Atherton v. Tacoma Railway & Power Co.

Citations

• 30 Wash. 395
• 71 P. 39
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 702

Syllabus

<p>STREET RAILWAYS-COLLISION WITH TEAM-DANGEROUS RATE OF SPEED-EVIDENCE.</p> <p>In an action against an electric street car company to recover for injuries resulting from a collision with plaintiff’s team, occasioned because of the operation of a ear at a high rate of speed, evidence showing that the customary rate of speed of cars on the line was in excess of the limit 'prescribed by ordinance is irrelevant (Christensen v. Union Trunk Line, 6 Wash. 75, followed).</p> <p>SAME-INSTRUCTIONS.</p> <p>An instruction, in effect, that no recovery could be had on account of a collision with an electric car, if the speed of the car was within the limit prescribed by ordinance and if the bells were rung, is erroneous, since negligence in the rate of running the car must be determined from all the surrounding circumstances.</p> <p>NEGLIGENCE-REASONABLE CARE OF PLAINTIFF-PROXIMATE CAUSE-INSTRUCTIONS.</p> <p>An instruction conveying the idea that slight negligence on the plaintiff’s part is sufficient to excuse negligence on the part of the defendant is erroneous, since the jury should be directed to the question as to whose negligence is the proximate cause of the injury.</p> <p>SAME-CAUSE OE ACCIDENT-QUESTION FOR JUEY.</p> <p>An instruction assuming as a matter of law that there was negligence in the happening of an accident is erroneous, as that is always a question of fact.</p>