Collins v. Liddle
| Decision Date | 04 June 1926 |
| Docket Number | 4369 |
| Citation | 247 P. 476,67 Utah 242 |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
| Parties | COLLINS v. LIDDLE et ux |
Appeal from District Court, Third District, Salt Lake County; Chris Mathison, Judge.
Action by C. W. Collins against Arthur J. Liddle and wife. Judgments for defendants, and plaintiff appeals.
REMANDED, with directions.
G. A Iverson and C. W. Collins, both of Salt Lake City, for appellant.
H. L Mulliner and Herbert B. Maw, both of Salt Lake City, for respondents.
OPINION
This is an action to recover damages for injury to an automobile which occurred in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 1, 1924. The accident happened at the intersection of First avenue and H street, public streets of said city, at or about 7 o'clock p. m. of the day above mentioned. First avenue runs east and west, and H street runs north and south.
Plaintiff's complaint, in substance, alleges that defendants are husband and wife and owners of a touring automobile registered in the name of defendant Arthur J. Liddle, which was at all times kept and used for the family of defendants; that on or about the date and hour above stated defendant Elizabeth H. Liddle was driving west along said First avenue with members of her family at a high rate of speed, and plaintiff's automobile was being driven south on H street at a reasonable rate of speed and with due care; that, notwithstanding plaintiff's automobile had the right of way and was in the part of the street where it belonged, said defendant Elizabeth Liddle failed to yield the right of way and negligently failed to stop defendants' automobile, as was her duty and as was required by law, and negligently failed to guide said automobile along the north side of said First avenue where it belonged, but, on the contrary, the said Elizabeth Liddle, heedless of the rights of plaintiff and of where she was going and of the rate of speed at which she was driving, negligently and carelessly and in violation of law and rules of the road continued to drive said automobile forward and turned it to the south side of First avenue, causing it to collide with plaintiff's automobile near the southwest corner of the intersection of said streets, thereby causing the injury and damage of which plaintiff complains and for which he prays judgment.
Defendants deny each and every allegation of plaintiff's complaint, and by way of counterclaim allege negligence on the part of Cornelia Collins, plaintiff's daughter, who was driving plaintiff's automobile, and allege that said negligence caused the collision and consequent injury. Defendants also allege injury to defendants' said automobile and personal injury to defendant Elizabeth Liddle. Defendants plead and rely on certain ordinances of Salt Lake City regulating traffic, and pray judgment for the damages they have sustained.
The jury to whom the case was tried found for the defendants no cause of action. Plaintiff appeals and assigns numerous errors, many of which it will not be necessary to consider, in view of the fact that the court in its instructions to the jury withdrew from their consideration all matters relating to damages sustained by defendants, as alleged in their counterclaim, and in view of the fact that the jury found in favor of both defendants, no cause of action.
If defendant Elizabeth H. Liddle, the driver of defendants' automobile, was not liable as found by the jury, it follows as a necessary corollary that her husband, under the facts of this case, could not be liable, and, therefore, all matters pertaining to whether or not she was his agent and acting within the scope of her authority are rendered wholly immaterial. For that reason such matters will not be further considered.
The principal errors relied on in the argument are certain instructions to the jury and refusal to instruct as requested by the plaintiff.
While insufficiency of the evidence is not assigned as error, it is necessary to describe in a general way how the accident occurred. Plaintiff's daughter was driving plaintiff's car south on H street and defendant Elizabeth H. Liddle was driving defendants' car west on First avenue on the north side of the street. The evidence is conflicting as to the rate of speed each was driving or at what point on the street each first saw the other. Each of the streets is about 40 feet in width, including curbing which is about 4 inches thick. Plaintiff's daughter who was driving plaintiff's car testified that just before she reached the north line of the intersection, she was driving about 16 miles an hour; that she had slowed down as she approached the intersection; that she looked up and down the avenue and saw defendants' car about twice as far from the intersection as she was, and, having the right of way, turned on gas and turned her car from the middle of H street towards the southwest corner of the intersection. She testified she had been driving on the middle of H street because that had been tarred and graveled, while the sides of the street were uneven; that she was just about out of the intersection when the collision occurred; that she could not tell how fast defendants' car was running when she first saw it, but it "was quite a ways back" when plaintiff's car reached the intersection, and that it must have been running faster than plaintiff's, which was running only 16 miles an hour at that point.
Defendants' car knocked plaintiff's car over the curb and onto the parking at the southwest corner of the intersection. The driver retained control of the car and ran it back on H street, south of the intersection. The question of damages to defendants' car is immaterial on this appeal.
Elizabeth H. Liddle, defendant and driver of defendants' car, testified she was driving on First avenue from 15 to 17 miles an hour; that as she neared the intersection she looked to the right and then to the left; that she saw plaintiff's car about half way up the block, about 160 feet from the intersection; that she stepped it off the next morning; that her car was about 30 to 40 feet from the intersection; that when she looked to the left she saw another car approaching from the left; that as neither car was close she proceeded on into the intersection; that when she was about in the center of the intersection her daughter, who was with her, said, "Look at that car " that witness looked and saw she was directly in front of plaintiff's car; that she saw plaintiff's car turn to the right; that she immediately turned her car to the left, applied the brakes, and stopped "like a flash"; that plaintiff's car came alongside of defendants' car and turned it towards the east curb; that from the time witness first saw plaintiff's car it must have run twice as fast as defendants' "because it covered twice the ground." Witness thought plaintiff's car was running about 30 miles an hour.
As to which car ran into the other, the evidence is conflicting. There was much other evidence of a corroborative nature on each side of the case. It is not necessary to refer to it in detail. The testimony as above stated substantially reflects the record as far as concerns the conduct of the parties and the manner and cause of the accident.
Appellant, in the first paragraph of his brief, says: "This is a suit to determine whether or not there is a right of way law in Utah." This is hardly a correct statement of the situation. The statute of the state determines that question. Session Laws of Utah 1923, at page 98, declares as follows:
"An operator of a vehicle shall have the right of way over the operator of another vehicle who is approaching from the left in an intersecting or connecting highway and shall give the right of way to an operator of a vehicle approaching him from the right at an intersecting or connecting highway."
The above language is so plain and unambiguous as to leave no doubt whatever as to whether "there is a right of way law in Utah." The statute, however, must receive an interpretation compatible with reason, common sense, and practicability. It certainly does not mean that a driver on the left at an intersection must stop and wait for a driver on the right to cross the intersection ahead of him when danger of a collision is not at that time to be reasonably apprehended. If under the circumstances of the case the relative situation of the parties and the speed at which they are driving are such that a collision is reasonably to be apprehended, then, as we understand the law, it is the duty of the driver on the left to yield the right of way to the driver on the right. This interpretation of the meaning of statutes and ordinances, in substance, the same as the Utah statute, finds support among both text-writers and adjudicated cases. An instruction to that effect is quoted with approval in Bryant v. Bingham Stage Line, 60 Utah, at page 309, 208 P. 541, and is cited by both of the parties in the instant case. See, also, Huddy on Automobiles (6th Ed.) § 262, and Barnes v. Barnett, 184 Iowa 936, 169 N.W. 365.
There being no question raised as to the sufficiency of the evidence, the principal questions are, Was the jury properly instructed as to the law, and did the court err in refusing plaintiff's requests? Upon the subject of the right of way, the court instructed the jury as follows:
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