Jackson v. Gordon
| Decision Date | 13 August 1962 |
| Docket Number | Gen. No. 48338 |
| Citation | 37 Ill.App.2d 41,184 N.E.2d 805 |
| Parties | Margaret JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Elaine L. GORDON, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Director & Liebenson, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellant, Harold A. Liebenson, Edward G. Raszus, Chicago, of counsel.
J. V. Schaffenegger, Chicago, for defendant-appellee, Carl E. Abrahamson, Chicago, of counsel.
This is a case of an automobile collision at a street intersection. Plaintiff was a passenger in one car and defendant was the driver of the other. Judgment was entered in favor of defendant upon a jury verdict, and the primary point raised on plaintiff's appeal is that the verdict and judgment are contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence.
The car in which plaintiff was riding was travelling north on Asbury, and defendant was driving east on Greenleaf in Evanston at 2:30 P.M. on June 18, 1958, a clear, dry day. Each street was about forty feet wide and there were stop signs for traffic on Greenleaf.
Plaintiff did not see how the collision occurred. The driver of her car did not testify.
Defendant testified that riding with her in the car were her two small children (ages 3 years and 13 months) and an elderly lady; that she came to a complete stop at the traffic sign; that she saw the other car coming 3/4 block away, but estimated that it was so far distant that she could cross safely; that she had then proceeded slowly (5 to 10 miles per hour) to the center of the intersection, when plaintiff's car, travelling very fast, struck the right front portion of defendant's car, causing it to go into the bushes on the parkway at the northeast corner of the intersection; that plaintiff's car stopped at approximately the point of impact, headed slightly north of east.
Plaintiff places her principal reliance on a photograph in evidence showing some skid marks on the pavement, and on the testimony of a police officer that he measured twenty feet of skid mark from defendant's car. * This avails plaintiff nothing, however, as skid marks of that length (from the parkway to the center of the street) would be entirely consistent with defendant's testimony. The total distance from the place where defendant's car stopped in the parkway to the west side of the street was in excess of forty feet. There was no testimony identifying additional skid marks on the west side of the street as having been laid down by defendant's car. The photograph is inconclusive on this point, although it appears to show that skid marks from the center of the street lead directly to the wheels of defendant's car in the parkway at the northeast corner.
Plaintiff also contends that defendant was impeached by the testimony of the police officer concerning a conversation after the collision in which defendant told him she had not seen the stop sign. This statement was denied by defendant in her testimony at the trial. Similar impeachment (based upon the policeman's testimony concerning his conversation with defendant) is also argued as to the speed of defendant's car.
The photograph and all of the testimony, including that relied on by plaintiff, were seen and heard by the jury, and presented a question of fact for the jury to decide. The jury's verdict is well supported by evidence, and it was the proper function of the jury to determine which parts of the conflicting testimony to believe. In any event, since a result contrary to the verdict is not clearly evidenct, it cannot properly be set aside by this court. (Romines v. Illinois Motore Freight, Inc., 21 Ill.App.2d 380, 385, 158 N.E.2d 97; Paul Harris Furniture Co. v. Morse, 10 Ill.2d 28, 42, 139 N.E.2d 275.)
Plaintiff further contends that the giving...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Wolfe v. Bertrand Bowling Lanes, Inc.
...abstracted so as to establish that specific objections were made to each of these instructions. As the court in Jackson v. Gordon (1962), 37 Ill.App.2d 41, 184 N.E.2d 805, in affirming the judgment, said at page 45, 184 N.E.2d at page 807: '* * * We feel constrained to point out, however, t......
-
McManus v. Feist
...husband testified to observing some tire skid marks, but these were not connected with defendant's automobile. Jackson v. Gordon, 37 Ill.App.2d 41, 184 N.E.2d 805. An immediate proposition submitted by the plaintiff is that the trial court erred in denying plaintiff's motion at the close of......
-
Hedge v. Midwest Contractors Equipment Co.
...been shown that the required objection was made at that time and we are precluded from consideration this point. Jackson v. Gordon, 37 Ill.App.2d 41, 45, 184 N.E.2d 805 (1962); Stewart v. DuPlessis, 42 Ill.App.2d 192, 201, 191 N.E.2d 622 (1963). A consideration of all the instructions demon......
-
Schoolfield v. Witkowski
...matters. It was the proper function of the jury to determine which parts of the conflicting testimony to believe. Jackson v. Gordon, 37 Ill.App.2d 41, 44, 184 N.E.2d 805. A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict presents the single question whether there is in the record any eviden......