Edwards v. Vaughn

• Decision Date: 12 June 1953
• Docket Number: No. 675,675
• Parties: EDWARDS et al. v. VAUGHN. MIMS v. VAUGHN.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 359

76 S.E.2d 359

238 N.C. 89

EDWARDS et al. v. VAUGHN.

MIMS v. VAUGHN.

No. 675

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 12, 1953

Nance & Barrington, Fayetteville, for plaintiff appellants, Edwards and West.

Oates, Quillin & Russ, Fayetteville, for defendant appellant.

Robert H. Dye and Nance & Barrington, Fayetteville, for plaintiff Mims, appellee.

DENNY, Justice.

The defendant assigns as error the refusal of the court below to sustain his motion for judgment as of nonsuit interposed, in both cases, at the close of the evidence for plaintiffs and renewed at the close of all the evidence.

We will consider this assignment of error first since if it is sustained, it will not be necessary to consider the defendant's other assignments of error, or those relied upon by Edwards and West on their appeal.

The plaintiffs here, as in all cases where a motion for judgment as of nonsuit is interposed, are entitled to have tieir evidence considered in the light most favorable to them and to the benefit of every reasonable inference to be drawn therefrom. Morrisette v. A. G. Boone Co., 235 N.C. 162, 69 S.E.2d 239; Ervin v. Cannon Mills Co., 233 N.C. 415, 64 S.E.2d 431; Chambers v. Allen, 233 N.C. 195, 63 S.E.2d 212; Bundy v. Powell, 229 N.C. 707, 51 S.E.2d 307. However, when the defendant, as in this case, pleads contributory negligence, and the plaintiffs' evidence establishes such negligence so clearly that no other conclusion may be reasonably drawn therefrom, the defendant is entitled to have his motion for judgment as of nonsuit sustained. Morrisette v. A. G. Boone Co., supra; Donlop v. Snyder, 234 N.C. 627, 68 S.E.2d 316; Matheny v. Central Motor Lines, 233 N.C. 673, 65 S.E.2d 361; Carruthers v. Southern R. R. Co., 232 N.C. 183, 59 S.E.2d 782; Levy v. Carolina Aluminum Co., 232 N.C. 158, 59 S.E.2d 632; Dawson v. Seashore Transportation Co., 230 N.C. 36, 51 S.E.2d 921; Bundy v. Powell, supra; Hobbs v. Drewer, 226 N.C. 146, 37 S.E.2d 121; Atkins v. White Transportation co., 224 n.C. 688, 32 W.E.2d 209; Beck v. Hooks, 218 N.C. 105, 10 S.E.2d 608.

The plaintiff Mims, driver of the truck owned by plaintiffs Edwards and West, while operating the truck on the servient highway, stopped at a stop sign 37 feet from the intersecting highway. From the stop sign he had an unobscured vision, according to his own evidence, to his left of only 150 feet. Even so, his testimony is to the effect that he put the truck in second gear and proceeded into the intersection without stopping at a speed of about 12 miles an hour; that before entering the intersection he saw the defendant's car approaching on the dominant highway at a point only 150 feet from the intersection, traveling at a speed of 80 miles an hour. Moreover, according to plaintiffs' evidence, the plaintiff Mims could have seen the highway in the direction from which the defendant's car came, if he had looked, for distance of three-tenths of a mile after he left the stop sign and before entering the intersection. in fact, the plaintiff Mims testified, 'The first time I saw Vaughn's automobile, I could see well down the road at that point.'

It is clear that the plaintiff Mims, in view of the conditions and circumstances related by him and corroborated by his witnesses, entered the intersection without exercising reasonable care for his own safety or the safety of others; and his negligence in so doing was a proximate cause, if not the proximate cause, of the injuries and damages resulting from the collision. Harrison v. North Carolina R. R. Co., 194 N.C. 656, 140 S.E. 598. If it be conceded, that the defendant was negligent in driving his automobile at an excessive rate of speed, we hold that the plaintiffs' evidence establishes contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff Mims as a matter of law. He had ample time to see the approaching car in time to stop and avoid the collision. The conclusion we have reached is supported by our decisions. Morrisette v. A. G. Boone Co., supra; Matheny v. Central Motor Lines, supra; State v. Hill, 233 N.C. 61, 62 S.E.2d 532; Parker v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R. Co., 232 N.C. 472, 61 S.E.2d 370; Cox v. Lee, 230 N.C. 155, 52 S.E.2d 355; Wall v. Bain, 222 N.C. 375, 23 S.E.2d 330; Reeves v. Staley, 220 N.C. 573, 18 S.E.2d 239; Godwin v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R. Co., 220 N.C. 281, 17 S.E.2d 137.

In Morrisette v. A. G. Boone Co., supra, Devin, C. J., said [235 N.C. 162, 69 S.E.2d 241]: 'It is not sufficient for the driver of a motor vehicle on approaching an intersection of highways to content himself with looking once from a point whence he cannot see oncoming traffic, if from a nearer point before entering the intersection another look would reveal the danger of collision. His looking must be timely so that his precaution may...