Edwards v. State, for Use of Guy

• Decision Date: 30 January 1934
• Docket Number: 104.
• Citation: 170 A. 761,166 Md. 217
• Parties: EDWARDS ET AL. v. STATE, FOR USE OF GUY, ET AL.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

170 A. 761

166 Md. 217

EDWARDS ET AL. v. STATE, FOR USE OF GUY, ET AL.

No. 104.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

January 30, 1934

Appeal from Circuit Court, Anne Arundel County; Nicholas H. Green Judge.

Action by the State, for the use of Moses Guy and others, as surviving husband and surviving infant children of Mamie Guy deceased, against Roderick Edwards and another. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal.

Affirmed.

Argued before PATTISON, URNER, ADKINS, DIGGES, PARKE, and SLOAN, JJ.

George E. Kieffner, of Baltimore, and Ridgely P. Melvin, of Annapolis (Thomas M. Jacobs and Stewart, Pearre & Kieffner all of Baltimore, on the brief), for appellants.

Eugene P. Childs, of Annapolis, and L. Wethered Barroll, of Baltimore, for appellee.

PARKE Judge.

The appeal in this case is from a judgment obtained by the state of Maryland, for the use of the surviving husband and infant children of Mamie Guy, in an action, under article 67, §§ 2-4 of the Code, and § 1, as amended by Acts 1929, c. 570, § 3, brought against Roderick Edwards and Gertrude E. Baldwin for damages resulting from the death of Mamie Guy alleged to have been sustained by the negligence of the defendants in the operation of an automobile which struck and killed Mamie Guy, a pedestrian crossing the public highway on which the automobile was proceeding. The defendants submitted three prayers at the close of the testimony which instructed the jury to render a verdict for the defendants on the ground either that no primary negligence of the defendants had been shown or that the dead woman had been guilty of contributory negligence. The trial court declined to grant any of these prayers, and an exception was taken; a verdict was rendered, and a judgment extended, and this appeal brings forward for review the correctness of the rulings on the prayers.

The testimony tended to show that Gertrude E. Baldwin is the owner of an automobile, and her chauffeur is Roderick Edwards. On the evening of December 30, 1932, she was returning from Baltimore to Annapolis in her automobile. A guest, Elizabeth E. Mumford, occupied the back seat with her and her chauffeur was alone on the front seat driving the automobile. At the time of the accident, the owner was asleep and the guest was awake. The victim of the accident was Mamie Guy, who was in the service of Margaret Golden. Her mistress had taken the servant to Annapolis to do some shopping. The purchases made, they returned in the automobile with the intention of letting the servant out opposite the entrance to a private road which led to where the servant lived on the west side of the Annapolis boulevard, the public highway over which they were traveling. It was then near 6 o'clock, and a dense fog that was close to the ground made travel extremely dangerous. The mistress drove slowly on the eastern lane of travel northward towards Baltimore looking to the opposite side for the entrance to the private road, but they passed by it because of the fog, so the automobile was driven a quarter of a mile to a filling station where the automobile was turned and was driven back on the west lane of travel, but the entrance was again missed in the fog, and, after the automobile had been driven to another good place to turn, it again proceeded on the east side of the highway, moving very slowly, and preceded and followed by an automobile moving in the same direction. The entrance to the road was perceived this third time, the automobile, with its lights lit, was stopped on the right or east side of the road, and the automobile following, which was operated by Mrs. Marie Bayline, also, stopped about 6 feet back of the Golden automobile. Mrs. Golden let Mamie Guy out from her seat on the right, and the latter, who was dressed in dark clothes, walked back along the east side of the automobile and then turned to her right, and walked straight across the highway until she was in the path of the western lane of south bound travel, when she was struck on a straight stretch of the highway between two curves by the automobile driven by Roderick Edwards. The woman was thrown to the ground, the automobile passed over her and continued under slowing speed until it stopped 500 or 600 feet from where the body lay and returned. The woman was lying on the shoulder of the road, about 25 feet from the entrance of the private road to her home, and her hat was found 15 feet, in the direction of Baltimore, away from the body. She was unconscious, and was taken to the hospital in Annapolis where she soon died. Her...