Cothern v. Brewer

107 So. 2d 361, 234 Miss. 676, 1958 Miss. LEXIS 538
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1958
DocketNo. 40956
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 107 So. 2d 361 (Cothern v. Brewer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cothern v. Brewer, 107 So. 2d 361, 234 Miss. 676, 1958 Miss. LEXIS 538 (Mich. 1958).

Opinion

Holmes, J.

The appellants brought this suit in the County Court of Pike County to recover damages for personal injuries and property damage. The action was predicated upon the alleged negligence of the appellee in so operating his 1949 Studebaker pick-up truck on the public highway as to cause a 1953 Ford automobile, jointly owned by the appellants and driven at the time by the appellant Leroy Cothern, to be overturned, resulting in the practical destruction of the Ford automobile and the serious, painful and permanent personal injury of the appellant Leroy Cothern.

The trial of the case in the county court resulted in a jury verdict and judgment for the defendant. On appeal to the circuit court, the judgment of the county court [679]*679was affirmed, and the appellants now appeal to this Court.

The appellants complain of certain instructions granted to the defendant below, and further contend that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

The evidence reveals substantially the following: The accident occurred on Highway 44, commonly known as Quinn’s Bridge Road, on April 21, 1956, at approximately 10:30 o’clock A.M., at a point near the crest of a hill and approximately four miles east of McComb. The appellee, Robert Brewer, was driving his Studebaker pickup truck west on said highway. He was accompanied by his wife. The appellant, Leroy Cothern, was driving a 1953 Ford automobile, owned jointly by him and the other appellant, Cazzie Cothern. He was the sole occupant of the automobile and was proceeding in an easterly direction on said highway. The residence of Warren Brewer, a brother of the appellee, is located on the south side of the highway and a driveway leads from the highway to his residence. On the occasion in question, it was the purpose of the appellee, Robert Brewer, to turn to his left across the south side of the highway and enter the driveway of the Warren Brewer residence and proceed to the residence and there, deliver some eggs to Mrs. Warren Brewer. According to the testimony of the appellee, as he approached the point where he expected to turn into the driveway, he slowed his truck almost to a stop and waited to let pass a red pick-up truck which was approaching from the opposite direction and which was being driven by Wilkie Dunaway in an easterly direction along the south lane of the highway, and which was preceding the automobile of the appellants. After the Dunaway truck passed, according to the testimony of the appellee, he signalled his intention to turn to the left into said driveway, and then crossed the south side of the highway and drove into the driveway of the [680]*680Warren Brewer residence. At the time he made his left turn, according to his testimony, the Cothern automobile was approaching from the west and was a distance from him of approximately a block or a block and a half. According to the appellee’s further testimony, he drove into the driveway, a distance of 25 or 30 yards from the highway, and stopped his truck and turned off the ignition, and he and his wife were in the act of getting out of the truck when they heard a noise on the highway and looked back in time to see the Cothern automobile run into the bank of the highway. The testimony for the appellee further shows that appellee and his wife immediately went back to the highway and saw the Cothern automobile turned over on the south side of the highway in a ditch; that skid marks on the pavement showed that the Cothern automobile had skidded 63 feet to the left before it struck the bank on the north side of the highway, and then swerved back a distance of 99 feet before it turned over in.a ditch; that Leroy Cothern was pinned under the car; that he was extricated from the car by parties appearing at the scene; that Mrs. Brewer asked him if he was hurt and he said “not much”; that Mrs. Brewer said to him, “boy, you must have been flying”; and he said he was “going around 75”. According to the proof there was no actual contact between the Cothern automobile and the appellee’s truck.

The proof for the appellants showed that the appellee gave no signal of his intention to turn left; that without warning he started across the south side of the highway as the Dunaway red truck approached, and that the Dun-away truck had to turn off the pavement in order to pass; that the Cothern automobile was about four or five car lengths behind the Dunaway truck and traveling at about 40 or 45 miles per hour; that as the Dunaway truck passed, the Cothern automobile was about three car lengths from Brewer’s truck and that Brewer continued to cross into the south lane and that in order to avoid striking [681]*681him, Cothern had to cut his car to the left and in so doing lost control of his car and that this caused him to strike the bank and overturn.

It is readily apparent that the evidence in the case was conflicting and created an issue of fact for the jury. The jury found for the defendant below, and this finding is amply supported by the evidence. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the contention of the appellants that the verdict of the jury is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence is not well founded.

The appellants contend, however, that the court erred in granting defendant’s instructions numbered one, two, three and six.

Defendant’s instruction number six is based on the evidence introduced on behalf of the appellee and presented to the jury the appellee’s theory of the case, and this the appellee was entitled to. Accordingly, we find no error in this instruction.-

Defendant’s instructions numbers one, two and three, of which the appellants complain,, are as follows:

“DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTION NO. 1: The Court instructs the Jury for the defendant that at the time the defendant turned to the left across south half of the highway that the defendant was entitled to assume in determining whether said turn could be made with reasonable safety that the Plaintiff, Leroy Cothern, was operating his car at a lawful rate of speed of not more than 60 miles per hour, and if you believe from the evidence in this ease that at the time the defendant made said turn that the said plaintiff was operating his automobile at a rate of speed in excess of 60 miles per hour and that said excessive rate of speed was the proximate cause of the accident, then it is your sworn duty to return a verdict in favor of the defendant.”
“DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTION NO. 2: The Court instructs the Jury for the defendant that it is the duty of the driver of every automobile while driving upon the [682]*682highways of this State to exercise reasonable care for their safety and for the safety of other persons and vehicles upon the highway, and if you believe from the evidence in this case that an exercise of reasonable care on the part of the plaintiff, Leroy Cothern, required that he decrease the speed of his automobile when he observed that the defendant was turning to the left across the south half of the highway, and if you further believe that said plaintiff on said occasion failed to reduce the speed of his automobile, then the Court instructs you that the plaintiff, Leroy Cothern was guilty of negligence, and if you further believe that said negligence, if any, on the part of the plaintiff, Leroy Cothern, was the proximate cause of the accident, then it is your sworn duty to return a verdict in favor of the defendant. ’ ’
“DEFENDANT’S INSTRUCTION NO.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 So. 2d 361, 234 Miss. 676, 1958 Miss. LEXIS 538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cothern-v-brewer-miss-1958.