Chipokas v. Peterson
| Decision Date | 02 April 1935 |
| Docket Number | 42780. |
| Citation | 260 N.W. 37,219 Iowa 1072 |
| Parties | CHIPOKAS v. PETERSON et al. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Linn County; H. C. Ring, Judge.
Plaintiff's four year old daughter was injured in an automobile accident and this action was brought by plaintiff against the defendants to recover for hospital care, medical attention nursing, and other expenses sustained by plaintiff as parent on account of the injuries claimed to have been sustained by the minor child. Defendants filed answer denying the allegations of plaintiff's petition. Evidence was offered, and at the close of the plaintiff's evidence defendants made a motion for directed verdict, which was sustained. Opinion states the facts.
Affirmed.
France, Cash & Healy and Cahill, Boland & Hines, all of Cedar Rapids, for appellant.
G. P Linville, of Cedar Rapids, for appellees.
Louis Chipokas, father of Kathryn Chipokas, a child four years of age at the time of the accident, brought this action to recover moneys which he had expended in hospital, nursing, and medical attention for Kathryn, in the amount of $973. To the petition the appellees filed answer, setting up certain defenses, among them the following: That Louis Chipokas, as the next friend of Kathryn Chipokas, had, prior to that time, and to wit, on the 29th day of August, 1932, filed a petition in the district court of Linn county, Iowa, against these same appellees as defendants, seeking damages on behalf of the said Kathryn Chipokas for the injuries which the child sustained, and, in addition thereto, he sought to recover in that action the amount of money which he had expended for hospital, nursing, and medical care; that that cause was tried and Louis Chipokas testified as one of the witnesses, setting out the amounts of moneys which he had expended, being the same identical amounts which he now seeks to recover in this action for hospital, nursing, and medical care; that the case was submitted to a jury and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants (appellees) and against the said Louis Chipokas; that the question of damages, for hospital, nursing and medical care and attention has been adjudicated, and the plaintiff (appellant) cannot now relitigate the question of said damages, nor claim said damages as his property. In addition to said defense, appellees pleaded that the driver of the car was not guilty of negligence, and denied each and every allegation contained in the petition.
The case proceeded to trial. Evidence was offered, and at the close of the evidence the appellees moved to direct a verdict in their favor, setting up various grounds, and among same included the following: That the evidence and all of the evidence taken together shows conclusively that the injuries Kathryn Chipokas sustained are the result of an unavoidable accident, to wit, from the child running out from a hidden place in front of the automobile being operated by the defendant Peterson, at the time of the accident; that there is no showing of any kind of any of the acts of negligence set forth in plaintiff's petition as amended or that Peterson was guilty of any act of negligence that was the proximate cause of the injuries to Kathryn Chipokas. Other grounds are contained in the motion, but it will not be necessary to set out same, for under our decisions, where the motion is sustained generally, as in the case at bar, then, if any ground in the motion is good, this court will not set aside the ruling directing the verdict.
The evidence in this case shows that Center Point road at the place of the accident was a street that ran north and south in the residence district in the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That it was 39.4 feet wide. There was a street car track that ran practically along the middle of the street and that it was 13.2 feet from the west curb of Center Point road at the point where the accident occurred to the west rail of the street railway track. The day of the accident Kathryn Chipokas and her little brother, together with their mother were walking south on the sidewalk on the west side of Center Point road; the mother having hold of Kathryn by the hand. There were two cars parked on the west side of the road in front of what is known as the Mason property. There was a space of some feet between the cars. The cars were approximately six feet wide. Peterson was driving south in his automobile. Kathryn in some way or other broke away from her mother and ran across the sidewalk and into the street, going either behind the car that was parked near the gate in front of the Mason property, or in front of it. One witness testifies she ran behind the car and the other that she ran in front of it. But, regardless of whether it was in back or in front of the parked car, she ran out into the street and was struck by the Peterson car when she had about reached the west rail of the street car track. Peterson stopped his car within a few feet, the little girl rolling to the side, so that she was not run over. However, she was seriously injured, her right thigh...
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