Stevens v. North States Motor

• Decision Date: 02 January 1925
• Docket Number: No. 24200.,24200.
• Citation: 161 Minn. 345,201 N.W. 435
• Parties: STEVENS v. NORTH STATES MOTOR, Inc., et al.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

201 N.W. 435

161 Minn. 345

STEVENS v. NORTH STATES MOTOR, Inc., et al.

No. 24200.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

January 2, 1925.

Appeal from District Court, Wright County; A. E. Giddings, Judge.

Action by Vodica Stevens against North States Motor, Inc., and others. From an order sustaining a general demurrer to the complaint, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Trafford N. Jayne, of Minneapolis, for appellant.

C. L. Hilton, Atty. Gen., G. A. Youngquist, Asst. Atty. Gen., Rollin G. Johnson, of Forest Lake, Mitchell, Doherty, Rumble, Bunn & Butler, of St. Paul, and W. H. Cutting, and S. A. Johnson, both of Buffalo, for respondents.

QUINN, J.

This is an appeal from an order sustaining a general demurrer to the complaint upon the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

It appears from the complaint that the highway in question extends in an easterly and westerly direction, along the southerly line of section 31, township 119 north, range 27 west, in Wright county; that, as such highway approaches the southwest corner of said section, it turns, at nearly right angles, to the north; that a person driving west along such highway cannot see such turn until right upon it; that, by reason of such sharp turn and the negligent and dangerous construction of said highway, a number of serious accidents had occurred prior to the time here in question, all of which were well known to the defendants connected with the construction and maintenance of said highway and to the authorities of the village of Howard Lake and of Wright county.

It is further alleged that said highway, in and around said curve, was improperly and dangerously constructed in that there was no rise on the outer side of such curve, but, on the contrary, the outside was lower than the inner side thereof so that a vehicle, moving west and north around the turn, would be liable to overturn; that, at the time of the accident complained of, defendants carelessly and negligently permitted a log, 11 feet long and 10 to 14 inches in diameter, to be and remain upon said highway in direct line of travel around said curve, in such a way that a person, driving west and making the turn to the north, would not see it until right over it; that said log made said highway exceedingly dangerous and had been carelessly and negligently permitted to so obstruct such highway for several days prior to the accident complained of, all of which was well known to defendants in charge of said highway, who willfully and wrongfully failed and refused to remove the same and remedy such dangerous condition; that defendants, and each of them, further failed and neglected to put up any notice or warning as to the dangerous construction of said highway or the obstruction therein.

Then follows an allegation to the effect that, at all the times herein referred to, the defendants, Jewett, Elletson, Sturman, Doerfier, and Nelson, were, and still are, county commissioners of Wright county; that the defendants McVeety, Moulton, Methven, Rosenwald, Mullen, and Babcock were, and still are, officers of the state of Minnesota, appointed under the state law relating to public highways, viz., chapter 323, Laws 1921, and, together with the county commissioners above named, and each and all of them, have exclusive control of the construction, maintenance, and repair, care, and use of said trunk highway No. 10, and it was the duty of each and all of said last-named defendants including said county commissioners, personally, to properly construct, maintain, repair, and keep free from obstructions, the said highway, and particularly in the place and at the time of the accident hereinafter more particularly described. Then follows an allegation connecting the defendants, Surety Company, as bondsman, the North States Motor, Inc., and Grady, as an employé of the defendant last mentioned, as well as general allegation that, on or about the 22d day of October, 1921, plaintiff was riding in an automobile, owned by the North States Motor, Inc., and operated by the defendant Grady, along said highway No. 10, in a westerly direction and around the turn referred to, and that, by reason of the careless and negligent driving of said Grady, and by reason of the defective construction of said road, and by reason of the carelessness and negligence in permitting said log to remain as an obstruction in said highway, as aforesaid, and by...