[DOWNLOAD] "Smith v. Bishop" by Supreme Court of Illinois ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Smith v. Bishop
- Author : Supreme Court of Illinois
- Release Date : January 18, 1965
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 70 KB
Description
TheDA Smith brought suit in the circuit court of Champaign County against Thomas W. Bishop, Jr., for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident. At the conclusion of the trial the court directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the issue of contributory negligence. The jury found the defendant guilty of negligence and awarded damages to the plaintiff in the amount of $50,415. On defendant's appeal the Appellate Court reversed and remanded for a new trial on the ground that there was enough evidence of contributory negligence to make it a question for the jury, and that the trial court erred in directing a verdict on that issue. (Smith v. Bishop, 51 Ill. App.2d 240, 201 N.E.2d 259). The cause is here for further review on a certificate of importance granted by the Appellate Court. Plaintiff's injuries were incurred on August 23, 1958, when the car in which she was riding with her husband and their three small children crashed into a milk truck driven by defendant. They had taken their son to a physician in Bloomington for treatment of a foot condition and the accident occurred about 11 A.M. as they were traveling southeast along U.S. Route 150 on their way home. Plaintiff's husband was driving. She was seated in the front seat on the right side, with her 5-month-old daughter on her lap and a 4-year-old daughter between her husband and herself. The boy was in the back seat. As they rounded a curve going about 60 miles per hour she saw a milk truck traveling in the same direction. It was proceeding about 45 miles per hour but slowing down. They started to pass the truck as it eased over a little to the right, but when they were within some 75 feet of it, it turned left in front of them and headed into a farm driveway. She screamed and shouted ""Look out!"" Her husband pulled to the right but collided with the left rear corner of the truck. He and their two small daughters were killed. The plaintiff and the boy were seriously injured. The evidence shows that the highway was then in the process of being widened. The left lane was eleven feet wide but the right one was only nine feet, with a 6-inch ""drop-off"" on the edge. The bed of the milk truck was about eight feet wide. It further appears that the truck driver had turned on his left-turn signals as he rounded the curve, some 600 feet from the farm driveway, and that at least the front ones remained blinking all the way. The rear directional lights were fastened to the chassis under an overhanging truck bed about three feet from the rear of the bed and two feet in from the edge. Plaintiff did not see them. According to the defendant's testimony he looked into his rear-view mirror before he made the turn, and saw a car coming from behind just rounding the curve. He said he did not know there was one close enough to pass him.