Kendall

J.—The respondent has moved under the provisions of rule V, subdivision 3, of California Court Rules, to dismiss the appeal in this ease on the ground that the issues are unsubstantial and that the appeal was taken merely for delay. The appellants’ opening brief has been filed.

We are of the opinion that the appeal presents a legal problem too serious to justify the dismissal of the case without a hearing on its merits. The appellants contend that there is no evidence supporting the findings or judgment that their alleged negligence contributed in anywise to the injuries sustained by the plaintiff. The accident which is the foundation of this litigation involves the collision of three automobiles. The appellants’ car was following the machine in which the plaintiff rode as a passenger, in the night-time, down grade on a straight unobstructed highway at a distance of about 150 yards. They were traveling fifty or sixty miles an hour. The car in which the plaintiff and four other men were riding met an approaching machine driven by Norman Gobet, whom one witness testified was drunk. Gobet swerved his ear over onto the wrong side of the highway in the pathway of the other machines,…