Brown v. Jack & Jeff Transfer Co.

BRAY, J. In consolidated actions, tried without a jury, for damages for personal injuries received in a collision between an automobile and a truck, judgment went for defendants. Plaintiffs appealed.

Questions Presented

Plaintiffs claim that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment because the physical facts belie the oral testimony. Both actions were brought against the driver and the owners of the truck,—a tractor and semitrailer type. One was by plaintiff Fred Brown, the driver of the automobile, a Terraplane with two-wheel trailer attached. The other was by his brother, Ray, who was a passenger in the ear. In the Fred Brown action, defendants cross-complained for damages to the truck. The cases were consolidated for trial. In each case the court found that defendants were free from negligence and that the sole cause of the accident was the negligence of plaintiff Fred. It rendered a single judgment covering both cases, in favor of defendants on the complaint, and on the cross-complaint gave defendants the sum of $1,000 for damage to the truck.

Facts

Having in mind the rule that we must accept the evidence, and the reasonable inferences therefrom, most favorable to defendants, the facts appear as herein set forth.

The accident occurred about 9 p.m., November 28, 1947, on the Pacheco Pass Road about 2.5 miles east of Gilroy. The night was dark and moonless, and a light mist was falling, coating the windshield and dampening the road surface. The road makes a 103 degree change in direction from generally southeast to northeast. Instead of making the turn, it is possible, when approaching the curve from either direction, to continue straight ahead onto lesser blacktop extensions. These extensions, one of which is Frazier Lake Road and the other an anonymous cutoff, intersect at a point some 100 feet south of the curve, and with it, in effect, form an inverted triangle—the apex (intersection) being at the bottom and [561]the base (the curve of the Pacheco Pass Road, where the accident occurred) at the top. Within the triangle is a clear, level, graveled area which cars may cross. These extensions are unmarked, paved country lanes.

Fred and Ray and a man named Fulk had dinner at Redwood City. There was some confusion in the evidence as to the drinking by the party, although Fred testified he had only two beers. As they approached the scene of the accident from the west, Fred was driving, Ray sitting alongside him. Fulk sat on the rear floor, the back seat having been removed to facilitate the carriage of furniture on the return trip. Fulk was drinking whisky from a bottle and there was an open case of beer alongside him. The windshield wiper was not going at the time of the accident, although Fred had turned it on and off from time to time.