Anderson v. Mothershead

WOOD, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment in the sum of $10,000 in plaintiffs' favor entered upon the return of a jury’s verdict. Plaintiffs, husband and wife, sued for damages suffered in a collision between an automobile in which Mrs. Anderson was seated and an automobile driven by defendant. The collision occurred in the evening of September 29,1935, on El Camino Real, near its intersection with Seventh Street, in Hermosa Beach. Mrs. Anderson was seated alone in her car which was parked diagonally to the curbing on the east side of El Camino Real. Defendant’s ear, while proceeding northerly on El Camino Real, collided with the Anderson car. Plaintiffs claimed that defendant was intoxicated and that his car was being driven at a speed of from 35 to 40 miles per hour. Defendant denied the charge of intoxication and the testimony of plaintiffs concerning the speed at which he was driving. In his defense he stated that as he was approaching plaintiffs ’ automobile a third car turned into El Camino Real and proceeded south on the east or wrong side of the street at a considerable speed and that he struck plaintiffs’ car while attempting to avoid colliding with the oncoming automobile. He stated that at the time of the impact he had reduced his speed from about 25 to 30 miles per hour to 2 to 5 miles per hour. Plaintiffs claim that the evidence establishes

“a

brain and spine injury to plaintiff Mary Anderson of the utmost gravity, disabling, crippling, and destroying the mental and emotional control of a normal, happy, healthy, cheerful and industrious woman, wife and mother to the point of a complete alteration in her character and

[99]

causing melancholia and despondency driving her to make two attempts upon her own life”. Defendant on the other hand claims that the evidence shows that Mrs. Anderson’s injuries, “if any at all were most trivial”.

Of its own motion the court gave the following instruction: “The speed of any vehicle upon a highway in a business district in excess of 20 miles per hour is

prima facie

unlawful and therefore negligent unless the driver sought to be charged with negligence because of speed establishes by competent evidence that such speed in excess of 20 miles per hour did not constitute a violation of the basic speed law, defined to .you in a preceding instruction.” Section 513 of the Vehicle Code provides: “Exceeding Prima Facie Limit Not Negligence as Matter of Law. In any civil action proof of speed in excess of any