Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Gossett

284 S.W.2d 749
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 1, 1955
DocketNo. 3304
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 284 S.W.2d 749 (Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Gossett) 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
Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Gossett, 284 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

McDONALD, Chief Justice.

. Plaintiff Mrs. Gladys Gossett sued defendant Railway & Terminal Company for damages for personal injuries sustained by her when defendant’s bus on which she was a passenger came to a sudden stop, throwing her forward, causing her to strike her neck and shoulders against the coin box and iron rod supporting same. Defendant bus company, by third party complaint, complained of Mrs. Mary Sample, alleging that on the occasion in question Mrs. Sample made a sudden right-hand turn from the left side of the bus into the street directly in front of the bus; that in so doing she was guilty of various acts of negligence; which caused the bus to have to make the sudden stop; and that Mrs. Sample’s acts and omissions constituted the sole proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries, or in the [751]*751alternative, a proximate cause thereof. Trial was to a jury which, in answer to special issues, found, 1) defendant bus company negligent; 2) plaintiff and Mrs. Sample not negligent; 3) and fixed plaintiff’s damages at $2,500. The Trial Court rendered judgment on the verdict.

Defendant bus company appeals, seeking a reversal and a remand of the cause, contending that 1) The jury’s answers to the special issues finding that Mrs. Sample a) did not fail to keep a proper lookout, b) did not turn her automobile to the right from the wrong lane, c) did not turn her automobile to the right when such movement could not be made with safety, d) did not fail to make her approach and turn as close as practicable to the righthand curb, are so contrary to the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust; 2) That the jury’s finding that Olive Street had not been designated as a one-way street is so contrary to the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust — and that issues submitted conditional upon an affirmative answer to whether Olive Street had been designated as a one-way street should not have been so submitted; 3) That there is no evidence that plaintiff’s ambulance expenses, hospital expenses, doctors’ bills, medicine bills, doctors’ bills for future, or medicine bills for the future were or are reasonable-, 4) That defendant’s first application for a continuance was improperly overruled; 5) That plaintiff’s counsel misstated the court’s charge in his argument to the jury. (Defendant does not complain of the jury’s findings that it was guilty of various acts of negligence, nor of the findings of the jury that plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence.)

Defendant’s first contention involves the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s- findings that the third party defendant, Mrs. Sample, was not guilty of various acts of contributory negligence. The jury found that Mrs. Sample a) did not fail to keep a proper lookout; b) did not turn her automobile to the right from the wrong lane; c) did not turn to the right when such movement could not be made with safety; and d) did not fail to make her approach and turn as close as practicable to the right-hand curb.

A review of the record reflects that Mrs. Sample, prior to making the righthand turn, stopped at the red light, waited for it to change to green, looked over at the stopped bus, observed the.driver thereof admitting passengers while watching the fare box. We think that the foregoing is sufficient to support the finding of the jury that Mrs. Sample did not fail to keep a proper lookout.

The record further discloses that the bus was stopped 22 feet from the Olive Street intersection, taking on passengers, when Mrs. Sample looked and when the light turned green; and thereafter proceeded to make her turn. Under this evidence the jury could find that Mrs. Sample did not turn from the wrong lane, that she made the turn when it could be made with safety, and that she made her turn as close as practicable to the right-hand curb.

Further, the defendant failed to tender any legal definition of “wrong lane” or “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb”; and none was submitted by the Trial Court. Therefore defendant cannot now be heard to complain on appeal of the findings made by the jury. See 41-A T. J. 675; Rule 277, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; Hancock v. Sammons, Tex.Civ.App., 267 S.W.2d 252 (Ref. N.R.E.)

To judge the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony is peculiarly the province of the jury. From the facts recited as well as from the record as a whole we cannot conclude that the jury’s findings are so contrary to the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust. See: Lang v. Henderson, 147 Tex. 353, 215 S.W.2d 585; Little Rock Furniture Co. v. Dunn, 148 Tex. 187, 222 S.W.2d 985; Dallas Railway & Terminal Co. v. Flowers, Tex.Civ.App., 284 S.W.2d 160.

[752]*752Defendant’s second contention is levelled at the jury’s finding that Olive Street had not been designated as a one-way street. Defendant further contends that this issue should not have even been submitted since it was established by the un-controverted evidence that it had been so designated. Defendant in its pleadings alleged that Olive Street had been duly and legally designated by the authorities of the City of Dallas as a one-way street. The only evidence in this record regarding this is found in the testimony of the witness Howe: “Q. I will ask you, in your capacity of a police officer, if you know whether or not Olive Street has been designated as a one-way street by the traffic authorities of the City of Dallas? A. I know the signs are there. Q. You know the signs are there? A. Yes Sir.” The record contains other evidence which controverts even the fact that the signs were there; and at no time did the defendant ever introduce or prove in a proper manner any city ordinance of the City of Dallas.

A trial court will not take judicial notice of municipal ordinances, they must be alleged and proved like any other facts. 17 T.J. 181. The evidence before the court did not prove as a matter of law that Olive Street had been legally designated as a one-way street; the evidence tendered on this point was controverted; the jury found the street was not a one-way street, and we cannot say that the finding made by the jury — on this state of the record — was against the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence.

Since there was no proof by defendant that the City of Dallas had designated Olive Street as a one-way street — and since the matter went off on controverted testimony as to 'the existence of marker signs, the Trial Court did not err in submitting the question as it did, and in submitting subsequent issues of Mrs. Sample’s proceeding onto Olive Street being negligence and a proximate cause of the collision, conditional upon an affirmative answer ■ to whether Olive Street was a one-way street.

In its 3rd point defendant contends that there was no proof that the medical and hospital bills were reasonable. Defendant says that it has not assigned error that the services rendered Mrs. Gos-sett were not necessary, but only absence of proof that such expenses were reasonable.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dallas Railway & Terminal Company v. Gossett
294 S.W.2d 377 (Texas Supreme Court, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
284 S.W.2d 749, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-railway-terminal-co-v-gossett-texapp-1955.