Rocha v. Garcia

SEAWELL, J.

Defendants appeal from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict awarding plaintiff five hundred dollars as damages for personal injuries received when he was struck by an automobile owned by defendant

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Beverly Bones and operated by defendant Willis Garcia, a minor fifteen years of age at the time of the accident and the son of the defendants Manuel Garcia and Ella Garcia.

Appellants contend that the evidence establishes, as a matter of law, an absence of negligence on the part of appellant Willis Garcia, the driver of the car, and contributory negligence of the respondent, who was five and one-half years of age at the time he received the injuries complained of. The appellants Manuel Garcia, Ella Garcia, and Beverly Bones disclaim responsibility for the injuries on grounds which will be stated hereafter.

The accident occurred on the afternoon of April 8, 1924. Appellant Willis Garcia was a student at the Mt. Tamalpais Union High School and had been participating in a parade given by the students of the school to advertise a high school circus which the student body was promoting.- The automobile was a touring car model and had been decorated for the occasion. Three other students, two boys and a girl, were in the car with Willis Garcia, the two boys sitting in the front seat with him and the girl sitting in the tonneau. The cars were returning from the parade and were proceeding northerly on Caledonia Street, in the town of Sausalito, in procession, each car following closely behind the preceding vehicle. Willis turned west on Turney Street at the corner of Caledonia and Turney Streets for the purpose of letting out the high school girl, who lived on Turney Street near Caledonia, it being his intention to stop at the comer upon completing the turn. As he was turning, or immediately after he had made the turn, respondent, who with two small boys was running across the street, was struck by the automobile driven by appellant Willis Garcia and received the injuries complained of.

The complaint alleged that Willis Garcia was operating the automobile at a high and reckless speed and that after turning into Turney Street at a high and reckless speed he “carelessly and negligently permitted said automobile to strike said plaintiff.” Witnesses for both respondent and appellants united in testifying that the parade line out of which Willis turned at Caledonia and Turney Streets was' moving at a speed between ten and fifteen miles an hour as it approached Turney Street and Willis and the other