Rattley v. Powell

This case was here before upon the appeal of plaintiff from a judgment of nonsuit, and will be found reported as Henderson v. Powell and Rattley v. Powell, 221 N.C. 239. (For summary of facts, see that case.) The defendants had prevailed in their motion for nonsuit upon the evidence upon the theory either that the trial disclosed no evidence to go to the jury upon the issue of defendants negligence, or that such negligence was insulated by the intervening negligent conduct of McCrimmon, the driver of the car in which Rattley, the intestate, was a guest when killed. The decision of this Court was adverse to the defendants upon both points, and the case was sent back for a new trial, without restriction of the issues to any phase of the case. The factual situation disclosed by the evidence on the second trial does not differ materially from the case as it then stood; and the views expressed by the Court in that decision with respect to the negligence of the defendants and the suggested insulation thereof by the conduct of McCrimmon become the law of the case.