Simmons v. Stephens

KNIGHT, J., pro tem.

This is an appeal by the defendants from a judgment rendered against them in an action

[352]

brought by the surviving widow and children of Frank Henry Simmons to recover damages on account of the death of the said Frank Henry Simmons, who was struck and instantly killed by an automobile driven by one of the employees of the defendants. The court, sitting without a jury, awarded plaintiffs a judgment in the sum of three thousand dollars.

Appellants contend that the evidence is insufficient-to support the findings, and that the court erred in admitting certain evidence. There is no merit in either of appellants’ points.

[1]

The evidence in many respects is conflicting, but there is ample proof in the record to support the findings of the trial court that the deceased met his death through the negligence of the driver of the automobile. The accident occurred on January 4, 1918, at about the hour of 7 o’clock in the evening, at or near the intersection of Seventh and Ceres Streets, in the city of Los Angeles. The automobile at the time of the accident was being operated as a stage between San Diego and Los Angeles, and was on the in-bound trip going toward Los Angeles. Seventh Street runs east and west, and upon it there is constructed the double tracks of the street-ear company. Ceres Street runs north and south and intersects Seventh Street. There is a slight jog in Ceres Street where it intersects Seventh Street, the northerly intersection being a short distance to the east of. the southerly intersection. The deceased, Simmons, a carpenter by occupation, lived near said intersection. During the evenings he was employed as doorkeeper at a moving picture theater located on Seventh Street near the northwest corner of Seventh and Ceres Streets. On the evening of the accident Simmons, who was sixty-four years of age and in full possession of all his faculties, started straight across Seventh Street, in a direction which, if he had succeeded in crossing the street, would have brought him immediately in the front of the theater and only a few feet west of the most westerly line of Ceres Street. According to the testimony of disinterested eye-witnesses, Simmons, before starting across the street, stood near the curb and looked to his left for approaching vehicles which might be traveling down the right side of Seventh Street. The street was clear and he started to cross, and when he reached a