D'Alessio v. Oatman

WOOD, P. J. This is an action for damages for personal injuries resulting from a collision of plaintiff’s automobile and defendant’s truck at an intersection of streets in Los Angeles. Defendant filed a cross-complaint. Judgment, upon verdicts, was in favor of defendant upon the complaint, and [165]in favor of cross-defendant (plaintiff) upon the cross-complaint. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment.

Appellant contends that the court erred (1) in overruling his objection to certain questions which were asked him on cross-examination; and (2) in giving certain instructions.

The collision occurred on April 5, 1960, about 11:30 a.m., at the intersection of 111th Place and Main Street. 111th Place, extending east and west, is 40 feet wide. Main Street, a “through highway” extending north and south, is 52 feet wide—with a double white line in the center, on each side of which there are a 10-foot-wide marked lane and a 16-foot-wide shoulder. At the southwest and northeast corners of the intersection there are stop signs requiring vehicular traffic on 111th Place to stop before entering the intersection. Signs had been erected in the area restricting vehicular speed to 30 miles an hour.

Plaintiff, a physician, was driving his Kaiser sports automobile east on 111th Place, intending to go to his office at 11120 South Main Street.

A 17-year-old boy, who was an employee of defendant Oatman, was driving his employer’s Chevrolet pickup truck north on Main Street. (The boy is not a party to this action.)

Plaintiff testified, in part, as follows: He stopped his ear at the west side of the intersection and remained there while a pedestrian crossed 111th Place in front of him. Then he put his car in first gear and let it roll to the prolongation of the westerly curbline of Main Street where he stopped again, looked for traffic, and saw two vehicles—one southbound and one northbound—clear the intersection. Then, after looking to the north, he looked to the south and saw two other vehicles (one of which was defendant’s truck) which were approximately 200 to 250 feet south of the curbline of 111th Place. He immediately started forward in first gear and, after approximately two seconds, shifted (by handshift gear) to second gear and proceeded to cross the intersection. As he approached the center of the intersection he was going 8 or 9 miles an hour. He next saw defendant’s truck (the second time) when it was about 50 feet south of his ear. He turned his car to the left, but he did not get very far because the truck hit his car, pushed it the rest of the way (diagonally) across the intersection, and it (plaintiff’s ear) struck a parked ear (on the east side of Main Street about 25 feet north of the intersection). He did not apply the brakes, because he was trying to avoid being hit.