Shedron v. Union Electric Light & Power Co.
| Decision Date | 15 July 1920 |
| Docket Number | No. 15831.,15831. |
| Citation | 223 S.W. 760 |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
| Parties | SHEDRON v. UNION ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO. |
Appeal from St Louis Circuit Court; Thomas C. Hennings, Judge.
"Not to be officially published."
Action by Lyman Shedron against the Union Electric Light & Power Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded.
Milton C. Lauenstein and Claud O. Pearcy, both of St. Louis, for respondent.
This action for damages was instituted in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, and was based upon the alleged violation of a city ordinance requiring signals to be given on turning vehicles in the street, and the "humanitarian, doctrine."
The evidence discloses that the events on which this suit is based occurred in the city of St. Louis on the morning of October 23, 1916, on Franklin avenue, at a point between 55 and 75 feet west of Seventh street. The roadway of Franklin avenue is 30 feet wide, paved with asphalt, and there are single street car tracks therein, so laid that the south rails are 13 feet from the south curb and the north rails 12 feet 3 inches from the north curb. The street was wet. A touring car was standing at the south curb, near the intersection of Franklin avenue with Seventh street.
Plaintiff was riding a motorcycle east on Franklin avenue. The motorcycle was not equipped with either bell or horn. In front of plaintiff, traveling in the same direction, at a speed of two or three miles an hour, and at a distance of some 3 feet from the south curb, was one of defendant's ash or cinder wagons, drawn by a team, and on the driver's seat were two men. The running gear of the wagon was 5 or 6 feet wide. The bed was wider than the running gear. The wagon was not equipped with brakes. The top of the body was 6½ or 7½ feet high, and on the back of it was a motor hoisting apparatus for lifting large buckets of ashes into the wagon.
While plaintiff was 30 or 40 feet behind the cinder wagon, and about 2 feet south of the south rail of the car tracks, he noticed a St. Louis Transfer Company's wagon going west; it was then 15 or 20 feet further east than the cinder wagon, and the left wheels of the transfer company's wagon were just inside (south of) the north rail of the said street car tracks. Plaintiff did not see the touring car standing at the south curb of Franklin avenue, and says that he could not see the driver of the cinder wagon, but that he could have seen a signal given with the Whip or hand of the driver. He observed that there was room to pass, some 6 feet, between the lines of travel then being pursued by the two wagons.
Plaintiff threw out his clutch and freed his engine when he came behind the cinder wagon, and was going about four to six miles per hour when he started to pass, assuming the driver of the cinder wagon would continue directly east; plaintiff was looking east. Just as plaintiff got to the side of the wagon, that is about even with the cinder wagon, the driver, without giving any signal, gave a short or sharp turn, making a sort of "V," and at the same time brought the front wheel of the cinder wagon close to the hind wheel of the transfer wagon, and plaintiff's motorcycle either struck the cinder wagon's left front wheel first, or it struck the left hind wheel of the transfer company's wagon simultaneously with striking the left front wheel of the cinder wagon. As a result of the impact, plaintiff's right handlebar was broken off, his hand thrust into one of the singletrees of the cinder wagon, and plaintiff and his motorcycle thrown to the pavement between the wheels on the left side of the cinder wagon, which are about 3 feet apart. Plaintiff's foot and leg were pinioned beneath the motorcycle. Plaintiff screamed and yelled for the defendant's driver to stop; some pedestrians, as well as the driver of the transfer company's wagon, also yelled to defendant's driver, who stopped his wagon after running over the motorcycle, injuring plaintiff's leg and foot pinioned beneath it, stopping the wagon about 3 `feet from the motorcycle. At the time of making the turn, the left front wheel of the cinder wagon was between the car tracks, and the hind wheel 2 or 3 feet south of the car tracks. The handlebars of the motorcycle are about 3 feet wide. One of defendant's witnesses testified that the driver of the cinder wagon drove the team close to the touring car standing at the south curb, and the heads of the team were close to the machine when the driver turned out gradually.
The ordinance pleaded (section 1336 of Ordinance No....
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