Brooks v. Enriquez

172 S.W.2d 794, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 435
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 2, 1943
DocketNo. 11267.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 172 S.W.2d 794 (Brooks v. Enriquez) 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
Brooks v. Enriquez, 172 S.W.2d 794, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 435 (Tex. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinions

MURRAY, Justice.

This suit was instituted by Annie En-riquez, joined by her father, Felix En-riquez, suing in his own behalf and as next friend of his minor daughter, against Sylvester Brooks, doing business as Brooks Taxi Company, seeking to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by both the minor and her father as a result of an accident on January 18, 1940, within the corporate limits of the City of Corpus Christi. It is alleged that while Annie Enriquez was crossing Sam Rankin Street in said city she was struck by a taxicab belonging to Brooks and thereby sustained physical injuries which resulted in damages to her personally and to her father by virtue of his loss of her earnings.

The trial was to a jury and judgment was rendered upon the jury’s answers to the special issues submitted in favor of Felix Enriquez, individually and as next friend of Annie Enriquez, in the principal sum of $1,154, from which judgment Sylvester Brooks has prosecuted his appeal.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in not holding that Annie En-riquez was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, in that the evidence conclusively shows that Annie was crossing Sam Rankin Street at a point not within a marked or unmarked cross-walk, and that she failed to yield the right-of-way to the taxicab, in violation of a city ordinance of said city.

We overrule this contention. The evidence does not conclusively show that Annie was crossing Sam Rankin Street at a point not within a marked or unmarked cross-walk, and even if she were crossing at a point not in a cross-walk and failed to yield the right-of-way to the taxicab, she would not be guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. The jury found, in answer to special issue No. 27, that Annie Enriquez at the time of the accident was not crossing the street at a place other than within a marked or unmarked cross-walk and at a distance north of the regular cross-walk of the intersection. This finding is supported by sufficient evidence. Annie Enriquez testified that on the night of the accident she had left Joseph’s Economy Store, where she worked, and had started home traveling along Leopard Street in a westerly direction. It was about eight o’clock at night on January 18, 1940. The weather was freezing cold. Sleet and rain were falling. Sam Rankin Street crosses Leopard Street. It runs north and south, while Leopard runs east and west. When she arrived at the intersection of these two streets she stopped and looked to her left, which would be south on Sam Rankin Street. She saw a car approaching from the south on Sam Rankin Street which had not yet reached the intersection. She looked at the light and saw that she had a go sign and then started on across Sam Rankin Street when she was struck by the taxicab. She thought that the car she saw south of the intersection on Sam Rankin Street was the car that hit her, but she was probably mistaken about this, as it appears that the taxicab came down Leopard Street traveling west, that is, in the same direction Annie w;as going and made a right hand turn at Sam Rankin Street. With reference to whether or not she started across Sam Rankin Street on a cross-walk the following appears in her testimony:

“Q. What did you do after you looked at the light and saw the taxicab coming? A. I crossed the street.

“Q. You were going what direction? A. West.

“Q. Crossing Sam Rankin Street? A. Crossing Sam Rankin Street.

“Q. Were you crossing at the intersection where the sidewalk crossing is? A. No, a little bit, about two or three steps you know.

“Q. To the right. A. To the right.

“Q. On the regular sidewalk crossing? A. Yes, sir.”

She further testified that she had arrived in the middle of the street when the taxicab hit her on the left side.

On cross-examination she was asked:

“Q. Were you as far as half way down the street where you were attempting to cross? A. Yes.

“Q. Now, what I mean there — I want to be fair on this thing — were you as far *796 down as half way in the block where you crossed? A. About half a block.”

Andrew Lewis was the driver of the taxicab and testified that the collision occurred in the middle of the block about half-way between Leopard and Antelope Streets. Jesse Smith was a passenger in the taxicab and testified that the collision occurred about fifty or seventy-five feet from the corner.

Appellant bases his contention that the evidence conclusively establishes the fact that the collision did not occur in a crosswalk because Annie judicially admitted it was in the middle of the block. Annie was a Mexican girl eighteen years of age, had only a fifth-grade education, and did not appear to be any too well acquainted with the English language. She had been testifying that she was struck in the middle of the street and not close to the sidewalk and the jury may have concluded she meant the middle of the street when she said the middle of the block. The conflict in her testimony and the conflict between her testimony and that of the driver of the taxicab and the passenger were matters for the jury to weigh and consider. We cannot say that the jury finding to the effect that she was struck while crossing Sapn Rankin Street at a cross-walk is not supported by sufficient evidence.

The City ordinance with reference to pedestrians crossing streets at places other than cross-walks is as follows: Art. IV, Section 1, paragraph (c). “Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked or unmarked cross walk shall yield the right of way to vehicles upon the roadway, provided that this section shall not relieve the driver of a vehicle from the duty to exercise due care for the safety of pedestrians.”

It will be seen from reading this provision that it does not make it unlawful for a pedestrian to cross a street at any place other than a- marked or unmarked cross-walk, but only provides that such pedestrian shall yield the right-of-way to vehicles upon the roadway under such circumstances, and at the same time provides that the drivers of such vehicles must exercise due care for the safety of pedestrians. Under such provisions, it would ordinarily be a question of fact as to whether or not a pedestrian was guilty of negligence in failing to yield the right-of-way and whether or not such negligence was a proximate cause of any collision that might occur under such circumstances. A different situation might be presented if it was unlawful for a pedestrian to cross a street at any place other than a marked or unmarked cross-walk.

Appellant next contends that the finding of the jury that Annie Enriquez did not fail to keep a proper lookout was not supported by the evidence and was contrary to all the evidence. Appellant’s witnesses Lewis and Smith testified that Annie had some kind of covering over her head preventing her from seeing the taxicab. Annie testified that she had no such covering over her head, that she only had a small hat on top of her head. She further testified that when she arrived at the intersection of Leopard and Sam Rankin Streets she stopped and looked south along Sam Rankin Street, she then saw that she had a green light and proceeded across Sam Rankin Street to the point where she was struck. Under such facts whether she kept a proper lookout becomes a jury question.

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Bluebook (online)
172 S.W.2d 794, 1943 Tex. App. LEXIS 435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-enriquez-texapp-1943.