GUPTON BY GUPTON v. McCombs

JOHNSON, Judge.

The dispositive issue on this appeal is whether the court erred in submitting an instruction on the doctrine of sudden emergency. For the following reasons, we conclude it did err and award plaintiffs a new trial.

At approximately 3:45 p.m. on 12 June 1982, Mrs. McCombs was traveling east at approximately 30 to 35 miles per hour on Spring Forest Road, a two lane road, in Raleigh, North Carolina when she observed a boy, plaintiff Shane Gupton, standing on the side of the road. When she saw the person was a child, she slowed down to approximately 25 to 30 miles per hour. As she…