Geiger v. Checker Cab Co., 17122

• Decision Date: 20 February 1956
• Docket Number: No. 17122,17122
• Citation: 91 S.E.2d 552,229 S.C. 39
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Charles W. GEIGER, as Executor of the Estate of Cora Elizabeth Geiger, Respondent, v. CHECKER CAB CO. and Carolina Casualty Insurance Co., Appellants.

Page 552

91 S.E.2d 552

229 S.C. 39

Charles W. GEIGER, as Executor of the Estate of Cora Elizabeth Geiger, Respondent, v. CHECKER CAB CO. and Carolina Casualty Insurance Co., Appellants.

No. 17122.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Feb. 20, 1956.

Walter S. Monteith, Colin S. Monteith, Jr., Columbia, for appellants.

R. K. Wise, Columbia, for respondent.

LEGGE, Justice.

Respondent, as executor of his wife's estate, brought this action to recover damages for her alleged wrongful death resulting from injuries sustained in a collision, about eight o'clock on the evening of April 10, 1953, at the intersection of two public streets of the City of Columbia, between her four-door sedan, driven by her, and a taxicab of appellant Checker Cab Company, Inc. Mrs. Geiger's car was traveling eastward on Laurel street; the taxicab, southward on Gadsden street. Appellants' motions for nonsuit and for direction of verdict were overruled, and the case was submitted to the jury, which returned a verdict for $1,600. Thereafter appellants' motion for judgment n.o.v. was overruled; and respondent's, for a new trial because of inadequacy of the verdict, was granted. Appellants charge error in refusal of their motions; and the issues before us, briefly stated, are:

1. Was there sufficient evidence of actionable negligence to take the case to the jury; and, if so,

2. Did the evidence show respondent's intestate to have been guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law?

Gadsden is a through street, having a paved roadway about seventy feet wide. The speed limit on it is thirty-five miles per hour. Laurel intersects Gadsden one block south of Richland street. There is no electrical signal device at the intersection of Gadsden and Laurel, but traffic on Laurel is required to stop before entering the intersection, and there is a 'Stop' sign on the south side of Laurel just west of the intersection. Southward from Richland street Gadsden is straight and downgrade to Laurel; and Laurel slopes downward west of Gadsden. There was no evidence that at the time of the accident there was any traffic or other obstruction to prevent the driver of each car from seeing the other car.

The collision took place near the center of the intersection, and the Geiger car came to rest, upside down, after striking a large tree, near the southeast corner and sixty or seventy feet from the point of collision. The cab remained upright, and stopped, after the collision, about twenty feet from the Geiger car. Photographs in evidence showed that the Geiger car was struck on its left side, the point of impact being just forward of the front door; and that the front end of the taxicab was demolished.

There was testimony for the respondent to the effect that the cab was traveling at from fifty to sixty miles an hour as it crossed the intersection of Richland street, and that within 'a second or two' thereafter came the sound of the collision, a block away; that the Geiger car was struck after it had crossed the center-line of Gadsden street; and that there were no skidmarks by either car. Appellant...