Bryant v. Tulare Ice Co.

BARNARD, P. J.

These are actions for the wrongful death of Wiley S. Bryant and Nancy M. Bryant, who were killed in a collision between the car in which they were riding and an ice truck driven by Leonard Duane Brownlee, an employee of the ice company. The accident happened about 5:30 p. m. on September 27, 1952, on Highway 99, about 2% miles north of Tulare.

The respondent Edgeworth was the sole owner of an ice company in Tulare, which he conducted under the fictitious name of Tulare Ice Company. He had employed Leonard Brownlee, who was 16 years old, for some four months preceding the accident, to cut ice and wait on customers at his place of business. At 7 o’clock on the morning of September 27, Edgeworth found that his regular driver for his 1936 model Ford panel delivery truck would not be able to drive the same because of an injury to his hand. . Being unable to obtain anyone else experienced in cutting ice and servicing iceboxes Edgeworth had Leonard take over the route that day, ac

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companied by the regular driver. In servicing the route that (.lay Leonard drove the truck in and about the city of Tulare and on the adjacent highways for a distance of approximately 75 miles. This truck had been overhauled, including the front end and steering apparatus, about two weeks before that day, after which it was tested by the mechanic who did the work and by Edgeworth, and was found to be in good condition. Nothing was observed by Leonard on the day of the accident to indicate that it was not in perfect mechanical condition until the time of the accident. The accident occurred on the last trip which Leonard was to make that day while he was taking 600 pounds of ice to the Tagus Ranch, about five miles north of Tulare. The regular driver did not go along on that trip, but another boy, a friend of Leonard’s, went with him.

At the time and place of the accident Mr. and. Mrs. Bryant were driving south on Highway 99 in a 1938 model coupé. According to the driver of a vehicle which was following them they were driving at between 35 and 40 miles an hour, were on their own right-hand side of the road, were proceeding in a straight line, and the course of their vehicle was not changed up to the point of impact. The vehicle then being driven by Leonard Brownlee in a northerly direction along this highway suddenly went out of control, veered abruptly across the white center line and struck the other car in the south-bound lane of traffic. Mr. Bryant, who was then 77 years of age, and Mrs. Bryant who was then 75 years old, were killed in the collision. An experienced mechanic who examined the Ford panel truck a few days after the collision t -stifled that h? found that both of the bolts or rivets at one end of the cross member, to which the radius rod or wishbone of the vehicle was attached, were gone; that in his experience he had found this condition in other vehicles; that this condition is caused by the wear and twist of the frame as it is in use over the years, causing these bolts or rivets to eventually work loose or break and fall out; that when this happens the wheels of the vehicle can turn without any corresponding turn of the steering wheel; and that when this occurs the vehicle goes out of control and there is nothing that the driver can do about it.