210 N.W. 630 | Minn. | 1926
The order for judgment is based exclusively on the ground of plaintiff's contributory negligence. Plaintiff testified that he had clear vision from the place of the accident for a distance of 1,000 feet, that he looked at the road before he walked across it from one car to the other and that he didn't see any cars within a reasonable distance but that he saw a car about three or four blocks away when he started. He said that he paid no attention to the car because it was far away; that he looked both ways on the road, that is, that he looked toward Eveleth first and looked toward Virginia and then started to walk; that while walking he was facing in the general direction of Virginia and that he had no idea that the car he saw 1,000 feet away would come up and overtake him before he got to his destination.
Plaintiff was traveling along the highway in substantially the same direction as defendant. He was not merely crossing the highway. He was on the right hand side of the pavement. He had a right to rely upon the exercise of reasonable care by drivers of automobiles who might approach from the rear. Failure to anticipate omission of such care does not render him negligent nor is he bound as a matter of law to be continually looking or listening for approaching automobiles under penalty of the charge of negligence if he fails to do so. Whether plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in this case was a question of fact about which reasonable persons might differ. It was for the jury. There is sufficient evidence in the record to support the verdict. Yorek v. Potter,
Reversed.