Buck v. West

434 S.W.2d 616, 58 Tenn. App. 539, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 313
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 1, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 434 S.W.2d 616 (Buck v. West) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buck v. West, 434 S.W.2d 616, 58 Tenn. App. 539, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 313 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

COOPER, J.

These are companion suits filed in the Circuit Court of Anderson County to recover damages sustained by the several plaintiffs when the automobile driven by Wilma West was in “head-on” collision with an automobile owned by the defendant Ervin M. Buck and driven by the defendant Sherrill Eugene Buck.

Wilma West brought suit to recover for personal injuries. Her husband, Clyde West, sued to recover the expenses incurred in providing medical treatment for his wife, the value of his wife’s services in the home during her period of convalescence, and to recover the damage to his automobile.

• • Rebá West and Ethel Campbell, both passengers in the Wést automobile at the time of the collision, brought suit to recover damages for personal injuries.' The fifth suit was brought by Tommy Sloan, a passenger in the Buck automobile, to recover damages for personal injuries. .

On trial, the jury returned verdicts in favor of the five, plaintiffs and against both defendants — Wilma West being awarded $250.00, Clyde West $1250.00, Reba West [542]*542$5,000:00, Ethel Campbell $500.00, and Tommy Sloan $1,000.00.

Ervin M. Buck has appealed, directing his assignment of errors to the trial court’s refusal to direct a verdict in his behalf, the allowance of an amendment to the several declarations during trial, the scope of cross-examination allowed by the trial court, and the court’s charge to the jury.

No appeal was taken by the defendant, Sherrill Eugene Buck.

Defendant Ervin Buck insists in his first assignment of error that the trial court erred in permitting the several plaintiffs to amend their declaration during the course of the trial, and in overruling the defendant’s subsequent motion for a continuance.

As stated out in Daniels v. Talent, 212 Tenn. 447, 462, 370 S.W.2d 515, 522:

“Trial judges have a broad discretion in matters of amendment. State ex rel. Chanaberry v. Stookesbury, [Stooksbury], 176 tenn. 687, 145 S.W.2d 775. The matter of allowing amendments under our statutes is within the discretion of the Court and these amendments may be allowed at any stage in the proceedings before a case is finally submitted to the jury or at any time before judgment. Hunt v. Foley, 9 Tenn.App. 96.” See also Womble v. Walker, 216 Tenn. 27, 390 S.W.2d 208, 211, and T.C.A. sec. 20-1505.

The exercise of discretion by a trial judge in matters of amendment “has been,seldom adversely reviewed on appeals; and it will be presumed that allowing or refusing an amendment was done in the exercise of legal discretion, in the absence of a showing to the contrary. ’ ’

[543]*543In our’ judgment, the' record in’ this case' does not show an abuse of discretion-upon the part of the . trial court in allowing the amendment. The amendment did not inject any new facts or new theories into the'suit, but merely pointed out with particularity that the plaintiffs were relying on the presumption of agency that arose from proof of ownership of the automobile involved in the accident. Cf. Funk v. Welden, 40 Tenn.App. 425, 292 S.W.2d 207; Johnson v. Tramell, 15 Tenn.App. 607.

The defendant Buck, in two assignments of error, insists that there is no evidence to support the jury’s verdict against him, and that the trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict in his behalf. The sole predicate for liability of Ervin Buck to the several plaintiffs was the statutory presumption of agency that arises from proof of ownership and registration of the automobile involved in the accident. T.C.A. sec. 59-1037 provides that: “In all actions for injury to persons and/or to property caused by the negligent operation or use of any automobile * * * within this state, proof of ownership of such vehicle shall be prima facie evidence that said vehicle at the time of the cause of action sued on was being operated and used with the authority, consent and knowledge of the owner in the very transaction out of which said injury or cause of action arose, and such proof of ownership likewise shall be prima facie evidence that said vehicle was then and there being operated by the owner, or by the owner’s servant, for the owner’s use and benefit and within the course and scope of his employment. ’ ’ See also T.C.A. sec. 59-1038.

The presumption,-or prima facie case, of respondeat superior created by proof of ownership of the automobile involved in the accident is displaced, as a matter [544]*544of law, by material evidence to the contrary of thé .presumed fact (i. e., operation of the automobile in the owner’s service), where such evidence is uncontradicted and comes from witnesses whose credibility is not in issue. McConnell v. Jones, 33 Tenn.App. 14, 228 S.W.2d 117; McParland v. Pruitt, 39 Tenn.App. 399, 284 S.W.2d 299; Sadler v. Draper, 46 Tenn.App. 1, 326 S.W.2d 148. However, if the witness offering the evidence in rebuttal of the presumption is contradicted on any material point, or is. impeached or discredited in any mode recognized by law, the trial court may not hold as. a matter of Jaw that the statutory presumption has disappeared and direct a verdict, but must permit the jury to decide if the witnesses testimony overcomes the presumption. Haggard v. Jim Clayton Motors, Inc., 216 Tenn. 625, 393 S.W.2d 292, and numerous cases these cited. The court in Welch v. Young, 11 Tenn.App. 431 explained:

“* * * [0]rdinarily the testimony of a witness who is not contradicted, impeached, or discredited must be accepted as true, but that if the witness relied upon to establish a given fact be impeached (by evidence directed against his general character for veracity) or discredited in any of the modes recognized by law, that fact may not be treated as established as a matter of law or for purposes of a motion for peremptory instructions. 11 Tenn. App. at 440.
“If, in this process of sifting the testimony and the -witnesses, the jury found that Brawner had testified falsely about material facts as to which he was contradicted by other witnesses, it was within the province of the' jury to reject testimony of Brawner which was not directly contradicted by the testimony of other witnesses. [545]*545This is merely an application of the ancient maxim, falsas • in ano falsas in omnibas. ’ ’ 11 Tenn.App. at 441.

In this canse, both Ervin Back and Sherrill Back testified that Sherrill had taken the Back aatomobile without permission and was on a “joy-ride” of his own when the accident occarred. This testimony, of coarse, negates the hypothesis that Sherrill was the agent of his brother, Ervin, and woald be snfficient to displace the statatory presamption of agency, except for the fact that the credibility of the Backs became a material issae in the cause.

The collision between the Back aatomobile and the. West aatomobile occarred in a doable carve near the Slasher Apartments on- IT. S.

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Bluebook (online)
434 S.W.2d 616, 58 Tenn. App. 539, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buck-v-west-tennctapp-1968.