Marsh v. Byrd
| Decision Date | 04 January 1939 |
| Docket Number | 680. |
| Citation | 200 S.E. 389,214 N.C. 669 |
| Parties | MARSH v. BYRD et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Guilford County; F. Donald Phillips Judge.
Action by Aleace Marsh, by her next friend, Rufus W. Reynolds against W. C. Byrd, individually and trading as the Daniel Taxi Service Company, and another, for injuries received in an automobile collision occurring while plaintiff was a passenger in a taxicab operated by the named defendant. From a judgment of nonsuit, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
The violation of a statute or a town ordinance enacted for the safe use of the highways or streets is evidence of negligence.
This action was brought for the recovery of damages for an injury to Aleace Marsh, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant in an automobile collision in the City of Greensboro.
Prior to the trial a judgment of voluntary nonsuit was taken as to W. O. Buie.
After proper identification and verification, the plaintiff introduced an ordinance of the City of Greensboro, with special attention to Article 6, Section 4, subdivision B which reads as follows: "A vehicle traveling on any street hereinafter enumerated shall be brought to a complete stop before entering or crossing the intersection thereof with any street as hereafter listed, to-wit (b) Arlington Street, at the intersection with East Lee Street".
The collision occurred at the intersection of Arlington and East Lee Streets. Aleace Marsh, the plaintiff, testified that she was now twenty-one years old but was a minor when the case was first started; that she employed the defendant Byrd, who operates the Daniel Taxi Service Company, to take her home. At the time of the collision the taxicab was traveling South on Arlington Street and on the right hand side. The cars collided on the right hand side of Arlington Street, not quite half way across its intersection with East Lee Street. At the time of entering the intersection the Byrd car was traveling about thirty miles an hour. When the cars collided the right side of the taxi was struck by Sidney Herbin, who was operating the other car, traveling East along Lee Street. It knocked plaintiff up against the inside of the car and her chin was severely cut and her ear also. Plaintiff testified that she was awfully sore; that her clothing was soaked with blood that she did not know who took her to the hospital. There she was treated, and later, when her ear started bleeding again, Dr. Smith fixed it. She paid the taxi driver twenty-five cents for her fare.
She further testified that the driver of the taxi did not slow up when he entered the intersection. The Herbin car struck the side of Byrd's car, near the back, where plaintiff was sitting.
F. B Money, a traffic officer of the City, testified that on the occasion of the wreck he was called to the intersection of Arlington and East Lee Streets to investigate the same, and found the defendant Byrd there when he arrived about ten o'clock in the day. He then described the position of the wrecked cars in the intersection. The Byrd car was headed South, slightly East at this point, and the Buie, or Herbin, car was headed Northeast. The Byrd car was in the Southeast corner of the intersection. The Buie car was damaged on the front mostly to the right. The width of the street traveling East on East Lee Street is 30 feet, and after crossing Arlington Street it narrows to 27 feet. Arlington Street is 30 feet all the way...
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