Altomare v. Hunt

BARNARD, P. J.

The plaintiff, who was 6 years old, was injured by a truck owned by the defendant partnership and driven by the defendant Downs. The accident occurred at 8:30 a. m. on June 29, 1948, on a private road in a trailer court near Santa Ana. This trailer court had three roads running north and south. The middle one was a graveled road 21 feet wide. On the west side of this road there was a laundry and toilet building 45 feet long, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. The east side of this building was flush with the west edge of this road. A 3-foot sidewalk leading from the front of the premises passed along the north wall of this building and .ended abruptly at' the edge of the road, at the northeast corner of the building. The plaintiff lived with her parents in this trailer court at a point east of this road. The court was almost completely filled, and about 100 children were then living there.

Downs had also been living in this trailer court for five months, and was familiar with the conditions there. As a part of his milk route he had been delivering milk every other day at various trailers in this court. On this occasion he was traveling, north on this middle road. He stopped his truck on the west side of the road and made a delivery at a point 25 feet south of the south end of the laundry building. He then drove north on the west or the wrong side of the road, intending to make the next delivery at a point north of the laundry building and also.on the west side of this road. At the same time the plaintiff came along the sidewalk to the north of the laundry building, proceeding east on her way to her home. She took a step or two off the sidewalk and upon the road when the left front wheel of the truck ran over her right foot and knocked her down. The truck stopped within a few feet. The defendant testified that he was traveling with the left side of his truck 4 or 5 feet from the laundry building; that there were some cars parked on the easterly side of the road; that he knew that “children were walking and playing around the trailers and in and around the driveways” ; that he did not see the girl until she ran out from be

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hind the building; and that “it would have been impossible for anybody to see her before it happened—on account of the laundry room is built right up against the end of the road. There is no setback on the laundry room, it is right next to the road.” Other witnesses testified that there were no cars on the other side of the road; that after it was stopped the truck stood 3 feet from the edge of the road and the end of the sidewalk, which was the building line; and that as the plaintiff proceeded easterly along this sidewalk she was walk-. ing and not running. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and the defendants have appealed.