Nightingale v. Birnbaum

HOUSER, P. J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment which was entered against him, pursuant to a verdict that was rendered by a jury in an action that was brought by him against defendants to recover damages on account of personal injuries that plaintiff sustained in a collision between him and an automobile that was owned by one of the defendants and operated by the other.

Appellant first urges the point that the verdict of the jury was not supported by the evidence. Although not in complete detail, the evidence was such that the jury was authorized to rely upon the following facts, to wit: The accident that resulted in the injuries of which plaintiff complains occurred at a controlled “Stop and Go” intersection of two streets. Plaintiff, who was a boy of seven years of age, attempted to cross one of the intersecting streets at a time when his course of travel was apparently protected by a “Go” signal; but when he was a little more than one-half way across the street, in due course as far as he was concerned, the signal was changed to “Stop”. However, he continued on his way. When, as it affected the defendants, the “Go” signal was displayed, after looking in the direction from which plaintiff was then approaching, defendant, who was driving the automobile that afterward collided with plaintiff and which automobile had been stopped at its proper place before reaching the intersection of the two streets, proceeded in an attempt to drive the automobile across the intersection. However, at the time when said defendant “looked”, two other automobiles that likewise had been stopped before the intersection parallel to the position occupied by the automobile that was being operated by said defendant, obstructed her complete view of the situation in the direction from which plaintiff was approaching said defendant, and for that reason the latter failed to see plaintiff,

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who, as hereinbefore stated, was a boy of seven years of age. The automobile was started very slowly and had traversed a distance of about two feet when its left fender came into collision with the boy, and thereby caused the injuries that were made the subject of his complaint. After striking the boy, the automobile was stopped “within a few inches”. It also appeared in evidence that the boy was running both before and at the time when he was struck by the automobile.