English v. Miller

43 S.W.2d 642
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 4, 1931
DocketNo. 3671
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 43 S.W.2d 642 (English v. Miller) 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
English v. Miller, 43 S.W.2d 642 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

JACKSON, J.

This suit was instituted in the district court of Gray county, Tex., by the plaintiff, Lizzie Miller, a widow, against Harold W. English, the defendant, to recover damages for his alleged negligence in causing the death of her minor son.

The plaintiff alleged that her son, William Miller, was a minor, sixteen years old at the time of his death, and resided with her at her home in McLean, Tex.; that he was in good health, of robust size, industrious, ambitious, and contributed to the support and maintenance of plaintiff; that on January 26, 1928, the defendant, who owned and operated an aeroplane, came to the town of McLean in his said plane, and for compensation took her minor son William, without her knowledge or consent, together with another boy, for a ride in said plane. The plaintiff pleads as grounds of negligence certain defects in the plane and some acts of the defendant, which for the purposes of this appeal are unnecessary to state, because not proved ‘or submitted to the jury.

She alleged that the defendant, while making the trip with her son and the other boy in the plane, made loops at an altitude between two hundred and four hundred feet; that in completing such loops the plane would approach within .a few feet of the ground; that such acrobatic performance at such low. altitude was dangerous and constituted negligence; that, while attempting to make one of such loops at such low altitude, the plane fell and crashed, resulting in the death of her son and the other boy; and that defendant’s negligence in attempting such acrobatic feats at said altitude was the proximate cause of the death of her son. She sufficiently alleges her right to maintain the suit and the facts relative to the amount of damages she seeks to recover.

The defendant answered by general demurrer, general denial, and pleaded in detail certain acts of the deceased as contributory negligence, and also alleged as a defense that the deceased assumed the risk and danger incidental to the flight.

In response to special issues submitted by the court, the jury found that the defendant was making loops at an altitude between two hundred and four hundred feet; that in so doing he was negligent, and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the death of the deceased, and that the deceased was not guilty of contributory negligence; that plaintiff sustained damages in the sum of $3,125, for which sum judgment was entered for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

The appellant presents as error the action of the trial court in refusing to direct a verdict in his behalf as requested, because the evidence "does not show that appellant was guilty of any act of negligence, as the undisputed testimony shows that he did not commit any act of negligence charged.

If the appellant intends to assert that there was no evidence to authorize the submission of the question of negligence to the jury, we are not authorized to consider this assignment. Hall Music Co. v. Robertson, 117 Tex. 261, 1 S.W.(2d) 857.

However, we will assume that his contention is to question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of the jury.

The record shows without dispute that the defendant owned and operated, an aero-plane; that he went to McLean, Tex., on January 26, 1928, and took another boy and deceased for a ride; that he landed and immediately, for compensation, carried the other boy and deceased for another ride; that on the second trip he made a loop, or a complete vertical circle, and attempted to make a second loop, which was never completed, the plane falling and crashing, resulting in the death of William Miller; that the defendant was an experienced pilot; that the machine was a Lincoln standard plane, without defects in the mechanism, and was in very good condition.

The testimony shows that at the time he was attempting to complete the second loop he was just a little way above the tops of the houses; that, while making the second loop, the tail of the plane hit a stack of maize. The finding of the jury that with William Miller as a passenger the defendant made loops at an altitude of between two hundred and four hundred feet of the ground is amply supported by the testimony; in fact, this finding is not questioned by appellant.

The appellant testified in his own behalf: That on the second trip they made the first loop, started into the second loop, and went into a spin, and crashed coming out of the second loop. That he was fifteen hundred feet high in making the first loop and one thousand to twelve hundred feet high when he came out of the first loop and started into the second loop. “I made a loop in about three hundred feet.” That he got clear over and completed the second loop, but could not straighten up. That the wind was blowing about forty miles an hour. The jury on sufficient testimony discarded the evidence of this witness as to the altitude of the plane at the time he made the loops, and in our opinion a fair interpretation of the testimony discloses that the appellant, in making a loop, reduced his altitude about three hundred feet.

Negligence may be established by circumstantial evidence, and the cause of an accident may be inferred from such evidence.

In Bock v. Fellman Dry Goods Co., 212 S. W. 635, 637, the Commission • of Appeals quotes with approval from the Supreme Court [644]*644of Iowa (Lunde v. Packing Co., 139 Iowa, 688, 117 N. W. 1063) the following:- “A cause being shown which might produce an accident, and it further appearing that an accident of that particular character did occur, it is a warrantable inference, in the' absence of showing of other cause, that the one known was the operative agency in bringing about such result.”

The evidence is undisputed that the aero-plane was without mechanical defects and in good condition and that appellant was an experienced pilot; that in making the first loop immediately preceding the second loop in which the crash occurred the altitude of the plane was reduced three hundred to five hundred feet; that appellant made a loop in about three hundred feet. The jury rejected, on sufficient testimony, the contention of appellant relative to the altitude of the plane and to the cause of the crash. The appellant testified that he made a loop in about three hundred feet, and, if he undertook to make a loop, as found by the jury, at an altitude between two hundred and four hundred feet, over houses, buildings, haystacks, etc., we think it tends to show he undertook to make a loop at an unsafe altitude, and the jury was warranted in finding him guilty of negligence in undertaking the loop at such an altitude.

In 1914, in Platt v. Erie County Agricultural Soc., 164 App. Div. 99, 149 N. Y. S. 520, 521, in an opinion by the New York court, it is held that: “Although aeroplanes are of comparatively recent invention, yet we think their use has now become so general that the term ‘aeroplane’ may now be taken to have a specific meaning and to describe a general type of machine, with substantially as much definiteness as does the term ‘automobile.’ We may therefore take judicial notice of the general characteristics of this machine.”

In Jones’ Commentaries on Evidence, vol. 1 (2d Ed.) 749, § 424, it is said: “Depending upon the importance of the new development to the public, common knowledge follows. Thus common knowledge has been held to include matters in connection with the production of oil and gas, the nature and dangers of electricity and the dangers of many various devices and situations.”

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Bluebook (online)
43 S.W.2d 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/english-v-miller-texapp-1931.