Opinion
No. 35568
Decided January 28, 1959.
Negligence — Motor vehicle collision — Automobile skidding into taxicab, injuring passenger — Skidding proximate cause — Taxicab company entitled to directed verdict, when.
Where a paying passenger, riding in a taxicab, is injured when the taxicab and another vehicle collide on a slippery street, and he brings his action for damages against the taxicab company and the driver of the other vehicle on the ground that his (the passenger's) injuries were directly and proximately attributable to the concurrent negligence of the two drivers, and where, on the trial of the action, it clearly appears from the evidence that the proximate cause of the collision was the sudden skidding of the other vehicle into the taxicab which was traveling at a moderate speed on the right side of the street, the taxicab company, pursuant to its motions therefor, is entitled to a directed verdict in its favor at the close of all the evidence or to a judgment notwithstanding a verdict.
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Trumbull County.
The present action originated in the Court of Common Pleas of Trumbull County. It was brought by John Manley against Francis E. Simpson and The Warren Zone Cab Company, defendants, to recover damages in the amount of $75,000 for personal injuries Manley received when an automobile being driven by Simpson and a taxicab being driven by a driver of the cab company collided on an icy street in the city of Warren. Manley was a paying passenger in the cab.
It is charged in the amended petition that the collision and resultant injuries to Manley were attributable directly and proximately to the concurrent negligence of the two defendants.
The cause was tried before the court and a jury, and a verdict of $30,000 was returned in favor of Manley against the cab company alone. The trial court, upon consideration of (1) a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and (2) a motion for a new trial, overruled the former and indicated it would overrule the latter, provided that Manley would "remit all of this $30,000 verdict in excess of $10,000." Manley consented to the remittitur, the motion for a new trial was overruled, and judgment was rendered for Manley in the sum of $10,000.
An appeal to the Court of Appeals heard on questions of law resulted in an affirmance of the judgment below, without written opinion, and the cause is now in this court for review and determination, pursuant to the allowance of a motion to require the Court of Appeals to certify the record.
Messrs. Gillmer, Klinger Keating, for appellee.
Mr. William E. Pfau and Mr. William E. Pfau, Jr., for appellant.
On Sunday afternoon, March 27, 1955, Manley called a cab of The Warren Zone Cab Company to be transported to a business engagement. Because of a physical handicap, he had written permission from the Director of Public Service and Safety of the City of Warren to ride in the front seats of taxicabs. Upon the arrival of the cab at Manley's home, he entered the front seat. The two rear wheels of the cab were equipped with snow or mud tires.
Laird Avenue, N.E. is a paved street in the city of Warren, 16 or 18 feet wide. At the time, it was slippery due to an accumulation of ice and snow. As the cab was proceeding north on Laird Avenue on the right or east side, at a speed of from 20 to 30 miles an hour (the cab driver testified it was 20, Manley, 25 to 30, and Simpson, 30), it approached a curve. Simpson was driving her automobile south on Laird Avenue at a speed testified by her as 15 miles an hour. As she reached the curve and attempted to negotiate it, her car suddenly skidded and slid diagonally across the street and into the cab. The cab driver applied his brakes and did what he could to avoid contact. When they met, each of the two vehicles was moving at about five miles an hour. Due to the impact, Manley sustained a communuted fracture of the left patella (kneecap), which required surgery and hospitalization at considerable expense.
We have carefully examined the record and particularly the bill of exceptions, and, although we are aware that a taxicab company, as a common carrier of passengers, is required to exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of its patrons, consistent with the practical operation of the conveyance in which they are riding, we are unable to discover wherein the cab company here failed in that duty. The cab company's vehicle was proceeding along Laird Avenue in a lawful manner, when suddenly and in unanticipated circumstances the Simpson automobile skidded into it.
It is apparent that no collision would have occurred had the Simpson automobile not skidded, causing Simpson to lose control of the car, whereby it struck the cab. This and not the conduct of the cab driver was the proximate cause of the collision. It is plain from the evidence that in the emergency confronting him, the cab driver did all he reasonably could to escape the crash. No tenable basis exists for the jury's verdict. On this appeal Manley does not rely on the proposition, as the trial court seems to have done, that the driver of the cab was negligent in selecting Laird Avenue as a part of his route, rather than some other street over which abrasive material had been scattered.
Controlling the instant case are the principles of law applied in the cases of Cleveland City Ry. Co. v. Osborn, 66 Ohio St. 45, 63 N.E. 604; Cleveland Ry. Co. v. Orwig, 124 Ohio St. 134, 177 N.E. 201; and Mahoning Savings Trust Co., Exr., v. Kellner, Admx., 131 Ohio St. 69, 1 N.E.2d 616.
Despite the serious injuries suffered by Manley because of this unfortunate incident, it is our firm opinion that the cab company was not at fault and was entitled to a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence or to judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and final judgment is rendered for The Warren Zone Cab Company.
Judgment reversed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., STEWART, TAFT, MATTHIAS, BELL and HERBERT, JJ., concur.