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269 N.C. 689

153 S.E.2d 333

Black v. Wilkinson

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided March 22, 1967

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1967-03-22

Relies on Pruett v. Inman · Tart v. Register · Bondurant v. Mastin

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1967-03-22

How this case has been cited

Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently October 1980

16 state decisions

120196719701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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PER CuRiAM.

¶1 Taking the plaintiff’s evidence as true, as we are required to do in considering the correctness of the judgment of nonsuit, it is sufficient to support a finding of negligence by the defendant, which was the proximate cause of the collisions. Driving into the plaintiff’s lane of travel under such circumstances would constitute negligence by the defendant. G.S. 20-154(a); Raper v. Byrum, 265 N.C. 269, 144 S.E. 2d 38. Sugg v. Baker, 261 *691 N.C. 579, 135 S.E. 2d 565; Tart v. Register, 257 N.C. 161, 125 S.E. 2d 754; Mitchell v. White, 256 N.C. 437, 124 S.E. 2d 137.

¶2 A judgment of nonsuit may not properly be entered on the ground of contributory negligence unless the plaintiff’s own evidence shows such negligence by him so clearly that no other reasonable conclusion may be drawn therefrom. Pruett v. Inman, 252 N.C. 520, 114 S.E. 2d 360. If the facts were as the plaintiff testified them to be, he was faced with a sudden emergency and his action in running upon the snow covered shoulder in order to avoid colliding with the defendant’s vehicle would not constitute negligence. See Bondurant v. Mastin, 252 N.C. 190, 113 S.E. 2d 292.

¶3 Reversed.

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