Washington Law Review
Abstract
P was helping to push F's car out of a ditch and while standing beside the car he failed to see the approach of D's auto over the crest of a hill 250 feet behind him. D saw F's automobile partially blocking the road and tried to stop or avoid it, but his car went out of control, slid broadside down the slippery road and struck P, pinning him between the two cars as they collided. The trial court gave the jury an instruction on last clear chance, apparently for the reason that although D was unable to stop his car, as a reasonable man he might have been able to blow his horn, which would have warned P. Judgment for P. On appeal, Held: Reversed; new trial granted. Last clear chance is inapplicable, because although P's clear chance to get out of the way might have been imputable to D for his failure to blow his horn, under the "emergency rule" D was not negligent as a matter of law. Bergstrom v. Ove, 139 Wash. Dec. 73, 234 P. 2d 548 (1951).
First Page
158
Recommended Citation
Gordon F. Crandall,
Recent Cases,
Negligence—Last Clear Chance—Emergency Rule,
27 Wash. L. Rev. & St. B.J.
158
(1952).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol27/iss2/6