Opinion
October 7, 1931.
December 26, 1931.
Negligence — Automobiles — Truck — Street intersection — Collision — Passing truck to left — Sudden turning of truck into intersecting street — Contributory negligence — Case for jury.
In an action of trespass to recover for damages to an automobile and for personal injuries sustained in a collision with the defendant's truck at a street intersection, the evidence disclosed that the car and the truck were proceeding in a westerly direction on a wide street. The plaintiff testified that she attempted to pass to the left of the truck and that when she was along side of it and about ten feet from an intersecting street the driver of the truck suddenly swerved it to the left and struck the right side of her car near the rear door. The driver stated that he attempted to turn to the left into the intersection and that he held out his hand as a warning.
In such case the questions of the defendant's negligence and the plaintiff's contributory negligence were for the jury and a judgment for the plaintiffs will be affirmed.
Appeals Nos. 254 and 255, October T., 1931, by defendant from judgments of M.C., Philadelphia County, May T., 1930, No. 117, in the case of Thomas W. Church and Helen P. Church v. American Stores Company, Inc.
Before TREXLER, P.J., KELLER, LINN, GAWTHROP, CUNNINGHAM and BALDRIGE, JJ. Affirmed.
Trespass to recover for damages to an automobile and for personal injuries. Before KNOWLES, J.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Superior Court.
Verdicts for Thomas W. Church in the sum of $283 and for Helen P. Church in the sum of $250 and judgments entered thereon. Defendant appealed.
Errors assigned, among others, were refusal of defendant's request for binding instructions and motion for judgment non obstante veredicto.
Thomas J. Clary, and with him Richard A. Smith and Louis Wagner, for appellant.
Irwin F. Holt, and with him J. Webster Jones, for appellees.
Argued October 7, 1931.
On the afternoon of February 14, 1930, Mrs. Church was driving her husband's two-door Ford sedan in a westerly direction on the West Chester Pike. This is a very wide thoroughfare with two trolley car tracks in the center and a double lane for one-way traffic on each side thereof. Mrs. Church was travelling on the left-hand aisle, next to the car tracks. Under the evidence offered by the plaintiff, when she was approaching Springfield Avenue, which makes a T junction with the south side of the West Chester Pike, she attempted to pass defendant's truck which was moving in the same direction at a slow rate of speed. When Mrs. Church was along side of the truck, and about ten feet from the point where Springfield Avenue joins the West Chester Pike, the truck suddenly swerved and struck her car with such force as to overturn it. The damage to the Ford car extended from the door towards the rear.
The appellant argues that the collision occurred at the intersection when the truck driver desired to turn to the left and that Mrs. Church was guilty of negligence in attempting to pass in such circumstances. Under the plaintiff's evidence, which we must regard in the most favorable light, the jury could have found that the driver of defendant's truck, before reaching the point where Springfield Avenue joins West Chester Pike, attempted suddenly to cut ahead of the Church car without sufficient warning, thereby rendering him guilty of negligence: Zandras v. Moffett, 286 Pa. 477; Pelosi v. Hoffman, 94 Pa. Super. 398. Whether the driver held out his hand, as he testified, and attempted to turn at a proper place with necessary precautions, were questions for the jury. The issues involved were very fairly submitted to that tribunal by the learned judge below. We find no error in refusing motions for a new trial and judgment n.o.v.
Judgments are affirmed.