Beck v. Haley

HERRMANN, Justice:

This is an appeal from judgment for the plaintiff in an automobile negligence case. The determinative question is whether the jury instruction as to the law of contributory negligence was sufficiently related to the facts. We think not.

At the outset, it is important to note that the issue of contributory negligence is, as the Trial Judge stated, a “close factual issue” in this case. That this is so appears from the following uncontroverted facts:

The accident occurred on Main Street in Clayton. The plaintiff Russell J. Haley was operating a taxicab in an easterly direction on…