Ralph E. Eckis v. Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co., Inc., a Delaware Corporation

This tort action was brought by the appellant in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and resulted in a jury verdict for the appellee, Graver Tank & Manufacturing Co., Inc. The sole error alleged is that the trial court permitted a highway patrolman to state his opinion as to the point of impact in the collision involved here, based on physical conditions he found at the scene of the collision.

On April 17, 1957, appellant Ralph E. Eckis was driving his car in a southerly direction on U. S. Highway 97 in Jefferson County, Oregon. At the same time Floyd E. Holliday, an employee of appellee corporation, was driving appellee’s truck in a northerly direction on the same stretch of highway, acting in the scope of his employment. In passing each other the left sides of the two vehicles collided, as a result of which appellant lost his left arm and suffered other injuries.

The highway where the accident occurs red is about twenty-three feet wide with an intermittent yellow center stripe. Although other cars were following both vehicles at the time of the collision, no one in those cars was able to say which vehicle was on the wrong side of the center stripe when…