Crosby

Plaintiffs in this personal injury action appeal from an adverse judgment which was entered pursuant to a jury’s verdict. They rely upon errors of law which are claimed to have been highly prejudicial.

Plaintiffs, two Negro women, were injured in a collision of automobiles which occurred within the intersection of San Pedro Street and Vernon Avenue, in the city of Los Angeles. Plaintiffs were traveling east on Vernon and defendants south on San Pedro; this was shortly before noon on May 25, 1955. Defendants’ automobile ran head-on into the left rear fender of plaintiffs’ ear, a 1951 Mercury, and the point of impact was within the southwest quarter of the intersection. The crucial issue was who ran the red light.

Plaintiffs testified that they approached and entered the intersection at a moderate speed of 20 to 25 miles an hour, that the green signal light was with them when they entered. Neither one of them saw defendants’ car until just before they were struck. Plaintiffs’ witness Robert Lee Hall, who was sitting on the fire plug at the northwest corner of the intersection, testified that he saw defendants go south through a red light at a speed of 45 to 50 miles an hour and…