Blackburn v. Marple

JAMES, J.

Plaintiff was awarded judgment for the sum of $350 against this appellant on account of damages alleged to have been suffered through the negligent acts of the defendant R. S. Marple. The particular act of negligence alleged was that said defendant so operated an automobile driven by him as to cause it to collide with an automobile which was then being operated by the plaintiff. The appeal is taken from the judgment.

The particular facts upon which the judgment was entered are quite fully embraced in the findings of the trial judge, the most material portions of which we quote: “That on the fourteenth day of July, 1915, at or about the hour of 6:30 P. M., while it was still light, the. plaintiff was driving a Ford automobile along a public highway known as the state highway, leading from the town of Whittier to the town of Fullerton, in an easterly direction, about one mile east of the county line of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. That the plaintiff was driving his Ford car at a speed of twenty miles per hour. That the plaintiff was seated in the front seat of his ear with a small child on his right side, and that his wife and two small children were seated in the rear seat. That the state highway runs in an easterly and westerly direction at the above-mentioned place, and that there is an intersecting highway that enters the said state highway from the south, known as the La Habra road, and that the said La Habra road intersects the said state highway by two long, sweeping curves, one curve turning into the said state high

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way to the left and one curve turning into the said state highway to the right as the said La Habra road approaches the intersection with the said state highway. That the said La Habra road does not cross the said state highway. That in the center of the two sweeping curves and at the junction with said state highway there is a triangular piece of ground, which is not paved but subject to travel, being oiled and rolled. That the said state highway and the said La Habra road are about 60 feet wide, with a paved portion in the center of 18 feet, and that said highways are used by the public for travel. That there is a row of electric light poles on the south side of the said state highway near the property line, and a row of orange trees about four feet south of the south property line. That the plaintiff, who was driving his Ford car, on approaching the said intersection of the two highways, saw an Overland car, driven by the defendant, approaching the said state highway by the long sweeping curve that branches from the said La Habra to the left as the said state highway is approached from the south. That the plaintiff saw the approaching Overland touring car turning into the said state highway, and immediately turned to his right, and slowed his Ford car down to eight miles per hour. That the defendant also slowed his car down, but after he had arrived at about the center of the said state highway, and his car was approaching the north side of said state highway, he turned his car abruptly to his left, and continually turned the same to his left, with the same pointed in a southwesterly direction and toward the south side of the said state highway. That the defendant drove his car in such a negligent manner that the same was pointed and directed toward the side of the plaintiff’s machine near its front. That the plaintiff kept turning his machine to his right and to the south of the said state highway, whereupon he was forced to turn off the said state highway into an orange’ orchard, within about two feet of an electric light pole, and under the branches of an orange tree, and the plaintiff’s machine was struck by the front end of the defendant’s machine on the left side and near its front.”