American Railway Express Co. v. Kraft

Urner, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. From a judgment entered on the verdict of a jury in favor of the plaintiff, in this suit for damages oil account of personal injuries resulting from an automobile collision, the defendant has appealed. The accident happened when a car, driven by the plaintiff southwardly on Monroe Street, in the City of Baltimore, ran against the defendant’s truck as it was being turned from its northward course towards a driveway leading westwardly from the street to the department store of Montgomery Ward & Company. The only exception pressed in the argument was taken to the refusal of the trial court to withdraw the case from the jury.

It was testified by the plaintiff and his witnesses that his car was proceeding at a moderate rate of speed along the western side of the street about five feet from the curb, and that, when the car was within a distance estimated at four to eight feet from the entrance to the department store driveway, the defendant’s truck, without any warning by its ⁵¹⁸ driver, was turned to its left in front of the plaintiff’s car, which collided with the truck in the region of its right front wheel. The turning movement of the truck was described by witnesses as “short,” “sharp,” “quick” and “sudden.” The plaintiff stated, in effect, that when he first saw the approaching truck it was about two hundred feet away, and that he continued to watch it until he was quite near it, and, supposing, in the absence of any indication to the contrary, that it would continue its northward course, he “dropped” his eyes to the street ahead, but the truck made a “quick swing” in front of his car, and he swerved to the right in an unsuccessful effort to avoid a collision. According to the testimony of the defendant’s truck driver, when