FRANK A. KUNZ v. THORP FIRE-PROOF DOOR COMPANY

Minnesota Supreme Court1921-11-25No. No. 22,497

150 Minn. 362

Summary · law.co

Holding. The court affirmed the trial court's order granting a new trial, holding that the evidence was legally sufficient to sustain a finding that the plaintiff was not contributorily negligent when he looked to his right before entering an intersection, saw no approaching vehicle, and proceeded across.

A driver proceeding north on Marshall Street in Minneapolis looked to his right before entering an intersection and saw no approaching vehicles. He proceeded across the intersection at approximately 10 miles per hour. A vehicle operated by the defendant's driver then struck the plaintiff's car from the right side at an estimated speed of 30 miles per hour or greater. The plaintiff was injured and obtained a jury verdict for damages. The trial court granted the defendant a new trial limited to the question of whether the defendant's driver was negligent, but the defendant appealed, challenging whether the trial court should have also granted a new trial on the issue of the plaintiff's alleged contributory negligence.

The appellate court examined the evidence presented on behalf of the plaintiff and concluded it established that the plaintiff acted without negligence. Under the applicable right-of-way statute, a driver who looks in the direction from which traffic should appear and observes no approaching vehicle has fulfilled his duty, provided he looks with reasonable caution. The court determined that the plaintiff's failure to see the defendant's vehicle before it struck him was not itself negligence, since the vehicle may have been obscured by traffic or may have been too distant to appear as an immediate danger at the moment the plaintiff looked. The plaintiff was not required to stop and scan the entire length of the street or to wait for all distant traffic to pass.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Whether a driver who looks to see traffic approaching from the right and sees none is negligent under the right-of-way statute
Whether failure to observe an approaching vehicle constitutes negligence when the driver has looked with reasonable caution
Scope of duty required of drivers at street intersections under right-of-way law

Procedural posture

The plaintiff obtained a jury verdict for damages in a vehicular collision case; the trial court granted a new trial on the issue of the defendant's negligence; the defendant appealed challenging whether a new trial should also have been granted on the plaintiff's contributory negligence.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

Hallam, J.

This is an action for damages arising out of a collision of automobiles. Plaintiff had a verdict. The court granted a new trial as to the one issue of the responsibility of the defendant for the negligence of the driver of defendant’s ear. Defendant appeals. The appeal raises one question, namely, whether the court should have granted a new trial of the issue of plaintiff’s contributory negligence.

The evidence on behalf of plaintiff is as follows: Plaintiff was driving north on Marshall street, in Minneapolis, and on the right side of the street, at a speed of about 10 miles an hour. When he reached the intersection of Marshall street and Tenth avenue, he looked to the right, but saw no one approaching. R. then proceeded across Tenth avenue. while so doing, he saw defendant’s car coming from the right at a speed estimated as high as 30 miles an hour or more. To save himself from being struck broadside he turned sharply to the left. Defendant’s car struck plaintiff’s right rear wheel with such force as to project plaintiff’s car against a truck standing on Tenth avenue to the left of the intersection.

We are of the opinion that this evidence sustains a finding that plaintiff was not negligent. In Gibbs v. Almstrom, 145 Minn. 35, 176 N. W. 173, 11 A.L.R. 227, it was held that under chapter 119, § 22, pp. 164, 165, Laws 1917, “when a driver approaches a street intersection, if he sees a vehicle approaching from his right, and near enough so that there is reasonable danger of collision if both proceed, then it is his duty to yield the right of way.”

This doctrine was reaffirmed in Syck v. Duluth St. Ry. Co. 146 Minn. 118, 177 N. W. 944; Rosenau v. Peterson, 147 Minn. 95, 179 N. W. 647; Lindahl v. Morse, 148 Minn. 167, 181 N. W. 323. It was, of course, not intended by what was said in the Gibbs caife that the mere fact that a driver does not see a vehicle approaching from his right should in any sense relieve him from negligence, if, under the circumstances, he ought to have seen it. This was made clear in the Syck case, where plaintiff was held negligent in that he did not look to see if a vehicle was approaching from his right.

But where, as in this case, the traveler looks to the right and sees no vehicle approaching, the case is different. Just why plaintiff did not see defendant’s car approaching is not made very clear. It may have been obscured by traffic on the street, or it may have been so far away that to one looking hastily, as a driver on a thoroughfare must, it was not observed as presenting “reasonable danger of collision.” In either event plaintiff would not be chargeable with negligence as a matter of law. There is nothing to show that plaintiff did not look with as much caution as does the ordinarily prudent traveler. R. was not required to stop to look the length of the street, nor to wait for the whole stream of distantly approaching traffic to pass. The evidence was such as to sustain a finding that plaintiff performed his full duty under the right of way statute as construed in the cases cited.

Order affirmed.