Cassinelli

About 4:45 o’clock in the morning, in the month of July, 1927, respondent, Giovanni Cassinelli, while on his way to work, alighted from a south-bound Valencia Street car at Eighteenth Street in San Francisco, and after the car continued on he proceeded to cross to the east side of the street. Just as he was about to step on the sidewalk he was struck and injured by a jitney bus driven by the appellant Herman Bennen. As a result of the injuries received he brought this action for damages and a jury awarded him a verdict of $3,000. From the judgment entered thereon this appeal was taken, three grounds for reversal being urged, first, that the evidence fails to show negligence on the part of the appellant; second, that the evidence shows contributory negligence on the part of respondent; and third, that the court committed error in giving certain instructions to the jury.

The evidence relating to the cause of the accident consisted of the testimony given by the two parties. Respondent testified that when the street-car stopped he stepped down from the rear platform thereof into the center of the safety zone and waited for the car to continue on; that after the car crossed Eighteenth…