Dallas Railway & Terminal Company v. Gossett

294 S.W.2d 377, 156 Tex. 252, 1956 Tex. LEXIS 578
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 10, 1956
DocketA-5639
StatusPublished
Cited by204 cases

This text of 294 S.W.2d 377 (Dallas Railway & Terminal Company v. Gossett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dallas Railway & Terminal Company v. Gossett, 294 S.W.2d 377, 156 Tex. 252, 1956 Tex. LEXIS 578 (Tex. 1956).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Walker

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Vernon A. Gossett and wife, plaintiffs, brought suit against Dallas Railway & Terminal Company, defendant, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by Mrs. Gossett when defendant’s bus, on which she was riding as a passenger, struck an automobile driven by Mrs. Mary Sample. The defendant impleaded Mrs. Sample as a third party defendant and prayed for judgment against her for indemnity or contribution, but no relief was sought against her by the plaintiffs.

The trial court entered judgment on the verdict that plaintiffs recover from the defendant their damages as found by the jury, and that defendant take nothing from Mrs. Sample, and this judgment has been affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 284 S.W. 2d 749. It is our opinion that the judgment for the plaintiffs should be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial of their action against the defendant, and that the judgment in favor of Mrs. Sample should be affirmed.

Defendant’s first group of points assert that it was deprived, by the conditional submission of certain issues, of jury findings on whether Mrs. Sample’s proceeding the wrong way on a one-way street was negligence and a proximate cause or sole proximate cause of the collision. The accident occurred at the intersection of Ross Avenue and Olive Street in the City of Dallas. Defendant’s bus, which was proceeding east on Ross, stopped at the south curb just west of the intersection to receive and discharge passengers, and Mrs. Gossett entered the bus at that point. Mrs. Sample, who was also driving east on Ross, passed to the left of the bus and turned her automobile to the right to go south on Olive just as the bus began moving from the passenger stop, and the front of the bus struck the right rear portion of the automobile. Mrs. Gossett was standing near the front of the bus at the time and was thrown forward and injured as a result of the sudden stop.

The jury acquitted Mrs. Gossett of any negligence, and found that her injuries were proximately caused by several negligent [255]*255omissions on the part of defendant’s driver. Defendant alleged that Mrs. Sample was negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout, in turning her automobile to the right from the wrong lane, in failing to make her approach and turn as close as practical to the right hand edge of the roadway, and in turning her automobile to the right when such movement could not be made with safety. By their answers to the issues submitting these-contentions, the jury found that Mrs. Sample was not guilty of any such acts or omissions.

Defendant also alleged that Olive was duly and legally designated as a one-way street on which traffic might proceed north only, that signs at the intersection revealed that traffic was not permitted to move south thereon, that Mrs. Sample was negligent in proceeding south on a street designated as one-way for northbound traffic only, and that such negligence was the sole proximate cause, or in the alternative a proximate cause, of Mrs. Gossett’s injuries. These are the contentions which defendant says were not properly submitted by the charge to the jury.

Special Issue No. 22 required the jury to determine whether Olive Street had been designated as a one-way street for northbound traffic only. The next three issues, which inquired whether Mrs. Sample’s proceeding south on said street was negligence and a proximate cause, or the sole proximate cause, of Mrs. Gossett’s injuries, were conditioned upon an affirmative answer to Issue No. 22. Having answered the last mentioned issue in the negative, the jury had no occasion to and did not answer the three succeeding issues. Defendant insists that the undisputed evidence establishes as a matter of law that Olive Street had been designated as a one-way street for northbound traffic only, and that the trial court erred in submitting Special Issue No. 22 and in conditioning the three succeeding issues upon an affirmative answer thereto.

No ordinance of the City of Dallas regulating the movement of traffic on Olive Street was introduced in evidence. An accident investigator for the Dallas Police Department testified that there were signs on the street showing it to be one-way for northbound traffic. Both Mrs. Gossett and defendant’s driver stated that it was a one-way street north, and Mrs. Sample replied in the affirmative to a question inquiring whether it had been recently made a one-way street at the time.

The witnesses evidently believed that traffic was authorized to move only in a northerly direction on Olive Street, but their [256]*256testimony cannot be given the effect for which the defendant contends. Evidence showing that one-way signs were posted on the street does not constitute proof that the same were displayed in compliance with law. The legal designation by a municipal corporation of one of its streets as a one-way street is established by proof of the adoption of an ordinance to that effect. It cannot be said that motorists are required by law to proceed in only one direction thereon unless the provisions of the ordinance are considered and their legal effect determined. The existence and contents of the ordinance are facts to be established by proof, and its legal effect is a question of law for the court.

It is well settled that the naked and unsupported opinion or conclusion of a witness does not constitute evidence of probative force and will not support a jury finding even when admitted without objection. Casualty Underwriters v. Rhone, 134 Texas 50, 132 S.W. 2d 97. See also Webb v. Reynolds, Texas Com. App., 207 S.W. 914; Texas & N. O. R. Co. v. Wood, Texas Civ. App., 166 S.W. 2d 141 no writ History; Perren v. Baker Hotel of Dallas, Texas Civ. App., 228 S.W. 2d 311 no writ history. The question of whether the provisions and legal effect of a municipal ordinance may be established by an unsupported conclusion of a witness was considered in Joske v. Irvine, 91 Texas 574, 44 S.W. 1059, 1060, where it was contended that the testimony of an officer of the city that he had authority to arrest without warrant was evidence of the existence of an ordinance conferring such authority. In disposing of this contention, the Court said (on page 577) :

“* * * his testimony * * * is merely the opinion of the officer as to his authority, and does not purport to state even the substance of an ordinance. It does not even appear to have been based upon an ordinance. * * * The existence and contents of the ordinance were facts to be established by proof. The proof did not bear upon those issues, but, assuming them to be established, Shely merely gave his opinion as to the authority conferred upon him thereby. This was only his opinion upon a question of law. Such an opinion should not establish the fact —the ordinance — upon which it was based. * *

None of the witnesses in the present case undertook to state the substance of an ordinance, and it does not appear that their testimony was based on an ordinance. Only one was asked whether Olive had been designated as a one-way street by the traffic authorities of the City of Dallas, and he replied, “I know [257]*257the signs were there.” Their statements that Olive was a one-way street are simply the conclusions of the witnesses on a mixed question of law and. fact, and do not even constitute evidence of probative force that it had been duly and legally designated as such.

Defendant also argues that in view of Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
294 S.W.2d 377, 156 Tex. 252, 1956 Tex. LEXIS 578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dallas-railway-terminal-company-v-gossett-tex-1956.