Streit v. Franks

FOX, J. Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained as a result of being struck on a highway in the city of Seal Beach by a vehicle driven by defendant. From a judgment of $25,000 entered on a verdict in favor of plaintiff after a jury trial, defendant appeals.

The accident occurred on March 10, 1950, at about 6:30 p. m. when darkness was coming on. Plaintiff was crossing the Pacific Coast Highway from north to south between white lines running across the highway, and was either just off the highway on an unpaved shoulder of the road or at the edge of the roadway in the act of jumping onto the shoulder when he was struck by the right side of defendant’s automobile. Defendant, who was traveling east, had crossed over a bridge immediately before the accident, and, though the highway narrowed at the end of the bridge, continued straight ahead with the right wheels on the shoulder of the road at the place where the impact occurred. Defendant testified [688]that as she crossed the bridge just west of where plaintiff was hit, she struck a rough spot in the road which jolted the car, and was obliged to reach to her right to prevent a bag of tomatoes on the seat next to her from lurching off. Defendant failed to see plaintiff, and became aware that her ear had struck something after she felt a bump and heard a thumping sound. Plaintiff testified that before crossing the highway from the north going in a southerly direction, he looked both to the east and the west and saw two cars approaching from the east. He kept this traffic under observation as he crossed between the white lines, and estimated the cars to be between 300 and 350 feet away as he began his crossing. When he reached the center line, which is 17 feet from the south edge of the pavement, he glanced again to the west in the direction of the bridge over which defendant was driving her car and noticed defendant’s oncoming auto on the bridge, at a distance of about 400 feet. Plaintiff continued to cross and was about two or three feet from the edge of the pavement when he looked again and saw that defendant’s car was almost upon him. Plaintiff leaped towards the shoulder of the road and testified that he was upon the shoulder when the impact with defendant’s car occurred.

Stipulations were made that in 1947 Fire Chief Knighton, of the city of Seal Beach, by direction of the City Council of Seal Beach, painted the two white stripes hereinbefore mentioned across the roadway and that he repainted these lines again in 1948. It was also stipulated that John W. Mulcahy, city clerk of the city of Seal Beach, had made a thorough search of the city records and found no ordinance or resolution relating to the crosslines in issue prior to the date of the accident.