Boyd v. Midland Cooperatives, Inc.

364 P.2d 670
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 13, 1961
Docket38893
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 364 P.2d 670 (Boyd v. Midland Cooperatives, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyd v. Midland Cooperatives, Inc., 364 P.2d 670 (Okla. 1961).

Opinions

JOHNSON, Justice.

Plaintiff in error, Joe Edward Boyd, filed this action in the District Court of Payne County, Oklahoma, against the defendants, Midland Cooperatives, Inc., and Perry Robert Shaffer, defendants in error, to recover for personal injuries received in an automobile collision. The parties will hereafter be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The plaintiff in his petition alleged that on or about November 21, 1958, he was traveling west on Highway 33 when the truck of the defendant, being operated at an excessive rate of speed, traveling east and on the wrong side of the highway, negligently collided with the plaintiff’s [671]*671automobile causing the damages of which he complains.

The defendants in answer to the contentions of the plaintiff denied the allegations of neglect and asserted that the accident was due solely to plaintiff’s neglect in driving his automobile on the wrong side of the highway. A jury trial resulted in a verdict for the defendants. Motion for new trial was overruled, from which plaintiff appeals.

The evidence in this case disclosed that the collision occurred about 12:40 p. m. on the 21st day of November, 1958, on the east end of a short bridge span on Highway 33 east of the Perkins “Y” in Payne County, Oklahoma. The plaintiff was driving his red and white Chevrolet sedan west on said Highway 33, while defendant’s truck was traveling east on said highway when the collision occurred.

Two grounds for reversal are urged. The first is that incompetent and prejudicial evidence was admitted over plaintiff’s objection in behalf of the defendants. This evidence consisted of the testimony of two witnesses. The first of these witnesses was one Earl Cargill who was a truck driver for the defendant Midland Cooperatives, Inc. He stated that on the day of the accident he was driving a truck east on Highway 33 when he met a 1955 Chevrolet sedan at a point about one and one-half or three-quarter miles from the point of the accident; that the occupants of the car were colored, and the automobile was a red and white one; that he saw this car about 12:35 p. m. The car involved in the collision was a Chevrolet, 1955 model, painted red and white, occupied by colored people and traveling west on Highway 33.

The witness Cargill was then permitted to testify over plaintiff’s objection as follows :

“Q. Now, as you met that vehicle at this distance, where was he traveling when you met him? A. It was from a foot to eighteen inches across the center line.
“Q. What did you do when you met him? A. I pulled off on the . shoulder of the road.”

The second witness was one James Skinner, who was also employed by the defendant corporation. He testified that he was traveling east on Highway 33 when he met a red and white 1955 model Chevrolet occupied by colored boys; that this was about two miles from the place of the collision.

He testified as follows:
“A. Well, it was straight sir, I was going up grade and there was no passing line on there, and I met that car and he was coming hugging one yellow line, there is two yellow lines there and he was on one of them yellow lines and I thought he was going to come on and I pulled off.
“Q. Who was in this car?' A. Well all I could tell was just color boys, that is all I could tell.
“Q. Did you meet any other Chevrolet automobiles at that point? A. Not at that point.
“Q. Did you meet any others along that area, I mean ’55 red and white Chevrolet? A. No, sir.
“Q. Now, what did you do as you met him? A. I pulled off my right front wheel and my right fender of the truck on to the shoulder.
“Q. Was that necessary to avoid a collision? A. Yes, sir, that was necessary.
“Q. Now, about what time of day was this? A. That was about 12:40 or 12:45, something like that.”

It is urged in connection with the testimony of these two witnesses that: 1. There was no proper identification of the vehicle as that driven by plaintiff; 2. That the testimony was too remote in time and place to have any probative value.

As stated above, the witnesses were able to testify that the car which they saw was a 1955 Chevrolet, painted red and [672]*672white, occupied by colored people, traveling west on Highway 33, on the date and at the approximate time, and no other automobile of this description was encountered. We hold this to be sufficient description to submit the identification of the car to the jury, if there were any dispute about the identity.

As to the probative value of this testimony, we are convinced that had the observation of this car been at a lesser distance from the scene of the accident, no objection could be seriously urged against its admissibility. Sullivan v. Dunn, 46 Wash.2d 255, 280 P.2d 668.

We are of the opinion that the admission of evidence concerning the side of the road upon which a car was running prior to an accident is analogous to evidence of the speed of a vehicle prior to an accident. The question of its probative value and its admissibility is largely in the discretion of the trial court. As was said in Schwarting v. Orgram, 123 Neb. 76, 242 N.W. 273, 276, 81 A.L.R. 769:

“This question of the admissibility of the speed of a vehicle shortly prior to the time of the accident rests largely in the discretion of the court.”

There was ample evidence of conditions at the time and place of the accident.

The witness Shaffer testified:
“Q. Now, Mr. Shaffer, what did this driver do, you say when you first saw how he was completely over, about where was he, where was his automobile with reference to the center line? A. You mean how much was he over ?
“Q. Yes, sir. A. I judge he was 6 to 8 inches over the line.
“Q. Is that the center line? A. Over the center line.”

The above testimony referred to the time of collision and was ample to submit the issue to the jury.

In the case of Miller v. Jenness, 84 Kan. 608, 114 P. 1052, 34 L.R.A.,N.S., 782, it was held that the admission of testimony as to the speed of an automobile a half-mile from the scene of an accident on a highway in the country could not be prejudicial where there were other indications of its excessive speed immediately before and at the time of the collision. To the same effect is the Missouri case of Reed v. Coleman, Mo.App., 167 S.W.2d 125.

This court has said:
“The admission of allegedly inadmissible evidence of certain facts in issue will be considered harmless on appeal when the judgment appealed from is supported by sufficient competent evidence.” Parish et al. v. Ned, Okl., 264 P.2d 762, 763.

The next complaint is concerning the remarks of counsel in his opening statement to the jury and the subsequent evidence to sustain such statement.

The statement of counsel to the jury was as follows:

“Mr.

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Boyd v. Midland Cooperatives, Inc.
364 P.2d 670 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1961)

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364 P.2d 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyd-v-midland-cooperatives-inc-okla-1961.