St. Johnsbury Trucking Co. v. Rollins

• Decision Date: 20 June 1950
• Citation: 145 Me. 217,74 A.2d 465
• Parties: , 21 A.L.R.2d 88 ST. JOHNSBURY TRUCKING CO., Inc. v. ROLLINS.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 465

74 A.2d 465

145 Me. 217, 21 A.L.R.2d 88

ST. JOHNSBURY TRUCKING CO., Inc. v. ROLLINS.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

June 20, 1950.

Wilfred A. Hay, Portland, Charles A. Pomeroy, Portland, for plaintiff.

Verrill, Dana, Walker, Philbrick & Whitehouse, Portland, for defendant.

Before MURCHIE, C. J., and THAXTER, FELLOWS, MERRILL, NULTY, and WILLIAMSON, JJ.

MERRILL, Justice.

On exceptions. This case was tried before a jury at the November 1949 Term of the Superior Court for Cumberland County. At the close of the evidence the presiding Justice ordered a nonsuit. The case is before us on plaintiff's exceptions to this ruling.

The facts in the case were comparatively simple. In attempting to avoid collision with the defendant's truck which was stopped diagonally across the plaintiff's right-hand lane of a public highway and headed somewhat towards the plaintiff's approaching vehicle, the plaintiff's agent drove his tractor-trailer-milk-tank vehicle so far to his own right that although he was able to stop the same short of collision, the right-hand wheels of the trailer slipped over the concealed right-hand shoulder of the road and overturned the vehicle with the resulting damage complained of. The accident happened at about 5:30 in the afternoon of the second day of January, A.D.1948. It was dark. It was snowing. Because of drifting snow the exact location of the shoulders of the road was obscured. The plaintiff's truck was proceeding at not exceeding twenty-five miles per hour. It was equipped with air brakes which, at that speed and on that road could have been operated to stop the vehicle within a distance of fifty feet. It was equipped with riding lights, headlights and fog lights. At the time the accident occurred all these lights were on, the headlights being on low beam for the purpose of giving better visibility in the snowstorm. The accident happened just as the plaintiff's vehicle was entering a slight curve and just as it was leaving a straightaway approximately one-fourth of a mile long.

The defendant's truck, which was painted a drab gray, as above stated, had stopped diagonally across the plaintiff's right-hand lane of the highway and was facing somewhat towards the plaintiff. The defendant's truck occupied the plaintiff's entire lane of the highway, which highway was about twenty feet wide, and left about eight feet of the highway at the plaintiff's left of the defendant's truck unoccupied.

As the nonsuit was granted at the close of the plaintiff's testimony, the defendant gave no explanation of the presence of his truck or his conduct. From the record it might be deduced that the defendant's truck was stopped for the purpose of pulling a third automobile, which had left the road on the plaintiff's right-hand side, back into the road. There was some evidence that a tow line extended from the defendant's truck to this automobile which was entirely outside of the road.

The defendant's truck was equipped with headlights which were in working order. Although the defendant's truck was thus situated either just within or at the beginning of a slight curve in the road, although it was after dark and was snowing, as the plaintiff's vehicle approached it, the defendant's truck was unlighted. Just as the plaintiff came within about one hundred fifty feet of the defendant's truck, the defendant being personally present, the headlights of the defendant's truck were suddenly turned on. As a result thereof, plaintiff was momentarily blinded. He stated that at first he thought the defendant's truck was approaching him on his own side of the highway. The plaintiff swerved to the right, slowed his vehicle, changed gears and brought the vehicle to a stop within ten feet of the defendant's truck. In doing so, the right-hand wheels of the trailer slipped over the shoulder and overturned the plaintiff's vehicle.

For the defendant to have his truck standing as it was, under the conditions then and there present, unlighted, when it was equipped with headlights in working condition, was a breach of the duty to use due and reasonable care which he owed to travelers approaching his truck from the direction in which the plaintiff was coming. A finding to the contrary by the jury could not be sustained. Such unexplained conduct on such a night and under such conditions was a wanton disregard of the rights and safety of the travelling public.

The defendant, however, urges that even if his conduct was negligent, such negligence was not the proximate cause of the plaintiff's damages because the plaintiff stopped his vehicle before actual collision with that of the defendant. This contention is without merit.

The defendant further urges that the record not only fails to establish that the plaintiff's agent was free from contributory negligence but conclusively shows that the plaintiff's damage was proximately caused by the negligent management of its vehicle by its agent who was driving the same. In support of his contention the defendant cites the case of Spang v. Cote, Me., 68 A.2d 823 as decisive.

In Spang v. Cote the plaintiff crashed into the rear end of an unlighted truck which was parked on his and its own side of the road. In that case, although the plaintiff claimed he was not blinded by the lights of a third approaching car which finally stopped, he did admit that his vision was reduced thereby. He admitted that he saw the lights of this approaching car at a distance of some eight hundred feet and that it came to a stop at least three or four hundred feet away from him. Although he admitted he was travelling at least forty miles per hour when he first observed the lights of the approaching car, and although he claimed he reduced his speed to about thirty miles per hour, the evidence clearly demonstrated that he did not reduce his speed to the extent to which he testified. In that case the plaintiff further claimed that he did not see the parked vehicle until he was within twenty-five feet of the same. In Spang v. Cote we held that on the evidence the plaintiff either negligently failed to discover the presence of the parked truck in the road or was driving his own car at such a rate of speed that he could not stop it within the range of his headlights and therefore crashed into the defendant's vehicle. In either event, we held he was guilty of...