Smith v. Occidental & Oriental Steamship Co.

Citations

• 99 Cal. 462
• 34 P. 84
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 692

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Contributory Negligence—Question of Law—Nonsuit.—In an action for negligence, when the facts are undisputed and clearly settled, contributory negligence is a question of law for the court to determine, and if, at the close of the testimony, the facts shown by the evidence together with the inferences therefrom which reasonable men would agree upon are clearly defined, it is the duty of the court, upon proper application therefor, if it shall he of the opinion that these facts establish contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff, or do not as a matter of law constitute negligence on the part of the defendant, to grant a nonsuit, or direct a verdict in favor of the defendant.</p> <p>Id. — Question of Fact for Jury.—When the evidence is conflicting, or when reasonable men might differ as to the inferences which ought to be drawn from the undisputed evidence, the question of negligence or contributory negligence is one of fact for the jury to determine; and this rule is especially applicable when the negligence of the plaintiff depends upon conflicting evidence or the credibility of witnesses, or a comparison of his conduct with that which may be assumed to be the conduct of an ordinary man, or results from a disregard of his knowledge of the surroundings, and that knowledge depends upon his opportunity to acquire it from experience.</p> <p>In.—Proximity and Sequence of Facts—Province of Jury.—The proximity of one fact to another in a case, and their relation or sequence to each other, is essentially within the province of the jury to determine, and whenever the injury complained of is the result of a series of acts that are interlinked with or dependent upon each other, the certainty that the final act is the result of a prior one diminishes in proportion to the remoteness of the first act from the result, and the jury must determine whether the several acts constitute such a successive series, or are linked together so as to form one continuo