Justice Thomas Gallagher.
Mr. Justice Theodore Christianson, not having been a member of the court at the time of the argument and submission, took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.