Scott

Christine Scott, a passenger in a Chevrolet, brought suit against the driver of a Renault, the driver of a Volkswagon, and Texaco, Inc., the owner of a tanker truck for personal injuries arising out of a multi-vehicle automobile accident.

Events started when the Renault went out of control at night on the downhill curve of a two-lane transition road connecting two Los Angeles freeways, turned over, and came to rest in the left lane. Mrs. Seott’s Chevrolet stopped in the left lane about two car-lengths behind the Renault, and four to six other automobiles stopped behind it in the same lane. Mrs. Scott got out of her automobile in order to warn other vehicles of the accident and get flares from the trunk. While on the highway she waved her hand at approaching cars and shouted, “A wreck, a wreck.” Two cars in the right lane saw her wave. One slowed down and then drove on. The other, a Volkswagon, slowed or stopped in the right lane in response to her signal. At that moment, a fully-loaded Texaco gasoline truck came around the curve of the transition road, found both lanes blocked 150 feet ahead, applied its brakes, but was unable to stop until after it had struck Mrs. Scott, the…