Severin v. Cox

Plaintiff, a young college student, while riding his motorcycle in a northerly direction on Orange Avenue in the city of Fresno, struck a barricade erected along an open trench across the east side of the avenue. He filed the present action for damages against the defendant, a plumbing contractor, who excavated the trench to put in a sewer connection. A jury awarded plaintiff damages in the sum of $6,000.

Appellant’s argument is devoted entirely to the contention that, under the evidence, plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, and that the judgment should therefore…