Conway v. Brien, No. 344
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | REED |
| Citation | 312 U.S. 492,85 L.Ed. 969,61 S.Ct. 634 |
| Parties | CONWAY v. O'BRIEN |
| Docket Number | No. 344 |
| Decision Date | 03 March 1941 |
v.
O'BRIEN.
Messrs. Paul E. Lesh, of Washington, D.C., and Herbert G. Barber, of Brattleboro, Vt., for petitioner.
Mr. Edwin W. Lawrence, of Rutland, Vt., for respondent.
Page 493
Mr. Justice REED delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner, a citizen of New Hampshire, was injured when the respondent's car, in which she was a passenger, collided with another on a country road in Vermont. Diversity of citizenship gave jurisdiction to the District Court and petitioner recovered a verdict under the Vermont guest occupant law,1 which required her to prove gross negligence on the part of the respondent. The Circuit Court of Appeals, however, considering the evidence of gross negligence insufficient to go to the jury, reversed and dismissed the complaint.2 We granted certiorari, 311 U.S. 634, 61 S.Ct. 61, 85 L.Ed. —-, to examine whether there had been sufficient compliance with Rule 50(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, to authorize dismissal of the complaint,3 but our view of the merits makes it unnecessary to discuss this question.
The result is determined by a consideration of the facts in the light of the Vermont law. The accident occurred in broad daylight in the late morning of an August day. If the facts most favorable to the petitioner were accepted, the jury might have concluded properly that the defendant's car approached from the south a covered bridge on a little used country road at a speed of fifteen miles per hour. Respondent who was the driver and owner sat on the front seat with another. The petitioner and another lady occupied the rear seat. The bridge spanned Williams River which at that point
Page 494
ran eastwardly to join the Connecticut. As another car emerged from its southern end the collision happened.
The road along which respondent was driving ran parallel with the southernly bank of the river for a short distance and then turned 'abruptly,' in a 'sharper curve than any on the road,' at a sixty degree angle down a nine per cent grade towards the bridge. Bushes and small trees cut off the view of a car 'coming out of the bridge' until the respondent's car was 'probably 30 feet' away.
As respondent's light car came into this curve, he cut in to the left without slackening speed or blowing a horn and suddenly found himself face to face with a larger car coming out of the bridge on its right hand side of the road at two miles per hour. The collision knocked the heavier car backward several feet and through a guard rail on the west side of the bridge approach. The road approaching the bridge 'at this blind corner' was sandy, from fourteen to seventeen feet wide. Respondent testified he had known the spot 'all my life' and knew cars could pass only 'at a snail's pace.'
The 'Law of the Road' in Vermont is to round curves 'as far to the right * * * as reasonably practicable'4 and to 'signal with bell or horn' 'in going...
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Graf v. Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Ry. Co., No. 882
...be much less than the expected benefits gross negligence, Conway v. O'Brien, 111 F.2d 611, 612 (2d Cir.1940), rev'd on other grounds, 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 634, 85 L.Ed. 969 (1941); and Evans' action was one or the other. But he was not trying to do in Graf; nor does his lapse of memory si......
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Wynn v. Carey, No. 78-1262
...bring this action. The court further denied his motion to dismiss on the grounds of abstention under Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941), concluding that the importance and urgency of the rights claimed by the plaintiff class of minor women co......
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Keller v. Brooklyn Bus Corporation, No. 247.
...law." Berry v. United States, 312 U.S. 450, 452, 453, 61 S.Ct. 637, 638, 85 L.Ed. 945, reversing 2 Cir., 111 F.2d 615; Conway v. O'Brien, 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 634, 85 L.Ed. 969, reversing 2 Cir., 111 F.2d 611; Gunning v. Cooley, 281 U.S. 90, 95, 50 S.Ct. 231, 74 L.Ed. 720; Slocum v. New Y......
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Sherrod v. Berry, No. 85-3151
...both differ in kind from wilful and intentional conduct which is or ought to be known to have a tendency to injure." Conway v. O'Brien, 312 U.S. 492, 495, 61 S.Ct. 634, 636, 85 L.Ed. 969 (1941). Thus, it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury that gross negligence or deliberate ......
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Graf v. Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Ry. Co., No. 882
...be much less than the expected benefits gross negligence, Conway v. O'Brien, 111 F.2d 611, 612 (2d Cir.1940), rev'd on other grounds, 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 634, 85 L.Ed. 969 (1941); and Evans' action was one or the other. But he was not trying to do in Graf; nor does his lapse of memory si......
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Wynn v. Carey, No. 78-1262
...bring this action. The court further denied his motion to dismiss on the grounds of abstention under Railroad Commission v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 643, 85 L.Ed. 971 (1941), concluding that the importance and urgency of the rights claimed by the plaintiff class of minor women co......
-
Keller v. Brooklyn Bus Corporation, No. 247.
...law." Berry v. United States, 312 U.S. 450, 452, 453, 61 S.Ct. 637, 638, 85 L.Ed. 945, reversing 2 Cir., 111 F.2d 615; Conway v. O'Brien, 312 U.S. 492, 61 S.Ct. 634, 85 L.Ed. 969, reversing 2 Cir., 111 F.2d 611; Gunning v. Cooley, 281 U.S. 90, 95, 50 S.Ct. 231, 74 L.Ed. 720; Slocum v. New Y......
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Sherrod v. Berry, No. 85-3151
...both differ in kind from wilful and intentional conduct which is or ought to be known to have a tendency to injure." Conway v. O'Brien, 312 U.S. 492, 495, 61 S.Ct. 634, 636, 85 L.Ed. 969 (1941). Thus, it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury that gross negligence or deliberate ......