Conley v. Jones

1921 OK 23, 195 P. 489, 80 Okla. 247, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 50
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 25, 1921
Docket10009
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 1921 OK 23 (Conley v. Jones) 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
Conley v. Jones, 1921 OK 23, 195 P. 489, 80 Okla. 247, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 50 (Okla. 1921).

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

This is an appeal from the district court of Creek county, Hon Ernest B. Hughes, Judge.

On the 14th day of March, 1917, Richard M. Jones, by Mrs. Florence Mathews, his mother and next friend, commenced this action in the district court against the defendant, Charles Conley, to recover compensation for personal injuries, which cause was tried to the court and jury and resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $1,500, to reverse which this proceeding in error was regularly commenced by the defendant in this court on June 7, 1918, by writ of error with case-made attached.

The essential allegations of the plaintiff’s petition follow:

“That on or about the 6th day of May, 1916, in the city of Sapulpa, in Creek county, Oklahoma, plaintiff was traveling on Lee avenue, a public thoroughfare of said city, riding a bicycle. That he was traveling west on the right-hand side of said street, and observing the law ■ of the road and riding in a careful, prudent manner, and at a sl,ow rate of speed; that the defendant was driving east on said street and according to public custom and the law of the road he should have kept on the right-hand side of said street. But in violation of universal custom and of the law of the road of the ordinances of the city of Sapulpa, defendant *248 crossed the street from the right side to the left-hand side of said street, and while driving at a fast, reckless, unlawful and dangerous rate of speed, defendant ran his auto-mobife with great force and violence against plaintiff, thereby knocking plaintiff from his bicycle to the ground, breaking plaintiff’s arm and otherwise wounding, bruising, maiming and injuring plaintiff, thereby causing plaintiff to suffer great bodily pain and to incur great expense for nursing and medical attention and causing plaintiff to be totally disabled, and confined to his bed for a period of - days, and inflicting permanent injuries and disabilities upon plaintiff.”

The defendant's answer consisted of a general denial and a charge of contributory negligence ’on the part of the plaintiff. The allegation of contributory negligence is as follows:

“And the defendant further answering alleges that any injuries sustained or suffered by, the plaintiff at the time or on the occasion in the complaint referred to, were caused in whole or part, or were contributed to by the neglect and want of care of the said plaintiff and not by the negligence ‘or want of care on the part of this defendant.”

The defendant assigns 16 specifications of error, concerning which counsel say in their brief:

“On examination of the record and the assignment of errors, we deem assignments 1 to - 4 and 13 to 15, inclusive, material and kindred in character and capable of being argued together, and will so treat them, and doubting the efficacy of the others, they are, therefore, waived.
“The evidence in this case, to our mind, proves, first, that the defendant was not primarily negligent.
“Secondly, that if defendant’s car was on the wrong side of the street, proceeding north or turned north, at the time of the collision, according to the theory of the plaintiff, it was better for him that it was so, for proceeding on his wheel toward defendant’s car, looking down, as plaintiff says he was, it gave him greater distance, longer time and better opportunity to look up and see the car and avert striking it, than if the car had been on the opposite side or in the middle of Elm street, and this being the sole negligence of the defendant, if such it be, that has been shown by the plaintiff, it cannot avail him anything, for under the circumstances of the case, such position of defendant’s car and such negligence as it might be, was not and cannot be considered the direct and proximate cause of the ■ collision and resultant injury to plaintiff.
"Thirdly, the plaintiff, according to all of the evidence, was flagrant in his disregard for his own safety, and it was his reckless fast riding down grade, and never looking up or where he was going, for over a half a block, approaching, as he was, a street crossing, that caused the accident and consequent injury to plaintiff.”

The foregoing contains the only proposition and the argument in support of same presented by counsel in their brief, as well as in the oral argument. They seek to stress more strongly the proposition that the evidence failed to prove primary negligence on the part of the defendant.

The undisputed evidence discloses that Lee avenue runs east and west and Elm street runs north and south, and that the injury complained of was received at the intersection of said streets; that the plaintiff, who was a lad about 12 years of age, was riding a bicycle traveling west, and that he continued near the curb of the north side of Lee street, crossing Elm, and that his bicycle struck the rear fender of the defendant’s automobile back of the end of the running board; that plaintiff’s injuries consisted of a broken arm between the shoulder and .elbow and he was otherwise bruised and was confined in a hospital for several weeks, and when the cast was removed from his arm it was discovered that the bones had failed to unite, and he was' again sent to another hospital, where an operation was had, and the bones of the arm, which were split and shattered, were united and bound together by a silver plate, and he remained in that hospital for some time, and at the time of the trial he testified his arm continued to give him pain at times and was weaker than the other arm.

His injuries are not denied, however, and no claim is urged in the brief of counsel that the amount of the verdict is excessive. It was also shown without dispute that the avenue for some distance east of where the injury occurred, and in the direction the plaintiff was traveling on his bicycle, was down a heavy grade; that both streets were paved and curbed; that the defendant was driving his automobile coming from the west on the south side of Lee street, until, a short distance before reaching Elm street, he overtook a wagon and he turned to the left to go around the same, and that he had three passengers in his car conveying them to the depot. As to the position of his automobile from the time he turned to the left to pass the wagon, the evidence is sharply in conflict. The most direct testimony given by any eyewitness was that of Mrs. S. S. Phillips, who testified as follows:

“Q. Where do you reside, Mrs. Phillips? A. I reside at present at 601 East Dewey. Q. On or about the 6th day of May, 1916, where did you reside? A. 102 South Elm, *249 right down here on the corner (indicating). Q. On or about the date mentioned, did you see an accident from that comer? A. Yes, sir. Q. Are you acquainted with this young man, Richard Jones? A. Well, I never saw him before until I saw him at the time of the accident. Q. You saw him there on that occasion? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, just tell'the jury what you saw on that occasion. A. Well, I was sitting on the porch, the northwest — northeast corner of the porch, and this boy, as well as I could tell, he was coming down, just turning the corner on the southwest corner there of the street, next to the courthouse here, and this automobile came along.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1921 OK 23, 195 P. 489, 80 Okla. 247, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conley-v-jones-okla-1921.