Summary
turning sharply to left to avoid a head-on collision with defendant and having a collision with the automobile of a third party
Summary of this case from Smith v. CarlsonOpinion
Argued March 8th, 1932
Decided April 12th, 1932.
ACTION to recover damages for injuries to person and property, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant, brought to the Superior Court in New Haven County and tried to the jury before John Rufus Booth, J.; verdict and judgment for the plaintiff and appeal by the defendant. No error.
John W. Bonney, for the appellant (defendant). Albert M. Herrmann, with whom was Samuel R. Aaron, for the appellee (plaintiff).
This is an appeal from the denial of the defendant's motion to set aside the verdict of the jury in favor of the plaintiff. If the jury believed the testimony of the plaintiff and his witnesses, as they were entitled to do, they might reasonably have found that the defendant's car passed a truck, cut over to the left and bore directly down on the plaintiff's car which was proceeding in an opposite direction on its own right-hand side of the highway, necessitating the plaintiff turning his car sharply to the left to avoid a head-on collision, resulting in his striking the truck. Upon these facts the jury might reasonably have reached the conclusion that the defendant's negligence was the proximate cause of the collision and the resulting injuries and, judging the conduct of the plaintiff in the light of the emergency which confronted him, that he was not guilty of contributory negligence. It is true that the defendant gave a very different account of the way in which the accident happened. But it was for the jury to decide which of the conflicting versions was the true one and it is not the province of this court, as it was not that of the trial court, to overrule their conclusion.