Texler v. D.O. Summers Cleaners & Shirt Laundry Co.

Summary

The Ohio Supreme Court considered whether the trial court should have granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the ground that the appellant was more than fifty percent negligent. The court held that reasonable minds could differ regarding the allocation of negligence between the pedestrian and the cleaner, reversed the court of appeals, and remanded for consideration of the remaining assignments of error.

Holdings

1. Judgment notwithstanding the verdict was improper because reasonable minds could differ as to the allocation of negligence between the appellant and the appellee.
2. A pedestrian using a public sidewalk must use care reasonably proportioned to the danger likely to be encountered, but is not required as a matter of law to look constantly downward or keep the eyes on the sidewalk at all times.
3. To establish actionable negligence, a plaintiff must show a duty, a breach of that duty, and an injury proximately resulting from the breach.

Questions Presented

1. Whether reasonable minds could reach only the conclusion that the appellant contributed more than fifty percent of the negligence under Ohio's comparative-negligence law.
2. Whether the appellant was required as a matter of law to look constantly downward while walking on the sidewalk.
3. Whether judgment notwithstanding the verdict was proper when evidence supported the jury's allocation of negligence.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded