Hall V. Coble Dairies Inc‪.‬

The plaintiff alleges in pertinent part that on the night of 27 September, 1947, at about 7:30 o'clock, a large tractor-trailer of the corporate defendant, in charge of the individual defendant, was parked on the paved portion of U.S. Highway No. 70 within the corporate limits of the Town of Glen Alpine, North Carolina, with the truck and trailer entirely blocking the right side of the highway, "without displaying lights, flares or lanterns 200 feet in the front and rear of said truck and trailer," in violation of "the laws of the State of North Carolina governing the operation of motor vehicles"; that the plaintiff came along in his 1941 Chevrolet automobile, driving eastwardly, "in a careful and prudent manner, on his right hand side of said highway," and at about 30 miles per hour; "that it was dusk dark and visibility was poor; that a short distance from the scene of the accident . . . there is a dip in the highway, and as plaintiff reached the crest of the hill, suddenly and without warning he saw in front of him, parked on the highway, the truck and trailer belonging to defendant Coble Dairies, Inc.; . . . that said truck and trailer had been parked there for some time . . .; that just behind said trailer, and standing on the highway, were three men, one of whom was the defendant, James Lester Dockery, and one of whom was another employee of Coble Dairies, Inc., . . .; that motor vehicles were traveling on the highway in westward direction, and plaintiff, in an effort to avoid hitting the men standing back of the truck and trailer . . ., and to avoid driving into the oncoming traffic, applied his brakes and swerved sharply to the right and onto the shoulder of said highway, causing the automobile to skid into the right rear side of said trailer, which caused his wife's head to be thrown against the windshield of said car, breaking her nose and inflicting serious and painful cuts and bruises on her face and body;"