Kovacs v. Sturgeon

Plaintiff, William Kovacs, appeals from a judgment entered upon a defense verdict in a personal injury action which arose out of a collision between a motor vehicle driven by defendant, Sturgeon, and plaintiff as a pedestrian.

The principal issue of this appeal is whether' the trial court was justified, under the facts, in instructing on the doctrine of assumption of risk. We have determined it was error, serious and prejudicial, and therefore reversible to have instructed on this doctrine.

The accident happened on November 10, 1964, at about 10 p.m. when plaintiff was walking as a pedestrian…