Moore v. Franchetti

MAXEY, J.,

pro tem.

On December 14, 1929, at about 7 o’clock P. M., Ruth Moore, a minor of the age of seventeen years, was riding in a Ford coupe owned by her father, George E. Moore, and being driven by her sister, Georgia Moore; they were traveling in a general southerly direction on the Redwood highway, from Santa Rosa toward Cotati, at a rate of speed of approximately twenty miles per hour, when their automobile was struck from the rear by an automobile driven by Angelo Franchetti. Immediately following this collision, the car in which plaintiff was riding con-

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tinned down the highway a distance of thirty or forty feet and stopped on the westerly side of the highway. It was dark and raining and the pavement was wet and slippery.

Immediately following the collision plaintiff and Georgia Moore got out of the automobile in which they were riding for the purpose of investigating the damage done to it, and had some conversation at that time with Mr. Franchetti. Upon examination it was found that the automobile in which plaintiff and her sister were riding had been somewhat damaged, the extent thereof not being ascertained at that time, and, in order to make a further examination as to the mechanical operation, Georgia Moore reentered the automobile which she had been driving and attempted to start the motor. At that time the plaintiff was standing “half on and half off” the highway, along the westerly side of the automobile, with the right door thereof standing open; her position was near the front of the automobile, where she was waiting to see if the motor would start. Between three and five minutes following the collision with the Franchetti automobile, and while the automobile in which plaintiff had been riding was still in the position in which it had stopped following the first collision, a Ford automobile driven by the appellant, Bruno Luchi, approached from the north at a speed of approximately thirty miles per hour and collided with the Moore ear, resulting in the striking of the plaintiff, Ruth Moore, either by the Moore car or by the Luchi car, and causing her serious injury.

The case was tried by the court sitting without a jury, and judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against defendant Bruno Luchi, for the sum of $2,000, general damages, and $165.50 special damages.