Williams v. Pickwick Stages System

MARKS, J.

Arlo F. Williams and Geraldine E. Williams, are husband and wife. On the twenty-eighth day of August, 1927, they were riding in an automobile easterly on a public highway between the cities of Fillmore and Pirn in Ventura County. The automobile came into collision with a Ford being driven by Jose Reynoso. Both Mr. and Mrs. Williams suffered serious bodily injuries and the car, which belonged to Arlo F. Williams, was demolished. They brought separate actions for damages which were tried together, and which resulted in a judgment in favor of Geraldine E. Williams in the sum of $5,000, and Arlo F. Williams in the sum of

[599]

$2,000. The Pacific Indemnity Company, a corporation, was the insurance carrier on the car of Mr. Williams. This company intervened in his action so that it might be subrogated to the amount expended by it for repairs to the automobile in any judgment rendered in his favor.

The accident happened about 8 o’clock at night at a point on the highway where the pavement was sixteen feet in width, with shoulders on each side of about six feet. On the northerly side there was a bank from eight to ten feet high. At the point of the accident, and for a considerable distance on each side thereof, the road travels in a sweeping “S” curve.

The automobile in which the respondents were riding was traveling in an easterly direction. A stage, belonging to the Pickwick Stages System, a corporation, and driven by P. C. Madsen, was traveling in the same direction. It passed the Williams car and proceeded on down the highway. The Ford, traveling in a westerly direction, met the stage, its left front wheel coming into collision with the left rear fender of the stage. The Ford swerved to its right into the bank and caromed off across the road into the Williams car, causing the injuries complained of.

Appellants present the following grounds for a reversal of the judgments: first, that no negligence is shown on the part of the driver of the stage, which was the proximate cause of the accident; second, that the evidence shows that the driver of the Williams car was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law; and, third, that the trial court erred in giving- two of the instructions to the jury.