[Download] "Jackson v. Anthony" by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Jackson v. Anthony
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 04, 1933
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
Description
DONAHUE, Justice. An automobile, described in the record as a coupe, driven by the defendant in a northerly direction on a
highway between Bristol and Warren in the State of Rhode Island, collided with a smaller automobile which was being driven
in the opposite direction by the plaintiff's intestate, James Jackson, who was killed in the collision. The only eye witness
of the occurrence who testified was the defendant, he having been called by the plaintiff. If his testimony were believed
in its entirety he is not chargeable with negligence; but the jury was not bound to give it that much credit. There was further
testimony descriptive of tire and other marks left by each automobile in the vicinity of the collision and testimony as to
signs and marks of contact and damage on the two automobiles, which taken with portions of the defendant's testimony warranted
a different Conclusion. The case comes to this court upon a report after a verdict for the plaintiff and we therefore must
take on contradictory evidence the version of facts most advantageous to the plaintiff. 1. The accident happened about midnight on a rainy misty night; the road was wet; mist gathered on the windshields of automobiles;
visibility was poor; from his seat in an automobile a driver could just see the white line which was painted in the center
of the macadam road. The defendant and three companions had during the evening visited several dance halls and were on their
way home. The defendant and two of his companions were seated on the front seat and the fourth sat in the lap of the others.
There was evidence from which it could be found that the defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The macadamized
portion of the road was nineteen feet wide and there were dirt shoulders on each side. The defendant saw the lights of the
Jackson automobile approaching at a distance of one hundred and fifty feet and saw the automobile itself when it was seventy-five
feet away, at which time the defendant's coupe was traveling at the rate of thirty to thirty-three miles an hour. The defendant's
coupe was then on the easterly half of the macadam, which would be the right hand side of the road in the direction in which
the defendant was going. Shortly after seeing Jackson's automobile the defendant drove his coupe to his right on to the dirt
shoulder and proceeded along the shoulder entirely off the macadam for a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet where it grazed
a tree on the roadside seven feet five inches from the easterly edge of the macadam. It then proceeded along the dirt shoulder
eighteen or nineteen feet farther where the right wheel passed over a stone and struck a tree stump which was four feet nine
inches from the easterly edge of the macadam. Then without stopping it turned in a westerly direction, crossed the entire
width of the macadam and came to a stop on the westerly side of the road and headed west. The defendant testified that the
Jackson automobile came over on to the easterly half of the road and the collision came when the defendant's coupe was traveling
on the dirt shoulder east of the macadam.