Opinion
October 10, 1949.
Plaintiff Suzanne D. Levings, a passenger in a bus, was injured in a collision between the bus and a truck. The bus was proceeding in a southerly direction, to the right of the center of the road. The driver of the truck, while proceeding in a northerly direction and to his right of the center, applied his brakes when from 50 to 100 feet from the bus in order to avoid hitting a dog which ran in front of the truck, thereby causing the rear of the truck to swerve toward the bus. He released the brakes and turned to his right, going about 40 feet onto the soft shoulder of the road, at which time he pulled the steering wheel to send the truck again to the left. He lost control of the steering wheel and the left front wheel of his truck hit the left rear wheel of the bus, which at all times was on its right side of the highway and had violated no statute. During the trial the owner of the truck settled the actions of the plaintiffs against it, and the jury rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiffs and against appellants Mohawk Coach Lines, Inc., and Victor Di Corcia. Judgment, and order denying appellants' motion to set aside the verdict and vacate the judgment, reversed on the law and the facts, with costs, and the complaint dismissed on the law, with costs. Plaintiffs failed to establish any negligence on the part of appellants. There is no evidence from which it could be found that the bus driver should have anticipated that the truck driver would lose control and that the truck would come across the road and hit the bus after veering far to the right and partly off the hard-surfaced road. Were the complaint not dismissed, a new trial would be granted on the ground that the finding implicit in the verdict of the jury of negligence on the part of the bus driver was against the weight of the evidence. Nolan, P.J., Carswell, Adel, Sneed and MacCrate, JJ., concur.