forrest Paul Et Al. v. Roy Hodd Et Al‪.‬

The accident occurred September 20, 1954, about 4:30 in the afternoon when a car owned by defendant Roy Hodd, driven by his minor son, Gerald Hodd, went off the blacktop highway and rolled over. Hodd was driving in an easterly direction on Highway 77, a blacktop highway with a marked center line. At the time of the accident the wind was blowing and it was raining. The driver admitted that vision was poor because of the rain. The entire surface of the road was wet and covered with water, and at the place of the accident the pavement was slippery. As he left Hayward, Wisconsin, Gerald was traveling at a speed of about 25 miles per hour. Traveling east on Highway 77, he increased his speed and passed a car driven by a farmer, Thara, who at the trial testified that he (Thara) was going from 30 to 35 miles per hour. In passing the car, Gerald crossed the center line but then returned to his own side of the road. He testified that he was then going about 40 miles per hour. He got safely around the Thara car. Some distance ahead of the place where he passed it, there was a driveway, running north and south, coming into Highway 77 at its south edge. This driveway was about 20 inches higher than the ditch at the side of the shoulder of the highway and blocked the ditch. About 48-60 feet from this driveway the Hodd car went off the blacktop. After traveling along the shoulder and partially in the ditch, the Hodd car turned to the right and tipped and landed on the driveway with all four wheels in the air and with the front of the car facing in a southerly direction. Gary Paul, a minor and a guest in the Hodd car was thrown partially out of the car and killed. The other passenger in the Hodd car was a fifteen-year-old brother of Gerald Hodd.