Hazzard v. Heneveld

• Decision Date: 16 May 1933
• Docket Number: No. 42.,42.
• Citation: Hazzard v. Heneveld, 263 Mich. 253, 248 N.W. 612 (Mich. 1933)
• Parties: HAZZARD v. HENEVELD.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

263 Mich. 253

248 N.W. 612

HAZZARD

v.HENEVELD.

No. 42.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

May 16, 1933.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Ottawa County; Fred T. Miles, Judge.

Action by Lillian Hazzard against George E. Heneveld. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Argued before the Entire Bench.Earl L. Burhans, of Paw Paw, and Clare E. Hoffman, of Allegan, for appellee.

Diekema, Cross & Ten Cate, of Holland, for appellant.

NORTH, Justice.

Plaintiff recovered damages against defendant arising from an automobile collision, and defendant has appealed. The case was tried before the court without a jury, and appellant complains that the trial court was in error in holding that the driver of the automobile in which plaintiff was riding at the time of the accident was not guilty of contributory negligence, and also in holding that the defendant was guilty of negligence which was the proximate cause of the accident and plaintiff's damages. In an opinion filed by the trial judge the facts and issues are so clearly presented that we quote it in part:

‘This is a case arising from an automobile collision which occurred in the forenoon of December 31, 1929, near the west limits of the Village of Decatur, in Van Buren County, on what is known as M-40.

‘The plaintiff, together with one Ella Hazzard, was riding in the rear seat of a Chevrolet coach owned and driven by her brother-in-law, Thomas Vander Geest; this coach collided with a Hudson coach owned and driven by defendant in front of the eastern approach to an oil station situated on the north side of this highway and operated by Mr. Baker.

‘The street at and each way from the scene of the accident is practically level; a concrete paved road 18 feet wide with a graveled portion on the south side about six feet wide up to a curb. There had been some snowfall, and the road, including the graveled portion, had been cleared by a plow pushing the snow to the south side of the gravel up to the curb, so that the entire road was covered to some extent at least, not with ice, but with a thin coating of packed snow, excepting a portion of the concrete in the middle, thus rendering the road and approaches thereto more or loss slippery in spots.

‘Mr. Vander Geest lived about one-half block east of the oil station; he had gone to plaintiff's home farther east, picked up the plaintiff and the other lady, and they were driving along this road in a westerly direction about to enter upon a trip to some place out of the state. The driver intended stopping at his home and came nearly to a stop at that place, then changed his mind and...