Southern California Freight Lines v. San Diego Electric Railway Co.

MARKS, J. This is an appeal from a judgment which denied plaintiff and cross-defendant, and defendant and cross-complainant recovery, one against the other.

The action grew out of a collision between a streetcar of defendant being driven west on “F” Street and a tractor and semi-trailer of plaintiff being driven south on First Avenue in the city of San Diego.

First Avenue runs north and south, and “F” Street east and west, the two intersecting at right angles. Both streets are paved, are 52 feet wide between curbs, and have 14-foot sidewalks on both sides. Double streetcar tracks run down “F” Street with the north rail 18 feet 6 inches south of the north curb.

The intersection is in the business district of San Diego and is obstructed, as defined in section 511 of the Vehicle Code, so the prima facie speed limit for motor vehicles was 15 miles an hour. The building on the northeast corner of the intersection has a triangular cutback of the southwest corner of its first story so that the view of “F” Street east of the intersection, and of First Avenue north of it, is less obstructed to those approaching it from the east and north than is the view in any other direction.

The trial court found in general terms that the operators of the streetcar and the semi-trailer were negligent and that their negligence was the proximate cause of the collision.

The sole question presented by counsel is the insufficiency of the evidence, as construed in a written opinion filed by the trial judge, to support the finding of negligence on the part of the driver of plaintiff’s vehicle. We will, therefore, first direct our attention to evidence bearing on the negligence of plaintiff’s driver, David Reese, being a proximate or contributing cause of the collision. If there is substantial evidence to support the finding that negligence on his part was a proxi[674]mate, concurring or contributing cause of the accident, the judgment against plaintiff must be affirmed.

The accident happened at about 8:30 on the morning of May 7, 1942. The day was clear and the roadways were dry. Beese testified he was proceeding at a speed of from 15 to 20 miles an hour. Witnesses variously estimated the speed of the streetcar at between 15 and 35 miles an hour. One witness testified that the semi-trailer was traveling faster than the streetcar so there is substantial evidence to support the conclusion, if drawn by the trial court, that the semi-trailer em tered the intersection at a speed of at least 20 miles an hour.