Moore v. Reid

Marbury, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The sole question on this appeal is whether the motion of the defendant-appellant for a directed verdict at the end of the plaintiff’s case renewed at the end of the defendant’s case, should have been granted. On May 17, 1965, the plaintiff-appellee, Bessie C. Reid, was returning home from work traveling in a southerly direction on Maryland Route No. 355 in the village of Urbana, Frederick County. She reached the lane leading to her home at approximately 5:20 p.m. and after turning on her left turn signal light, came to a full stop to wait for an oncoming vehicle to pass so that she could proceed across the highway and into her driveway.

She testified that when she stopped she looked in her rear view mirror and that there was nothing coming behind her. The defendant-appellant, Chester Edward Moore, who was driving a pickup truck traveling in the same direction as Mrs. Reid, collided with the rear of the Reid vehicle while it was standing waiting to make a left turn, driving it 96 feet into a utility pole which was sheared off by the impact. The force of the impact caused Mrs. Reid to sustain multiple cuts and abrasions to her back and head, in addition to a severe cervical strain and injuries to her back and shoulder. A state police officer, Trooper 1st Class Ronald C. Lewis, who investigated the accident, testified as to the point of impact, ¹⁶⁹ the position that the vehicles were in when he arrived and the statement made to him by the defendant.

This statement was to the effect that he, the defendant, was driving in excess of the thirty miles per hour speed limit, that he had consumed four bottles of beer at about 2:00 p.m., and that just before the collision he was “looking out in a field and looked back in the road and saw Mrs. Reid’s vehicle was stopped.” There was no evidence that the appellant made any effort to stop. Another witness, Mr. Marion G. Lawson, testified that he was standing about