Jines v. Greyhound Corp‪.‬

This personal injury action, brought by Samuel Jines in the municipal court of Evanston, resulted in a $400,000 verdict against the defendant, The Greyhound Corporation. The Appellate Court, First Judicial District, affirmed (Jines v. Greyhound Corp. 46 Ill. App.2d 364,) and we granted leave to appeal. Plaintiff sustained severe injuries as the result of an accident which occurred when defendant's bus struck the rear of a stalled automobile in which plaintiff was sitting at 10:30 in the evening, March 16, 1961, on U.S. Highway 20 just west of Elgin. On the evening of the accident, plaintiff, together with his brothers, Harry and James, and a friend, Dennis McKiness, went for a ride in a 1950 Mercury automobile recently purchased by James for $62.50. It was a clear, cold night and the roads were dry. About 9:30 P.M. while they were driving east on U.S. Highway 20, a straight blacktop road, 24 feet wide, the car stalled on the highway. They pushed it on to the shoulder, and shortly thereafter a passing motorist, Jay C. Black, gave them a push for 2 or 3 miles in a futile attempt to start the car. The plaintiff and James Jines testified that they again pushed the car off the highway, but the motorist who gave them a push said the car came to a stop on the shoulder. Another motorist pushed the car about 3/4 of a mile, but it again failed to start. This time the car came to rest in the east-bound lane of U.S. 20 and plaintiff and his brother James testified that they attempted to push the car off the highway, but were unable to move it as a wheel brake appeared to be ""frozen"".