Gary South Coast Agency v. Pacific Electric Railway Co.

Appeal from a judgment entered in favor of the defendant denying the prayer of the plaintiff for damages. The complaint alleged that while a motor-truck belonging to the plaintiff was traveling across the tracks of the defendant at a street intersection in the city of Los Angeles, a car of the defendant collided with the truck, causing damage in an amount stated. It was alleged that the collision was caused by the negligence and carelessness of defendant in operating the street-car. The answer denied the charge of negligence and affirmatively alleged that the damage, if any, which plaintiff claimed, was proximately caused by the negligence of plaintiff’s employees in the operation of the truck. It was stipulated in the course of the trial that an ordinance of the city of Los Angeles prohibited the running of street-cars at a greater speed than twelve miles per hour. The trial court found that the defendant was not negligent “except that it did operate the same [meaning the car] at a speed of about twenty-five miles per hour, in violation of the ordinance of said city of Los Angeles prohibiting a greater speed than twenty miles per hour.” The finding further was that the defendant…