Allen v. De Winne

268 S.W.2d 677, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 12, 1954
Docket12628
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 268 S.W.2d 677 (Allen v. De Winne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. De Winne, 268 S.W.2d 677, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594 (Tex. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

POPE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment for the plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. DeWinne, for damages arising out of an automobile intersection collision. The court disregarded the findings with reference to the plaintiff's contributory negligence and gave judgment -for the plaintiffs for $3,416.80.

In passing on whether the trial court properly disregarded the jury finding of negligence on the part of the plaintiff, we have a -two-fold problem: (1) Was there evidence to support the jury finding of failure to keep a proper lookout? and (2) if •so, was the plaintiff under any legal duty to keep a lookout for a defendant who was violating the plaintiff’s right of way, and was going the • wrong way on a one-way street?

Plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. DeWinne, were proceeding in an easterly direction along Houston Street in San Antonio, with Mr. DeWinne driving the vehicle. Houston Street is a one-way street. Some of the evidence showed that the plaintiffs were proceeding along the left of the center stripe. Defendant, Allen, was proceeding in a southerly direction along San Saba •Street-and was approaching the intersection .to Mr. DeWinne’s left. He was traveling in the wrong direction on a one-way street. The collision occurred at night and the lights on both vehicles were burning. Both streets are thirty-eight feet wide. The jury found that the drivers of both vehicles were free from negligence with reference to the speed -of their vehicles and control. Neither was negligent in entering the intersection with respect to speed. Both vehicles were moving' at about eighteen to twenty miles per hour. However, the jury found that the defendant, Allen, was negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout, and also that he was negligent in proceeding the wrong way along San Saba Street. Those things were also found to be a proximate cause of the accident. But the jury also found that Mr. DeWinne, the driver of plaintiffs’ car was contributorily negligent in one particular — the failure to keep a proper lookout. That failure was also found to be a proximate cause of the accident.

We must view “all the testimony in the light most favorable to the verdict making such findings, and, if there is evidence of probative value to support such findings, the motion to set them aside and disregard them will be overruled. Cannady v. Dallas Ry. & Terminal Co., Tex.Civ.App., 219 S.W.2d 816; and Le Master v. Fort Worth Transit Co., 138 Tex. 512, 160 S.W.2d 224.” Brown v. Dallas Ry. & Terminal Co., Tex.Civ.App., 226 S.W.2d 135, 136; Jones v. Louisiana Western Ry. Co., Tex.Com.App., 243 S.W. 976.

Plaintiff DeWinne testified that as he approached the intersection he looked to his right and saw a bus and a car that had approached the intersection on San Saba Street. The bus stopped at a stop sign at the intersection. He stated that he “glanced” to the left, and looked to the right, because traffic was coming from south to north. He said that he knew the street was one-way and for that -reason he expected the traffic to approach from his right. Both plaintiffs’ and defendant’s cars, under an interpretation of the evidence most favorable toward defendant, Allen, were proceeding slowly at not more than twenty miles an hour. The investigating officer stated that the point of impact was in the southwest corner of the intersection at a point about eight feet from the south curb and about twelve feet from the west line of the intersection. He stated on cross-examination that the accident scattered debris all over the intersection and it could have occurred anywhere, but he located the impact as he did, because of the debris located at that particular point. From such testimony, the plaintiff had proceeded only twelve feet into the intersection when the defendant, Allen, had proceeded thirty feet. The right front of the defendant’s car struck the left front of plaintiffs’ car.

Under an interpretation of the evidence favorable to the defendant, the jury would have ample support in the evidence to be- *679 Heve that the point of impact was at the place identified by the investigating officer. The street, being thirty-eight feet wide, the evidence supports an inference that defendant’s vehicle was already eighteen feet into the intersection at the time the plaintiff first entered it. Hence, the defendant, though coming from the wrong direction on a one-way street, would have'been almost in the middle of the intersection at the time the plaintiff arrived at the intersection.

The most that plaintiff stated with reference to lookout was that he “glanced” to the left. He stated that he was looking at his speedometer as he proceeded across the intersection, and said that he could have stopped abruptly had he seen the other car. He did not see the car until the collision occurred. The jury had grounds, from those facts, to conclude that the glance was not an observant look; that it was fleeting, casual, inattentive, or momentary. The issue correctly inquired whether the plaintiff “kept” a lookout and whether it was a “proper” lookout. The issue was raised by the evidence, and we cannot say that the plaintiff, as a matter of law, kept a proper lookout. Triangle Motors of Dallas v. Richmond, Tex.Sup., 258 S.W.2d 60; Brown v. Dallas Ry. & Terminal Co., Tex.Civ.App., 226 S.W.2d 135; Polasek v. Gaines Bros., Tex.Civ.App., 185 S.W.2d 609; Cronk v. J. G. Pegues Motor Company, Tex.Civ.App., 167 S.W.2d 254; Scroggs v. Morgan, Tex.Civ.App., 107 S.W.2d 911; Stehling v. Johnston, Tex.Civ.App., 32 S.W.2d 696.

Under this statement of the facts, favorable to the defendant and in line with the jury findings, was the driver of plaintiffs’ car under a duty to keep a proper lookout even for a defendant who violates a traffic law? We think so. Brown v. Dallas Ry. & Terminal Co., Tex.Civ.App., 226 S.W.2d 135, 138, states:

“It is our opinion that the mere fact that a person has the right of way under a statute or ordinance does not excuse him from keeping a proper lookout for his own safety and the safety of others. In the case of Checker Cab Co. v. Wagner, Tex.Civ.App., 199 S.W.2d 791, 792, the rule is well stated in the following language:
‘Although there is conflict of authority in other jurisdictions (see Annotations 89 A.L.R. 838; 136 A.L.R. 1497) the weight of authority and the settled rule in this State is that ‘The right of way rule is not absolute but relative, and subject to the qualification that a person entitled to claim that right will exercise it with proper regard for the safety of himself and others.’ Lewis v. Martin, Tex.Civ.App., 120 S.W.2d 910, 912, wr. ref.; Sherwin-Williams Co. of Texas v. Delahoussaye, Tex.Civ.App., 124 S.W.2d 870, wr.dis.; Cruse v. Chacon, Tex.Civ.App., 67 S.W.2d 399, wr.dis,’ ”

Other authorities support the point. Tidy Didy Wash v.

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Bluebook (online)
268 S.W.2d 677, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-de-winne-texapp-1954.