Domochel v. Becce

• Decision Date: 08 November 1934
• Citation: 175 A. 569,119 Conn. 175
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: DOMOCHEL v. BECCE.

175 A. 569

119 Conn. 175

DOMOCHEL v. BECCE.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

November 8, 1934

Appeal from Superior Court, New Haven County; John A. Cornell Judge.

Action by Henry E. Domochel against Vito Becce to recover damages for the alleged neglegent operation of defendant's automobile. Verdict for plaintiff, and from a denial of defendant's motion to set aside the verdict, defendant appeals.

No error.

William K. Lawlor, of Waterbury, for appellant.

Luke H. Stapleton, of New Haven, for appellee.

Argued before MALTBIE, C.J., and HAINES, HINMAN, AVERY, and BANKS JJ.

AVERY Judge.

The plaintiff brought this action to recover for injuries received from being run into by truck owned and operated by the defendant. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff which the defendant moved to set aside. The appeal is from the denial of the motion.

The only questions involved are whether upon the evidence the jury was warranted in finding the defendant negligent and the plaintiff in the exercise of due care. The plaintiff was struck by the truck on South Main street near the intersection of South Lounsbury street in Waterbury on October 1933, at about 6 p.m. Taking the view of the evidence most favorable to the plaintiff, the jury might reasonably have found the following facts: South Main street runs approximately north and south and is forty-six feet three inches wide from curb to curb. It has a double line of trolley tracks running along it, the distance from the westerly curb to the nearest trolley rail being fifteen feet eight inches. On its easterly side, South Lounsbury street coming in at an acute angle from the north, intersects South Main but does not cross it. There is no distinct crossing from the west side of South Main to South Lounsbury street. The vicinity of the intersection was well lighted.

Upon the day of the accident, the plaintiff left his place of business on Canal street to walk on south on South Main street, and arrived at its intersection with South Lounsbury at about 6 o'clock. At a point a few feet south of the southerly curb line of South Lounsbury, he was seen to step from the curb on the west side of South Main street into the traveled part of the highway, look in both directions, and proceed in front of an automobile which was parked along the west curb. When he had reached a point about six to eight feet from the west curb and about four to six feet south of the parked car, he stopped. At the time, a Stewart dump truck owned and operated by the defendant, Becce, was about twenty-four or thirty feet distant traveling south on South Main Street toward the intersection on the westerly side of the south rail, and, before it reached the point where the plaintiff was...