Johnson v. Griffith

GIBSON, C. J. —

This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries received when plaintiff’s automobile was struck by that of the defendants. Plaintiff’s injuries left him permanently incompetent and the action was therefore prosecuted by his guardian. The court below, sitting wdthout a jury, found and concluded that plaintiff was free of contributory negligence and that the defendants’ negligence was the sole and proximate cause of the accident. Judgment was accordingly entered against the defendant Ernest Griffith, as driver, in the sum of $15,000, and against the defendant Muriel Griffith, his adult daughter, as owner of the automobile, in the sum of $5,000. Both have appealed. Defendants do not challenge the amount of damages awarded. They do contend, however, that the evidence will not support the judgment. In our opinion, the evidence and

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inferences reasonably dedncible therefrom sustain the trial court’s disposition of the cause.

The accident occurred at approximately 6:00 o’clock on the night of December 24, 1937. At the time, plaintiff with his wife and minor daughter was proceeding in his automobile easterly on Washington Boulevard in the business area of Culver City. As he approached the intersection of Main Street, his ear began to “sputter” for lack of gasoline, but he succeeded in getting it across the intersection. It stopped, however, about ten feet beyond the intersection and two feet to the left and parallel to the line of cars parked at the curb of Washington Boulevard. The street is approximately eighty feet wide and ample space remained between the center of the boulevard and plaintiff’s car to permit other easterly-bound traffic to pass without encroaching upon that half of the boulevard reserved for traffic moving in the opposite direction.

Plaintiff left his car, with its front and tail lights burning, and went to a nearby station where he procured some gasoline. He was engaged in pouring the gasoline into the tank at the right rear side of his car when the automobile operated by the defendant Ernest Griffith, proceeding easterly on Washington Boulevard, struck the left rear of plaintiff’s car. Immediately after the accident plaintiff was found lying on the ground in the narrow space between his car and the car parked at the curb. Pie had suffered severe head injuries.

Defendant testified that as he proceeded along Washington Boulevard he did not see plaintiff’s stalled car until he was approximately thirty feet therefrom. His failure to observe it sooner, he testified, was due to another car ahead of him traveling in the same direction. When he did discover plaintiff’s ear, he attempted to turn left and pass it, as did the car preceding, but was prevented from so doing by a ear passing to his left. He therefore swerved back to the right. When he again turned left, it was too late to avoid a collision, and the right front of his car struck the left rear of plaintiff’s car. The accident occurred about ten minutes after plaintiff’s car had stalled. Although plaintiff’s wife and minor child had been sitting in the car, and a disinterested witness saw plaintiff pouring the gasoline into his car, no one observed the precise manner in which he was thrown to