Schneider v. Midwest Coast Transport, Inc., 34278

• Citation: 51 Wn.2d 673,321 P.2d 260
• Decision Date: 06 February 1958
• Docket Number: No. 34278,34278
• Parties: Joseph SCHNEIDER and Alma SCHNEIDER, his wife, Respondents, v. MIDWEST COAST TRANSPORT, Inc., a corporation, Robert E. Sorenson, Appellants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Washington

Page 673

51 Wn.2d 673

321 P.2d 260

Joseph SCHNEIDER and Alma SCHNEIDER, his wife, Respondents, v. MIDWEST COAST TRANSPORT, Inc., a corporation, Robert E.

Sorenson, Appellants.

No. 34278.

Supreme Court of Washington, Department 1.

Feb. 6, 1958.

Gavin, Robinson & Kendrick, Robert R. Redman, Yakima, Milton Warner, Seattle, for appellants.

Felthous & Brachtenbach, Selah, Kennett, McCutcheon & Soderland, Seattle, for respondents.

FINLEY, Justice.

This is an action for damages arising out of a collision between a car and a transport truck-trailer unit.

On December 12, 1954, plaintiffs were proceeding east in their car on U. S. Highway 10, approaching the last long grade to the summit of Snoqualmie Pass. Mr. Schneider was driving; his wife was sitting in the front seat. There was a mixture of snow, slush and ice on the highway. As they were crossing the Denny creek bridge in their proper driving lane, the left-front portion of their car was struck by the left-front portion of a westbound transport truck-trailer unit driven by defendant, Robert E. Sorenson, on behalf of defendant, Midwest Coast Transport, Inc. The Denny creek bridge is a concrete structure, twenty feet wide, with sides four feet high. It provides only two lanes for traffic. Estimates of the speed of the Schneider vehicle immediately prior to the accident range from eight to twenty miles per hour. Sorenson admitted to a speed of twenty-eight miles per hour immediately prior to the accident, and one witness placed his speed as high as thirty-five miles per hour.

Two snow plows were in the vicinity of the east side of the bridge, immediately prior to the accident. There is a conflict in the testimony as to whether both snow plows were actually on the highway. It is sufficient to state that at least one snow plow occupied the westbound traffic lane on the bridge, immediately prior to the accident.

The bridge is two hundred eight feet long. East of it, there is a straight stretch of highway for a distance of eighty-seven feet; thereafter, the highway curves northward.

The snow plow entered the highway fifty feet from the east end of the bridge and proceeded slowly (speed estimated at five miles per hour) in the westbound lane. Mr. Schneider saw the snow plow and was concerned as to whether he could get by the snow plow on the bridge. He did not see Sorenson's vehicle until it was about twenty-five feet away. The point of impact of the two vehicles was at a distance between thirty and fifty feet from the east end of the bridge.

The trial judge withdrew from the jury's consideration the issue of plaintiffs' contributory negligence. The jury returned a verdict in the sum of $40,000 for plaintiff-husband's injuries, $30,000 for plaintiff-wife's injuries, and $642.50 for damage...