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303 S.W.2d 250

Puckett v. Elsner

Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · decided 1957-06-07

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““We believe there is no longer any useful purpose in the rebuttable presumption against capacity for contributory negligence as to children within the seven to 14 age group. Rather, we consider it appropriate in cases involving such litigants that they be charged with contributory negligence to the extent that their acts may be deemed violative of the degree of care usually exercised by ordinarily prudent children of the same age, intelligence and experience under like or similar circumstances. This is not to say that no case could arise in which it would be proper to find a child in the 7-14 age group guilty or free of contributory negligence as a matter of law, but it is to say that the case at bar is not such a one. Our earlier decisions to the contrary shall no longer be authoritative as to the presumption against capacity as it relates to children seven to 14, inclusive. Henceforth, when an issue is presented respecting the contributory negligence of a minor plaintiff seven or more years of age, unless the contributory negligence (or lack of it) is established as a matter of law} (emphasis ours) the jury shall be instructed that the minor is charged with the duty to exercise care for his own safety, commensurate with that degree of care usually exercised by an ordinarily prudent minor of the same age, intelligence and experience of the plaintiff.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Shelanie ex rel. Shelanie v. National Fireworks Ass'n

“shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, stipulations, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Hartford Insurance Group v. Citizens Fidelity Bank & Trust Co.

Relies on Bell v. Harmon · Vaughn v. Jones · Heskamp v. Bradshaw's Adm'r

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1957-06-07

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently November 2018

13 state decisions

401957196019701980199020002010decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

SIMS, Judge.

¶1 Plaintiff, James G. Puckett, while crossing Bells Lane on the outskirts of Louisville on August 15, 1955, was struck and injured by the automobile of defendant, James L. Eisner, and he sued Eisner for $10,500 damages. The complaint averred the accident was caused by the negligence of defendant. The answer denied negligence and averred the accident was caused by the sole negligence of plaintiff and further pleaded contributory negligence upon the part of plaintiff.

¶2 Defendant took the deposition of plaintiff by way of discovery, and on this depo *251 sition and the affidavits of two witnesses, the trial judge gave a summary judgment for defendant on the ground that plaintiff’s deposition showed there was no genuine issue of fact and plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. On this appeal plaintiff insists the court erred in giving a summary judgment against him and contends that he is entitled to a jury trial.

¶3 The deposition and the affidavits reveal these facts. Plaintiff was 74 years of age at the time of the accident and was in the daily habit of walking from his home, two blocks north of Bells Lane, to a grocery on the south side of the lane. On the day in. question he walked down the private road of a transportation company to where it intersects Bells Lane and crossed the lane at this point. There was no cross-walk at the intersection but there is some testimony it was regularly used as a crosswalk.

¶4 The accident happened around noon on a bright day and the macadam surface of the lane was dry. Plaintiff was returning home from the grocery when he stopped at a point on the south side of the lane opposite the private road he was accustomed to travel when returning to his home from the grocery. Plaintiff testified he could see 700 or 800 yards each way and that he looked both ways before he started across the road. Not seeing anything coming from either direction, he started across. The width of the road is not shown but it has two traffic lanes. There is a rather sharp curve in the road 700 or 800 yards east of the point where plaintiff was crossing.

¶5 When plaintiff had gotten about two-thirds of the way across the road, he suddenly saw defendant’s car 10 or 12 feet from him. Defendant was traveling west at a speed described in the affidavit of Robert Warren as “too fast for the existing road conditions.” At the time plaintiff saw defendant’s car, he tried to jump out of the way but was unsuccessful and the car hit him in his right side. After the accident a considerable number of feet of skid marks were seen on the roadway.

¶6 From the meager evidence in the record it appears there were no other vehicles on the road near the point of the accident and there was nothing to have prevented defendant from seeing plaintiff in the road when defendant came around the curve 700 or 800 yards away, nor was there anything to have prevented defendant from avoiding striking plaintiff by pulling his car around him.

¶7 Admitting arguendo that plaintiff was negligent in not seeing defendant’s approaching car when he started across the road, yet if defendant discovered plaintiff’s peril, and by the use of ordinary care could have avoided injuring plaintiff and failed to do so, then defendant is liable to plaintiff despite plaintiff’s contributory negligence in crossing the road. Heskamp v. Bradshaw’s Admr., 294 Ky. 618, 172 S.W.2d 447.

¶8 A summary judgment must be cautiously granted and the procedure is not a substitute for a trial. It is a time-saving device and it should be granted only when the court is fully satisfied there is an absence of a genuine and material factual issue, and all doubt must be resolved in favor of the party opposing the motion. Hoskins’ Admr. v. Ky. Ridge Coal Co., Ky., 277 S.W.2d 57; Harmon v. Bell, Ky., 284 S.W.2d 812. The party moving for a summary judgment under CR 56 has the burden of establishing that no genuine issue as to material fact exists and that he is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Clay CR, page 503, Comment 4. Even though the trial court should believe the party opposing the motion may not succeed at a trial, yet the court should not give a summary judgment if there is any material issue of fact. Clay CR, page 502; Landy v. Silverman, 1 Cir., 189 F.2d 80.

¶9 True, there is evidence in this record which would indicate plaintiff was *252 guilty of contributory negligence in not seeing defendant’s approaching car when plaintiff testified he looked both ways before crossing the road. Vaughn v. Jones, Ky., 257 S.W.2d 583. However, plaintiff’s deposition taken on discovery and the affidavits filed in his behalf indicate there might be a question for the application of the last clear chance doctrine. Since we do not have any evidence as to- defendant’s version of the accident and as all inferences of fact from the proof bn motion for summary judgment are construed against movant, we cannot say the last clear chance doctrine would not apply here. Defendant did not show clearly and conclusively there was no issue as to any material fact here, as there is left unexplained his action immediately preceding the accident, and it would seem there is a question for determination of whether or not he could have averted the accident by the use of ordinary care after discovering plaintiff’s peril.

¶10 The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded for trial.

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