Kline v. KANE AND ART LITHO COMPANY, INC.

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a motor tort action in which the plaintiff-appellant, Francis Kline, claimed that he sustained personal injuries and property damage when the automobile which he owned and was operating at the time was struck from behind by a panel truck owned by the defendant, The Art Litho Company, Inc., and operated by Art Litho’s employee, Robert F. Kane, also a defendant. The case was tried before a jury in the Superior Court of Baltimore City, Judge Grady presiding. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants.

From the judgment on the verdict, plaintiff has appealed, alleging that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that there was no contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff and in instructing the ²¹ jury that there was no evidence of permanent injury to the plaintiff. The accident occurred in Baltimore City, on Hanover Street, south of West Street, on April 25, 1962, at about 5 :30 p.m. The weather was clear and dry, and it was daylight. Immediately prior to the accident, both vehicles were traveling south on Hanover Street in the center lane of the three southbound lanes.

There was traffic moving in all three southbound lanes at the time of the accident. Kline testified at the trial that as he proceeded south on Hanover Street, a traffic light two blocks south of West Street changed to red. When traffic in front of him came to a stop, Kline stopped south of West Street below the building line. The closest car in front of him was about four or five feet away.

After he had been standing for some period of time, he heard the squealing of brakes. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw the panel truck in the middle of the intersection, coming through it at a fast rate of speed. Kline then looked straight ahead, and his car was struck in the rear by the panel truck. The impact of the accident drove Kline’s automobile four or five feet forward even though Kline had his brakes on.

Kane testified that immediately prior to the accident he was traveling south on Hanover Street in the center lane. At some point north of West Street, traffic picked up speed and was moving at about twenty miles per hour. A car traveling in the right southbound lane pulled from that lane into the center lane at a distance of about twenty to twenty-five feet in front of the plaintiff’s car. Instead of continuing at the speed of the traffic in front of him or decelerating slowly to accommodate the car which had entered his lane, Kline, suddenly and without warning or apparent reason, came to a complete stop, Kane immediately applied his brakes, but could not come to a complete stop before bumping the rear of the plaintiff’s car.

Kane did not anticipate the complete and sudden stop of the plaintiff, because it' was apparent to him that the plaintiff had sufficient room to continue moving with the traffic. Kane was about even with the south curb of Hanover Street when Kline made his sudden and unexpected stop. Kane stated that Kline had a lot of time to bring his car to a stop without applying the brakes ²² the way he did. Kane described the impact as “very light” and testified that at the time of impact his speed