Schneider v. Whittley

WOOD (Parker), J. Action for damages resulting from an automobile collision. In a trial without a jury, judgment was for plaintiffs. Defendants appeal. Appellants contend that plaintiff Schneider was negligent as a matter of law; that [586]he was an agent of plaintiff Mrs. Traub, who was riding with him, and his negligence must be imputed to her.

On January 12, 1949, about 9 a.m., plaintiff Schneider was driving a Ford automobile in a southerly direction on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles, and defendant Whittley was driving a Pontiac automobile in an easterly direction on Court Street. The automobiles collided within the intersection of those streets. There was no stop sign at the intersection. Bonnie Brae Street is about 42 feet wide and is level. Court Street is about 40 feet wide and is level at the intersection and west of the intersection for a distance of approximately 150 feet. At said point west of the intersection, Court Street extends downhill to Westlake Avenue which is the next street west of Bonnie Brae. A driver approaching said intersection (Bonnie Brae and Court) either from the north or west did not have, during the last 100 feet of such approach, an unobstructed view of traffic upon Court Street or Bonnie Brae Street for a distance of 100 feet. There was evidence that at a point on Bonnie Brae Street 100 feet north from the center of the intersection there was an unobstructed view west on Court Street for a distance of 41 feet; and that at a point on Court Street- 100 feet west of the center of the intersection there was an unobstructed view north on Bonnie Brae Street for a distance of 44 feet.

Plaintiff Schneider testified that he had stopped his automobile at the intersection of Temple Street and Bonnie Brae Street, which is the first intersection north of the intersection of Bonnie Brae and Court; after he left the intersection of Temple and Bonnie Brae, the maximum speed he attained was between 20 and 25 miles an hour; he decreased the speed from the center of the block to the intersection; he entered the intersection of Bonnie Brae and Court between 10 and 15 miles an hour; when the front of his automobile was about 8 feet north of the intersection, he looked to the west on Court Street for traffic, and he did not see any vehicle coming from the west; at that time (when he looked to the west) he was traveling about 15 or 17 miles an hour, was still slowing down, and he could see west on Court Street about 30 or 40 feet; just prior to entering the intersection, he applied the brakes and slowed down; when the front of his (Schneider’s) automobile was about 2 or 3 feet south of the center of Court Street, he first saw the Pontiac automobile (driven by defendant Whittley), and at that time the Pontiac was going due east on Court Street and was about 10 feet to the right