Cochran

Plaintiff sued the defendant Brown and the two defendant railroad corporations for personal injuries suffered in a collision between an inter urban car operated by the corporations and an automobile operated by the defendant Brown, and in which the plaintiff was riding as Brown’s guest at the time of the collision. The cause was tried before the court sitting with a jury and resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $5,000 against the two railroad corporations, and in a verdict absolving defendant Brown from liability. While the motion of the railroad corporations for a new trial was pending the trial court reduced the judgment to $3,000, and upon plaintiff’s waiver of the excess over that amount the motion for a new trial was denied. From this modified judgment the railroad corporations have appealed upon a bill of exceptions.

The collision occurred at about midnight on December 17, 1922, while the plaintiff, riding with the defendant Brown in the latter’s automobile, was attempting to cross Ellsworth Avenue in the city of San Mateo, at the intersection of Tilton Avenue. At that time, and for a long time prior thereto, the defendant corporations were…