Gouzea v. Pacific Greyhound Lines

NOURSE, P. J. The plaintiff sued Mrs. Suzanne Ossiander, Peter Boncheff, Pacific Greyhound Lines, a corporation, and its employee Fred Lawrence for injuries arising from a collision of motor vehicles on the public highway. At the close of plaintiff’s case the court granted a nonsuit as to Pacific Greyhound and Lawrence, and, upon stipulation of the parties for reasons not disclosed in the record, a mistrial was granted as to all other defendants. The plaintiff has appealed from the order granting the nonsuit.

Two grounds are advanced by appellant: (1) That’the evidence of negligence was sufficient to take the case to the jury, and (2) that the trial court erred in restricting the testimony regarding a statement made by Mrs. Ossiander following the collision.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to appellant we find that it is singularly without substantial conflict insofar as it relates to the question of respondents’ negligence. Appellant was riding on the rear seat of a motorcycle operated by James Wheeler, who is not a party to the action. They were traveling north on the main highway running from San Rafael to Petaluma. At a point about three miles north of San Rafael the highway was divided into three lanes with the outer lanes for ordinary traffic and the center lane for passing only. As the motorcycle approached this point it was preceded by two passenger cars being driven in the same direction in the outer northbound lane—a Nash driven by Mr. Falconer followed closely by a Buick driven by Mr. Boncheff. Wheeler turned into the middle lane to pass the Buick. At about the same time the Buick pulled into the middle lane to pass the Nash. Mrs. Ossiander was traveling south in a green DeSoto on the outer, or westerly lane, and at about the same time pulled into the middle lane ostensibly to pass the Greyhound bus. This bus had stopped to the west of the pavement at a designated stopping station for passengers and was moving slowly into the southbound lane. After all the northbound vehicles had passed the bus, and at a time when the Buick was even with the Nash, the driver of the Buick noticed the green ear turning into the middle lane and he suddenly slowed his car. Wheeler was close behind the Buick and turned further into the center lane to avoid striking it. To avoid the approaching DeSoto, Wheeler turned to his right and was wedged between the Buick and the DeSoto. Appellant was thrown from the motorcycle and suffered severe injuries.

[796]The undisputed evidence as to the actions of the driver of the Greyhound bus is that after stopping off the highway to take on passengers it moved slowly at an angle onto the outer lane of the paved highway at a time when the DeSoto was from six to nine hundred feet in the rear and when there was no other traffic in that part of the highway. Only four witnesses testified as to the operations of the bus. The appellant testified that when the motorcycle was about 300 feet south of the bus, the bus was moving at a gradual angle southerly the front wheels coming onto the - pavement. Wheeler testified that as he was 300 feet south of the culvert he first saw the bus and at the time he passed it “the front wheels were coming onto the highway, just about where the rear wheels were coming onto the paved portion.” He also testified that it was entering the paved portion slowly and at a gradual angle, that “he did not cut short on the highway.” When he first saw the green DeSoto it was 1200 feet to the north, “up near where the four lane highway is.” This spot was shown to be 900 feet north of the culvert. The defendant Ossiander testified that she saw the bus enter the traffic lane when she was six hundred to a thousand feet to the rear. She continued in the outer lane observing the moving bus at all times until she was about 200 feet to the rear when she swerved into the middle lane with the intention of passing it. It was this movement which caused the collision. All these witnesses testified that they did not see the bus driver give an arm signal on starting. Lawrence, the fourth witness, testified in conflict with some of the witnesses but this conflict is unimportant and may be disregarded as well as other conflicting testimony which he gave since the propriety of the order of nonsuit must be determined on the evidence favorable to the appellant. Assuming that no starting signal was given the only person to whom it should have been given saw the bus start and saw it moving ahead of her in the regular traffic lane and would have learned nothing more if a signal had been given. All the other vehicles had passed the bus before the collisions occurred and the movement of the bus had no relation to the movements of any one of the vehicles which were going north.