Honeyman v. Lawrie

STTJRTEVANT, J. — At about 11:30 P. M. on May 27, 1937, on the highway leading from Vallejo to Napa, two automobile collisions occurred. William H. Lawrie was operating an automobile owned by his wife and they were traveling northerly toward Napa. Carl R. Honeyman and his wife were traveling in the same direction approximately 150 feet behind the Lawrie car. Leonard R. Callan was driving in a southerly direction from Napa toward Vallejo. At a point about three and a half miles north of Vallejo there is a slight curve in the highway. As one stands looking north, the highway curves to the left. The roadbed is twenty-five feet wide and has a dirt shoulder on each side two feet wide. A white strip is in place marking the middle line of the road. As the Lawrie car and the Honeyman car drove toward the above-mentioned curb the Callan car traversed the curve and approached the other cars from the north. In passing, the Callan car and the Lawrie car were so operated that they side-swiped each other on the left-hand side. The Callan car [202]proceeded forward and struck the Honeyman car in a head-on collision. The Honeymans sued to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by each of them and for the damages caused to their car. They named as defendants Mr. and Mrs. Lawrie and Leonard R Callan. The three defendants answered and the defendant Callan filed a cross-complaint. He named as defendants Mr. and Mrs. Lawrie and Carl E. Honeyman. Those defendants answered the cross-complaint and on the issues so framed a trial was had before the trial court sitting with a jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs Mr. and Mrs. Honeyman and it returned another verdict in favor of the cross-defendants named in the cross-complaint. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrie appealed from the judgment against all of the defendants. Leonard E. Callan appealed from both judgments. We will first discuss the appeal taken by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrie.

The first point made by these defendants is that the trial court erred in giving to the jury a certain instruction. That instruction was as follows:

“Any violation of the terms of the motor vehicle code of the state of California to be read to you, is presumptively an act of negligence, and conclusively so until rebutted by evidence that it was justifiable or excusable under the circumstances. The Vehicle Code of the state of California, so far as here pertinent, provides as follows:

“ ‘No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent, having due regard for the traffic on and the surface and width of the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.