Lucke v. Pacific Electric Railway Co.

JENNINGS, J.

This is an appeal by certain defendants from a judgment in plaintiff’s favor and from the order of the trial court denying a motion of said defendants for a new trial. The action was instituted by plaintiff to recover from four defendants compensatory damages for personal injuries sustained and property damage incurred as the result of a collision which occurred in the city of San Bernardino between an automobile operated by plaintiff and a street-car owned and operated by the defendant Pacific Electric Railway Company in said city and which, at the time of the collision, was under the physical control of the motorman, defendant F. E. Lord. Upon the conclusion of the trial, judgment was rendered in plaintiff’s favor as aforesaid against the defendants, who have taken this appeal and in favor of defendants Pacific Electric Railway Company and F. E. Lord.

The collision occurred on D Street in the city of San Bernardino at a point which was between 30 and 40 feet north of the northeast corner of the intersection of Fourth and D Streets. Fourth Street extends from east to west and D Street from north to south. The two streets intersect at right angles. Both streets are paved. Fourth Street is 54 feet in width and D Street is 55 feet wide. A single line of street-car tracks extends from north to south in the middle of D Street. The space between the rails is 5 feet wide. The width of that portion of the street east and west of each rail is 25 feet. On the northeast corner of the intersection there is a lot having a frontage of 150 feet on D Street and 60 feet on Fourth Street. This lot is occupied by an automobile service station.

At 10 o’clock A. M. of July 13, 1929, plaintiff was driving a Chrysler automobile along the north side of Fourth

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Street proceeding in a westerly direction at a speed of approximately 12 or 15 miles per hour. When he arrived at the northeast corner of the intersection he turned to the north into D Street. At this time he observed that four automobiles were parked parallel and near to the east curb of D Street and that to the left of the automobiles thus parked a truck of defendant, The Texas Company, was standing in the street, and to the rear of the truck a small automobile was likewise double parked in the street. After plaintiff had turned the corner and had straightened the wheels of his automobile so that he was headed in a northerly direction, he observed for the first time that a street-car of the Pacific Electric Bailway Company was moving south on D Street. At the time he made this observation the streetcar was distant from Mm approximately 100 feet. He thereupon turned his automobile as far to his right as was possible and caused its front wheels to be placed under the body of the truck immediately behind its fenders. He then brought his automobile to a stop and shifted into reverse gear for the purpose of backing out of the place of danger in which he found himself. At this time, however, another automobile approached the rear of his automobile from the south and rendered it impossible for him to escape by backing out as he intended. The motorman of the street-car applied the air-brakes in an endeavor to prevent collision with plaintiff’s automobile. In this effort he was not successful and as the body of the street-car projected out for some distance over the rails sufficient clearance between the street-ear and plaintiff’s automobile was not available and a collision occurred, as a result of which plaintiff suffered certain personal injuries and damage to his automobile.