Maryland Accident Lawyer Summary and Analysis of
Heffner v. Admiral Tax Serv., Inc., 196 Md. 465, 77 A.2d 127 (1950). 

 

     Plaintiff, a 56 year-old man with heart trouble, was a pedestrian who was hit by a taxi as he was crossing at the intersection of Howard Street and Franklin Street in Baltimore, Maryland.  Plaintiff brought a personal injury claim and the jury awarded the Plaintiff a whopping $500 (which probably was not bad money in 1950).  

     The trial court granted defendants' motion for a JNOV, because the defendant had had a green light and, accordingly, Plaintiff was contributorily negligent as a matter of law.  The Maryland Court of Appeals agreed that it is the duty of the pedestrian to use reasonable care in walking on a street and to act as an ordinarily prudent person would under similar circumstances.  But the court also found that a motorist approaching a street intersection must exercise greater vigilance than when he is driving between intersections and that a green light does not give drivers the right to drive recklessly through the intersection without regard to traffic conditions and the safety of pedestrians on the crosswalk.  In this case, the pedestrian was three quarters of the way across a four-lane thoroughfare.  This is not contributory negligence as a matter of law according to the Maryland Court of Appeals. 

     The take home message from this case, which is still the law today - 57 years later - in Maryland, is that even if you have a green light, you must exercise reasonable care to avoid running into any cars or pedestrians who have not yet made it across the street. 

 

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