Austin St. Ry. Co. v. Calhoun

240 S.W. 327, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 659
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 29, 1922
DocketNo. 6723.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 240 S.W. 327 (Austin St. Ry. Co. v. Calhoun) 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
Austin St. Ry. Co. v. Calhoun, 240 S.W. 327, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 659 (Tex. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

ELY, C. J.

This is a suit for damages arising from personal injuries alleged to have been inflicted upon defendant in error through the negligence of plaintiff in error in causing its street car to collide with a wagon and team which defendant in error was driving across Congress avenue at its intersection with Second street in the city of Austin, Texas. The acts of negligence charged were, running the car south on Congress avenue at a fast, reckless, and dangerous rate of speed with an inexperienced motorman in charge, said speed being in excess of that fixed by a city ordinance, and that plaintiff in error discovered the peril of defendant in error in time to have prevented the collision by the exercise of ordinary care. The cause was submitted to a jury on special issues, and on the responses thereto judgment was rendered in favor of defendant in error for $20,000.

The special issues and answers are as follows ;

“Question No. 1. Was the ear of the defendant company, at the time it struck the tongue of the wagon or horse or horses driven by the plaintiff at the time of the accident, being run at such a high and dangerous rate of speed as to bring about said collision, under the circumstances existing at the time of the accident?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 2. If you answer question No. 1 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Was the motorman who was in charge of said car of the defendant company at the time of the accident, in running said car at a high and dangerous rate of speed, if he was running said car at said time at a high and dangerous rate of speed, guilty of negligence, as that term has been hereinbefore defined?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 3. If you answer questions Nos. 1 and 2 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Was such negligence of the motorman, if any negligence there was, the direct and proximate cause of the injuries, if any, sustained by the plaintiff?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 4. Was the car of the defendant company, at the time of the accident, being run at a rate of more than 10 miles per hour?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 5. If you answer question No. 4 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Was the running of said car at a greater rate of speed than 10 miles per hour at the time of the accident, if it was being run at a greater rate of speed than 10 miles per hour at said time, the direct and proximate cause of the injuries, if any, sustained by the plaintiff?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 6. Did the motorman in charge of defendant’s car see that plaintiff’s wagon or team was upon the said street car track, if said wagon or team was upon said track, and realize plaintiff’s peril before the accident, and did it become apparent to the motorman who was in charge of defendant’s car that there was danger of a collision with the plaintiff just before said collision unless said car was stopped in time to avoid said collision?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 7. If you answer question No. *329 6 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Did the motorman in charge of said car of the defendant company, at the time he discovered the danger of a collision with plaintiff, if'he did discover such danger before the collision, exercise such care, with the means at hand, to stop the car in the shortest time and space possible in order to prevent said collision as an ordinarily prudent person would have used under the same or similar circumstances?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 8. If you , answer question No. 7 in the negative, then answer this question: Was the failure of the motorman in charge of said car of defendant company, after he discovered the danger of a collision with plaintiff, if he did discover the danger, to exercise such care as an ordinarily prudent person would have used under the same or similar circumstances to stop the car in the shortest time and space possible, if he did fail so to do, the direct and proximate cause of the injuries, if any, sustained by plaintiff?” To which the jury answered “Yes.”
“Question No. 9. Did the plaintiff, in turning to the left at the intersection of Second street with Congress avenue, fail to pass to the right of and beyond the center of the street intersection before turning to the left on Second street?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 10. If you answer question No. 9 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Was the failure of the plaintiff in turning to the left at the intersection of Second street with Congress avenue and failing to pass to the right of and beyond the center of the street intersection before turning to the left on Second street, if he did so fail, the direct cause of the injuries sustained by plaintiff at the time of the collision?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 11. Was the failure of the plaintiff in failing to pass to the right of and beyond the center of the street intersection before turning to the left on Second street, if he did so fail, concurring and co-operating with some act of negligence, if any, on the part of the defendant, the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 12. Did the plaintiff, in attempting to cross the street ear track at the time and place and in the manner he did attempt to cross, fail to exercise ordinary care for his own safety; that is, such care and prudence as an ordinarily careful and prudent person would have used under the same or similar circumstances?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 13. If you answer question No. 12 in the affirmative, then answer this question: Did the failure of the plaintiff to exercise ordinary care for his own safety in attempting to cross the street car track at the time and place and in the manner he did attempt to cross concur with the negligence, if any, of the defendant’s motorman in causing the injury?” To which the jury answered “No.”
“Question No. 14. What sum of money, if paid in hand at this time, would fairly and justly compensate the plaintiff, Lee Calhoun, for the injuries sustained by' him? In estimating said amount, the jury may take into account the mental and physical pain suffered or that will probably be suffered by the' plaintiff (if any) on account of such injuries, • the earnings lost by him on account thereof, and the impairment of his ability, if any, to earn money in the future on account of such injuries, if any, and the reasonable amount of the doctor’s bills and hospital fees incurred by the plaintiff as the direct and proximate result of the injuries sustained by said plaintiff.” To which the jury answered $20,000.”

[1] No statement of facts has been filed in this court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
240 S.W. 327, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 659, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/austin-st-ry-co-v-calhoun-texapp-1922.