Aranda v. Texas & N. O. R.

140 S.W.2d 236, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 317
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 18, 1940
DocketNo. 10970
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 140 S.W.2d 236 (Aranda v. Texas & N. O. R.) 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
Aranda v. Texas & N. O. R., 140 S.W.2d 236, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 317 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

MONTEITH, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal in an action • brought by Elvira Aranda, in her own behalf and as next friend of her four minor children, against Texas & New Orleans Railroad Company to recover damages growing out of the death of her husband, Cresencio Aranda, the father of her four children.

On the morning of April 11, 1937, Cres-encio Aranda was driving his automobile in a southerly direction along Patterson Street in the City of Houston when he was struck and killed by a passenger train operated by appellee, travelling in an easterly direction, at a point where appellee’s eastbound main line crosses Patterson Street. Two of appellee’s tracks cross Patterson Street at this -point, the southern track being the eastbound main line and the northern track being the westbound main line. Patterson. Street runs north and south, crossing the tracks at right angles. There is a clear and unobstructed view of the track in the direction from which the train was approaching from Patterson Street, the scene of- the collision, to .Shepherd Drive, a distance of at least 1,100 feet. The engineer was seated on the right-hand side of the cab of the locomotive and could not see Aranda’s automobile on the north side of the track because of the boiler of the locomotive and a curvature in the track. The fireman, who was seated on the left-hand side of the cab, testified that he first saw Aranda’s car as the locomotive was crossing Shepherd Drive; that it was at that time standing north of the north track and that he watched it continuously until just prior to the collision. Immediately prior to the collision, deceased drove west approximately 100 feet from his home on Allen Street to Patterson Street, tie turned left on [238]*238Patterson Street and proceeded a few feet, bringing his car to a complete stop a short distance north of the north rail of the westbound track, where his car remained stationary for a short period of time. When the train was between 400 and 500 feet from Patterson Street, Aranda’s car moved up and came to a complete stop with the front wheels on the south rail of the westbound track, approximately 5 feet clear of the approaching train. Aran-da’s car remained in that position until the front of the locomotive was between 20 and 25 feet west of Patterson Street, when it moved directly in front of the locomotive.

Aranda was a man approximately 40 years of age and was apparently in good health and physical condition. There is no suggestion in the record that his sight and hearing were not normal.

Appellants alleged numerous specific acts a'nd omissions on the part of the appellee and its employees in the operation of its train, claimed to amount to negligence proximately causing the collision.

Appellee alleged that its train was being operated at a rate of speed which was permitted by the ordinances of the City of Houston, and that the deceased could have avoided the collision had he been properly attentive to the conditions existing at the crossing in question. It pled various acts and omissions on the part of the deceased which it alleged amounted to contributory negligence.

In answer to special issues submitted, the jury found that appellee on the occasion in question was guilty of various acts of negligence and that each of said negligent acts proximately caused said collision and the death of Aranda; that on the occasion in question Aranda was guilty of negligence in that he failed to heed the warning signals given by the whistle and the bell after hearing them, in that he drove his automobile so close to the crossing that i'f the car jerked it would be in the path of the oncoming train; and in that he drove his car in front of the approaching train, and that each of said negligent acts proximately caused said collision. The jury further found that Aran-da discovered and realized the peril of attempting to cross said track in front of the train at a time when appellee’s employees could not have avoided the collision, but within such time that deceased could have avoided the same by the exercise of reasonable care, which he failed to exercise, and that such failure was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision.

Based on the findings of contributory negligence on the part of Aranda, the court entered judgment in favor of ap-pellee in all particulars.

It is contended by appellants that there was no evidence of contributory negligence sufficient to overcome the presumption that Aranda was at the time of his death exercising proper care for his safety, and that the jury’s findings of negligence on the part of Aranda are wholly without support in the record and so against the great weight and preponderance of the testimony that judgment should have been rendered for appellants non obstante veredicto.

The rule that one is presumed to' have used ordinary care for his own protection against injury is of universal recognition and inures to the benefit of the injured party on the issue of contributory negligence, unless the evidence shows to the contrary. This presumption, however, does not obtain as against direct and positive testimony of an eye-witness as to what actually occurred. Koock v. Goodnight, Tex.Civ.App., 71 S.W.2d 927.

In the instant case the fireman, seated on the left-hand side of the locomotive cab, testified that he observed every move made by the car driven by Aranda for a distance of approximately 1,100 feet from the scene of the collision, when his automobile was standing north of the north track and the locomotive was crossing Shepherd Drive. He testified that the train was then travelling at a speed of between 20 and 25 miles per hour; that the bell was continuously ringing and the regular crossing whistle was being blown at each crossing between Shepherd Drive and Patterson Street, and that when the train was between 400 and 500 feet from Patterson Street he observed Aranda’s car drive up and come to a complete stop, with the front wheels on the south rail of the westbound track approximately 5 feet clear of the approaching train; that when the train was within 25 or 30 feet of Patterson Street the car jerked two or three times arid moved directly in front of the locomotive. He testified that he attempted to warn the engineer to apply the emergency brake, but that the noise of the train prevented the engineer from-[239]*239hearing him and that he then stepped across the cab of the locomotive to the engineer’s side and applied the emergency brake. No reason is shown why Aranda would not have discovered the approaching train in time to have prevented the collision, if he had looked or listened.

It has been uniformly held that where a person in possession of his faculties steps or drives immediately in front of a moving train, the approach of which is unobstructed from his view, and which could have been seen and heard by him by the use of his ordinary faculties, or by taking the necessary precaution, is guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law when he fails to use his ordinary faculties, and, as a result thereof, is injured. Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Price, Tex.Com.App., 240 S.W. 524; Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway v. Gaddis, Tex.Com.App., 208 S.W. 895; Texas & N. O. R. R. Co. v. Houston Undertaking Co., Tex.Civ.App., 218 S.W. 84.

In the case of Dirr v. San Antonio & A. P. Ry. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 260 S.W.

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140 S.W.2d 236, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aranda-v-texas-n-o-r-texapp-1940.