Arrington v. Paschall

352 S.W.2d 866, 1961 Tex. App. LEXIS 2106
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 15, 1961
Docket15938
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 352 S.W.2d 866 (Arrington v. Paschall) 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
Arrington v. Paschall, 352 S.W.2d 866, 1961 Tex. App. LEXIS 2106 (Tex. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Justice.

Dr. Earle Paschall, Jr., sued Jody Ray Arrington, a minor, and his father, Raymond E. Arrington, for personal injuries sustained by Dr. Paschall and his wife as a result of a collision between the Paschall and Arrington automobiles on Christmas Day, 1959. General Insurance Company of America intervened for property damages. A jury trial resulted in a verdict which exonerated Raymond E. Arrington of any negligence, but convicting Jody Ray Arrington of certain acts of negligence which proximately caused the collision. In answer to special issues Nos. 13 and 14, the jury found Dr. Paschall guilty of failing to keep a proper lookout which proximately caused the collision. Dr. Paschall, and the Insurance Carrier, filed their motion to disregard the jury’s findings of improper lookout and proximate cause, and for judgment on the balance of the verdict. This motion was granted and judgment rendered for Dr. Paschall and the Insurance Carrier, from such judgment Jody Ray Arrington appeals, requesting this Court to reverse and render the judgment of the trial court. Dr. Paschall and the Insurance Carrier, by cross-points, also appeal requesting this Court to reverse and remand the cause for a new trial.

We consider first Arrington’s appeal based upon the single point that there was sufficient evidence to justify the jury’s finding of improper lookout, and proximate causation on the part of Dr. Paschall, and therefore the trial court was in error in disregarding these jury findings and in failing to render a judgment for the defendants below.

The collision occurred on U. S. Highway 80, near Dallas, at a time when the' weather was clear and dry. The Highway is a divided four-lane roadway, with a wide parkway separating the east and west bound lanes. Appellee Paschall was driving his automobile in an easterly direction in the left-hand or inside lane of traffic, at about 55 miles per hour, and was in the process of passing a Ford automobile being driven by appellant Jody Ray Arring-ton, who was also traveling in an easterly direction in the right-hand or outside lane, at about 25 to 35 miles per hour. At this time the Ford automobile made a sudden left turn from the right-hand lane, as contended by appellees, or changed lanes gradually, preparatory to making a left turn across the parkway, as contended by ap *868 pellants. The actual point of contact between the automobiles is disputed. Appel-lees contend that point of contact was off the pavement on the shoulder of the road, and appellants contend that the point of contact was in the left-hand lane of traffic. It is undisputed that Arrington did not see the Paschall automobile until after the collision; that he did not signal an intention to turn or change lanes, and that the windows on his automobile were rolled up.

Arrington testified that prior to the collision he was traveling in the right-hand lane, at approximately 25 to 35 miles per hour, looking for a “cross-over” where he could make a U-Turn. Plaintiffs’ exhibit No. 2, a large photograph, reveals what was a traveled “cross-over” between the two highway segments, but which is now shown to have been blocked by concrete posts. At the time of the trial it was demonstrated that when the collision occurred this “crossover” was not blocked by the concrete posts. Arrington further testified that he was about 6-car lengths, or about 96 feet from the “cross-over” when he started angling to change lanes and that the point of impact was not more than 4 feet to the left, or north of the center stripe. He frankly admitted that he did not look behind or give any signal of his intention to make the change from one lane to another prior to doing so. Arrington testified the initial point of impact was with the right front of the Paschall car which struck the left front door, fender, wheel and bumper of the Ar-rington car. Plaintiffs’ exhibit Nos. 9 and 10, being large photographs of the Arring-ton car, tend to substantiate his testimony concerning the point of impact on his car. As opposed to Arrington’s testimony, Paschall testified that as he was driving in the inside lane at about 55 miles per hour, he saw the Arrington automobile in the right-hand lane; that he was intending to pass the Arrington automobile, but admitted that he did not sound his horn before attempting to do so; that as he neared Ar-rington’s automobile it turned suddenly to its left to make a U-Turn across the center esplanade; that the Arrington automobile struck the right rear side of Paschall’s car, which swerved to its left and collided with a row of posts in the center of the esplanade. Paschall said that appellant’s left front fender hit his right rear fender and then scraped his car from back to front»

From this résumé of the evidence it is obvious that the evidence of Paschall and Arrington, both direct and circumstantial, as well as the evidence demonstrated by the photographs, create a conflict (1) as to the location of the collision relative to the “cross-over”; (2) the location of the collision with respect to the center lane or shoulder of the highway; (3) whether the Arrington car was making a sudden U-Turn just before the collision, or whether it was merely changing lanes preparatory to such U-Turn; and (4) the location on the cars of the first point of contact. Each of these matters would have a direct bearing on the question of lookout as submitted to the jury.

Of course, it is elementary, that perforce Rule 301, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, the trial court is authorized to disregard the jury’s answer to any special issue that has no support in the evidence. It is also elementary that, on appeal, a reviewing court must accept the evidence and all permissible inferences therefrom in a manner most favorable to the verdict, and must disregard all evidence and inferences contrary to the verdict. Cartwright v. Canode, (Sup.) 106 Tex. 502, 171 S.W. 696 and Burt v. Lochausen, (Sup.) 151 Tex. 289, 249 S.W.2d 194; Biggers v. Continental Bus System, Inc., (Sup.) 157 Tex. 351, 303 S.W.2d 359.

Ordinarily, proper lookout is a question for the jury. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Day, (Sup.) 145 Tex. 277, 197 S.W.2d 332.

Our Supreme Court in Lynch v. Ricketts, 158 Tex. 487, 314 S.W.2d 273, 275, clearly established the rule applicable in cases of this kind. There the Supreme Court said:

*869 “In a case of this character, standards of ordinary care such as the direction and extent of the observation which Mrs Ricketts should have made at any particular time cannot be fixed with any degree of certainty but must be left in large measure to the trier of fact. It is well settled, moreover, that negligence and causation, like any other ultimate fact, may be established by circumstantial as well as direct evidence. * * * The jury is thus not only the judge of the facts and circumstances proven but may also draw reasonable inferences and deductions from the evidence adduced before it.

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Bluebook (online)
352 S.W.2d 866, 1961 Tex. App. LEXIS 2106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arrington-v-paschall-texapp-1961.