Ellsworth v. Jarvis

Citations

• 92 Kan. 895
• 141 P. 1135
• 1914 Kan. LEXIS 339

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Negligence — Driving Automobile — Damages—Petition Sufficient as Against Demurrer. A petition charging negligent conduct resulting in injury to another, being sufficient in other respects, states a cause of action whenever the court is able to say that the inference of negligence may reasonably be drawn from the facts alleged, notwithstanding the ultimate pronouncement of liability must be made by a jury.</p> <p>2. Same — Duty of Driver of Automobile in Presence of Frightened Horse. Section 452 of the General Statutes of 1909, relating to the operation of automobiles on public highways, did not specifically forbid an automobile driver to stop without a signal or specifically require him to stop his motor if he should stop his car. The statute, however, did require the driver of an automobile to exercise reasonable precaution to prevent the frightening of horses and injury to the person driving them; and if reasonable precaution should, under the circumstances of a particular meeting with horses, require the automobile driver to proceed without stopping or to stop his motor if he stopped his car, the failure to take such precaution would constitute negligence.</p> <p>3. Same — Negligence•—Automobiles—Petition States Cause of Action. The petition examined, and held to state a cause of action for negligence on the part of an automobile driver who, on meeting a team of frightened horses which had been turned to one side of the road and halted by the driver, stopped alongside the team and allowed his engine to continue to run, thereby causing the horses to become panic-stricken and to lunge sidewise away from the car.</p>