Bowden v. Walla Walla Valley Railway Co.

Citations

• 79 Wash. 184
• 140 P. 549
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1210

Syllabus

<p>Street Railroads — Injuries — Contributory Negligence — Failure to Look — Evidence—Sufficiency. Tbe driver of an automobile, struck by a street car at a country crossing, is guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, where it clearly appears from plaintiffs’ evidence, that, as the ear and automobile were approaching the crossing at about the same speed, the car might have been seen at any point from forty to one hundred feet from the crossing if the driver of the automobile had looked in the direction of the approaching car, and he only looked in that direction once, through a window in the curtain, at a point from 150 to 175 feet from the crossing, when the car was in plain sight according to witnesses for the plaintiffs who were in the car and saw the driver paying no attention to the car.</p> <p>Appeal — -Review—Verdict. Where a verdict, in spite of evidence of plaintiffs’ contributory negligence was for the plaintiff, but for wholly inadequate damages, it is evident that the jury believed plaintiffs were not blameless.</p>