(DOWNLOAD) "Rayfield v. Rayfield" by Supreme Court of North Carolina ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Rayfield v. Rayfield
- Author : Supreme Court of North Carolina
- Release Date : January 12, 1955
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
Taken in the light most favorable to plaintiff, his evidence tends to establish these facts: On the morning of April 13, 1961, defendant drove a 1960 Chrysler New Yorker, an automobile his employer had purchased new approximately six months earlier, into the service garage of Headford Motors, Inc. in Charlotte. This automobile had a 360-horsepower engine and an automatic transmission, which was controlled by push buttons located at the extreme left of the instrument panel. There were buttons for "Drive," "Low," "Reverse," and "Neutral," but none for "Park." Defendant stopped the car inside the garage, a short distance from the rear of a Chrysler Imperial. He set the parking brake, and, leaving the motor running with the transmission in the "drive" position, he got out to report to the service manager that the left-turn signal was not working. At no time thereafter did defendant cut off the motor or change the push-button from "drive." Defendant then got back under the steering wheel and E. N. Buchanan, a mechanic, came to check the signal. At that time, plaintiff, also a mechanic employed by the garage, was leaning against the bumper of the Chrysler Impeial a few feet in front of defendants car, talking to a third employee. Buchanan got in the car on the right side, lay down on the floorboard, and proceeded to check the wiring under the dashboard. When this endeavor brought him to the steering column, defendant got out and went to a telephone booth about 125 feet away. Although the motor was still running with the transmission in "drive," defendant said nothing to Buchanan about these conditions and Buchanan was unaware of them. He said he neither heard any noise nor felt any vibration from the engine. As he inched his way across the center of the floorboard on his back, his left shoulder hit the gas pedal. The car roared and lunged forward into the rear of the Chrysler Imperial. It, in turn, hit the back of a Plymouth, which then flattened a tar barrel against the wall of the garage. Plaintiffs left leg was crushed between the front bumper of the New Yorker and the rear bumper of the Imperial.