Edrington

Appellant, Stanley Wayne Edrington, brought an action for personal injuries and for damages to his truck received in a highway accident on December 14,1956.

The accident happened about 3 a. m. one-half mile south of San Lucas, California. A lumber truck owned by respondent Stong, and being driven in a southerly direction by respondent Fowler, “jackknifed,” crashed through a guard rail, and came to rest, on fire, in an open field. Lumber was scattered over the highway. Shortly thereafter a truck driven and owned by appellant Edrington approached the scene from the north. At the same time, a truck owned by plaintiff and respondent Tatum was approaching from the south. As Edrington rounded a curve, he observed the flames from Fowler’s truck ahead of him and to the right. He then observed lumber on the highway ahead, but was unable to stop his truck before hitting the lumber. Meanwhile, the Tatum truck had nearly stopped about 300 feet short of Fowler’s blazing truck. Edrington’s truck went out of control when it hit the lumber on the highway. It veered into the oncoming traffic lane, continued down the highway for about 200 feet, then struck and took out approximately 80 feet of…