Danner v. Chandler

1951 OK 246, 236 P.2d 503, 205 Okla. 185, 1951 Okla. LEXIS 617
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided October 9, 1951·No. 34093·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

CORN, J.

This is an action brought by Ernest Chandler against Noble Dan-ner, doing business as Danner’s Trucking Company, Highway Insurance Underwriters, corp., and John Burns, to recover damages to his truck and personal injury damages because of an alleged collision between a truck driven by plaintiff and a truck driven by defendant Burns, an employee of defendant Danner, which truck belonged to defendant Danner. The damages it is alleged were caused by the negligence of defendant Burns, driver of the Dan-ner truck.

Defendant Highway Insurance Underwriters is defendant Danner’s indemnity insurance carrier.

The defense consists of a general denial and an affirmative plea of contributory negligence and unavoidable accident.

The trial was to a jury. It returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $375 for injury and damage to the truck and personal injury damages in the sum of $850.

Defendants appeal. Numerous errors are assigned but defendants in their brief rely only on the following assignments :

“(1.) Error of law occurring at the trial and excepted to by plaintiffs in error.
“(2.) Error of the court in giving Instruction 14 to which plaintiffs in error excepted and exceptions were allowed.”

There is no dispute that the collision occurred between the two trucks as claimed by plaintiff and that by reason thereof the truck was damaged beyond repair. Neither is it disputed that the collision occurred because of the negligence of the driver of the defendant Danner’s truck and that his negligence *186 was the proximate cause of the injury. The evidence in this respect shows: On October 14, 1947, plaintiff was returning from Oklahoma City to his home in Jacksonville, Texas. He was driving south when he arrived at the Washita river bridge south of Davis. The defendant’s truck, driven by Burns which was following him, ran into the rear of his truck. There was at that time another truck parked close to the bridge on the east side of the highway and near that point a highway patrol car was parked on the west side of the highway; upon observing this condition plaintiff slackened the speed of his truck from about 20 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour.

When plaintiffs truck was struck in the rear the impact caused the truck to collide with the truck parked on the east side of the highway. After hitting that car plaintiff’s truck rolled over and collided with the patrol car parked on the west side of the highway; that as a result of the collision plaintiff’s truck was damaged beyond repair. There is also evidence tending to show that as a result thereof plaintiff’s right hand was to some extent permanently injured. •

The evidence also shows that defendant Burns, driver of the Danner truck, was driving at such distance behind plaintiff’s truck as not to be able to stop within the clear distance ahead.

There is some dispute in the evidence as to the value of plaintiff’s truck immediately prior to the collision, but there is no dispute as to the value immediately thereafter which the evidence shows to be $125. Defendants do not contend that the damage allowed by the jury for damage to the truck is not sufficiently supported by the evidence. We shall not therefore further discuss this question.

There is a conflict in the evidence as to whether the injury to plaintiff’s hand was caused by the accident or whether it was due to other causes. Defendants, however, in effect, concede that, under the evidence admitted in the case and the instructions of the court, there is competent evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury as to the damages allowed for injury to the hand.

It is, however, contended by the defendants that the evidence of Dr. Moore, who testified in behalf of plaintiff, was improperly admitted for the reason that, in stating his opinion that the injury to the hand was probably caused by the truck accident, it was based partly upon the history of the case furnished him by plaintiff at the time the examination was made; that the examination was not made for the purpose of treating the hand but was made instead to qualify the doctor as an expert witness to testify in the case; that his evidence should therefore be excluded. Before entering into a discussion of this question, we think it necessary to briefly refer to the evidence given by plaintiff as to his hand. In this respect plaintiff testified: After the accident he noticed a bruise on his right hand and it started to swell. He then returned to his home in Jacksonville, Texas. He was there treated by a physician but the treatment did not help the hand, it gradually grew worse. He then went to a hospital and had an operation performed on the hand. He suffered severe pain prior to the operation and still occasionally suffers some pain. He is not able to use the hand as before.

Dr. Moore testified that on or about the 12th day of September, 1948, he examined plaintiff’s hand at the request of his attorney. He obtained from plaintiff a history of the accident, which history is substantially as stated in detail by plaintiff in his evidence; that as a result of this examination and history of the case, the doctor made a detailed statement as to the condition in which he found plaintiff's hand. The middle finger of the hand had been injured and there was no voluntary motion in the joint of the finger at the distal joint. The index finger is smaller than normal. He could not straighten *187 the hand and it is to some extent permanently injured; that in his opinion the condition of the hand was probably due to the truck accident. It is conceded that the doctor did not examine plaintiff’s hand for the purpose of treating it.

It is contended by defendants that the doctor’s evidence and opinion is for this reason inadmissible in evidence. We do not agree. In Chicago. R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Jackson, 63 Okla. 32, 162 P. 823, the following rules are announced:

“A physician in giving evidence as an expert may testify to a statement made him by the patient in relation to his condition, symptoms, sensations, and feelings, both past and present, when such statements were received and were necessary to an examination, with a view to his treatment, and when made the basis, in part at least, of the physician’s opinion; but such testimony cannot be considered as independent evidence of the facts stated, except in cases where the same is competent as forming a part of the res gestae.
“Expert testimony of a physician, based on a physical examination of the patient, after action instituted by him to recover damages for an alleged personal injury, though made partly for the purpose of enabling the physician to testify as a witness, is not, on that account alone, incompetent, though constituting a fact which may materially affect his credibility.”

In St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. McFall, 63 Okla. 124, 163 P. 269, it is said:

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Danner v. Chandler, 1951 OK 246, 236 P.2d 503, 205 Okla. 185, 1951 Okla. LEXIS 617 (Okla. 1951).

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