Marshall v. Nugent Case Brief

Marshall v. Nugent 222 F.2d 604 (1st Cir. 1955) • Marshall was riding in Harriman's car on an icy road. Harriman saw a truck driven by Nugent coming towards him and swerved, losing control of the car and ending up in a ditch. Nugent stopped his truck in the middle of the road and got out to help. The three of them worked to get the car out of the ditch. • Prince came along, saw the truck blocking the road, swerved, lost control on the ice and ran into Marshall, who was injured. • Marshall sued Nugent and Prince. • The Trial Court found for Marshall and against Nugent. Nugent appealed. • Nugent argued that he was not the proximate cause of the accident. • The Appellate Court affirmed the verdict. • The Appellate Court found that all the events, from the original Harriman swerve to Marshall getting run over by Prince, were all part of the same general event. • This case can be distinguished from Ventricelli v. Kinney System Rent a Car, Inc., because in that case Kinney put Ventricelli in the wrong place at the wrong time, but didn't put Ventricelli in a position of increased danger. In this case, Nugent's action put Marshall in a place of increased danger. • Ventricelli was parked in a legal parking place, Marshall was flagging down cars on an icy highway. Project Wonderful -Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0