Karnasiewicz v. City Of New Britain.
| Decision Date | 15 March 1945 |
| Citation | 42 A.2d 32,131 Conn. 691 |
| Parties | KARNASIEWICZ v. CITY OF NEW BRITAIN. |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Superior Court, Hartford County; Shea, Judge.
Action by Estelle K. Karnasiewicz, administratrix of the estate of Stanislaus T. Karnasiewicz, against the City of New Britain, Hartford County, to recover damages for the death of plaintiff's intestate alleged to have been caused by a defective highway. Verdict and judgment were entered for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Error, and case remanded, with directions.
Harold J. Eisenberg, of New Britain, for appellant.
Robert L. Halloran, of Hartford, for appellee.
Before MALTBIE, C. J., and BROWN, JENNINGS, ELLS, and DICKENSON, JJ.
Sexton Street in New Britain runs into LaSalle Street from the south; the home of the plaintiff's decedent was on the north side of LaSalle Street about opposite the place where Sexton Street entere; on July 22, 1943, he was killed by an automobile which, out of control, descended a steep hill of Sexton Street, crossed LaSalle Street in a diagonal course and, running over the curb and sidewalk, struck him. In this action against the city, the trial court submitted to the jury two possible grounds upon which the plaintiff might recover: that the death of the decedent was caused by the defective condition of Sexton Street within the meaning of § 1420 of the General Statutes, and that the steepness of the hill constituted a nuisance. In answer to interrogatories, the jury found that Sexton Street was not defective within the meaning of the statute, but that the conditions on that street constituted a nuisance created by a positive act of the city; and they rendered a general verdict in favor of the plaintiff. From the denial of its motion to set that verdict aside, the city has appealed. The question is, Could the jury on the evidence properly have found that the city was liable on the ground of nuisance?
The controlling facts, as the jury might have found them most favorably for the plaintiff, can be very briefly stated. The grade of Sexton Street as it runs northerly towards LaSalle Street gradually ascends until it reaches a crest above six hundred feet southerly from the intersection, and from that point it descends steeply, with a maximum grade of about 16.5 per cent, to the point where it enters LaSalle Street. The driver of the car which struck the decedent had never driven over Sexton Street before and was taken unawares, when she came to the crest of the hill, by the steep slope before her. She put the car into second gear and at some time while descending the hill put on the foot brake, but she also threw out the clutch, thus eliminating any braking effect from the engine, and did not use her emergency brake. The speed of the car as it descended the hill rapidly increased, until it was going some sixty or seventy miles an hour. The driver tried to turn into LaSalle Street when she reached the intersection but was unable to do so, and the car crossed the street and ran into the decedent. Sexton Street is an old street. In 1906 the common council of the city established a grade for it, but there is no evidence that at that time any physical change was made in the street. In 1929, curbs and sidewalks were installed to correspond with that grade. In 1930 the street was repaved, but the surface was brought to the established grade. There had been no substantial change in the grade of the street between 1906 and the date of the accident, except that the surface of LaSalle Street at the intersection had been lowered some eight or ten inches in 1916, and to some extent, not appearing in the evidence, Sexton Street had been cut down to meet the new grade.
In Bacon v. Rocky Hill, 126 Conn. 402, 11 A.2d 399, we sustained a judgment for the plaintiff to recover for injuries suffered when a car in which she was riding overturned because of crushed stone which had been placed by the defendant town upon the surface of a highway, upon the ground that, in view of all the surrounding circumstances, the stone could reasonably be found to have constituted a nuisance in fact. In our opinion in that case, we reviewed our decisions with respect to the liability of a...
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