Gathright v. Carl Markley Motor Co.

146 S.W.2d 307
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 21, 1940
DocketNo. 3743
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 146 S.W.2d 307 (Gathright v. Carl Markley Motor Co.) 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
Gathright v. Carl Markley Motor Co., 146 S.W.2d 307 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinions

O’QUINN, Justice.

This suit arose out of an automobile collision occurring near the town of Devers in Liberty County,. Texas, September 28, 1939. A 1939 V-8 Ford automobile owned by appellee, Carl Markley Motor Company, and driven by Willie Fowler, collided with an automobile driven by appellant, Gathright, resulting in serious bodily injuries to appellant. Among other things, appellant alleged that Willie Fowler, the driver of appellee’s car, was the agent, servant and employe of appel-lee, Carl Markley Motor Company, and was then and there acting within the scope of his employment, and that said driver of said car was guilty of negligence causing the collision resulting in the injuries to appellant, in that said driver was driving at an excessive rate of speed, forty-five miles per hour and on the left side of the highway, which negligence was a proximate cause of the collision, and of the injuries received by appellant. Appellee answered by general demurrer, general denial, plea of contributory negligence, and specially denied that the driver of the Ford V-8 car was either the agent or employe of appellee, or that he was in the course of any employment with appellee.

The trial was to a jury, but at the close of the evidence upon motion of appellee, the court instructed a verdict for appel-lee, which was duly returned and judgment entered that appellant take nothing by his suit, and that appellee go hence with its costs of suit. This appeal followed.

The facts are: On September 28, 1939, the Carl Markley Motor Company was a Texas corporation engaged in the business of selling Ford automobiles and in buying and selling used cars in the city of Beaumont. We shall refer to the Carl Markley Motor Company as “Markley.” On ■ said date, appellant, T. J. Fowler [308]*308was a young single man engaged in barber work in said city. He had been residing in Beaumont and bartering for about one and one-half months at said date. His mother resided at Highlands in Harris County, Texas, where he had formerly resided with her. Fowler had met Carl Markley, but was not well acquainted with him. On that date, September 28, 1939, Fowler, accompanied by a young man friend left the barber shop where he worked and went to the Carl Markley Motor Company office intending, if he could make proper arrangements, to purchase a used car for his own use. He selected a car and was told by Carl Markley that the terms of payments were agreeable. Fowler had been using a 1936 Chevrolet car which belonged to his mother at Highlands, Texas. He desired to . trade the Chevrolet in on the car he wished to purchase, and Carl Markley valued it at $225 to which Fowler agreed, but informed Markley that the Chevrolet car belonged to his mother and that he would have to get her consent to trade it in as a payment on the car he desired to purchase. Mark-ley had one of his employes to bring out a new Ford V-8 car and fill it up with gasoline and oil, and told Fowler that he could drive it — the new Ford — -over to Highlands and see his mother and get her consent for him, Fowler, to trade in the old Chevrolet as a payment on the car that Fowler wished to purchase. Markley filled out a blank transfer of the old Chevrolet car for Fowler’s mother to sign transferring the Chevrolet car to him, Markley, to be used by Fowler as a payment on the car to be purchased, and told Fowler to get in the new Ford V-8 car and to go that day to see his mother and get her to sign the transfer of the Chevrolet, and to return to Beaumont with the new Ford that same day. Fowler took the transfer papers that Markley gave him, got in the new Ford car and started to see his mother at Highlands, as Markley told him to do. While enroute travelling on Highway No. 90, the collision occurred. Fowler testified that he was not to receive any commission for perfecting the transaction, if he should get his mother to sign the transfer of the Chevrolet car to Markley and he purchased the used car which he had selected, but that he had to have the consent of his mother to trade in her, old car as a payment on the car to be purchased by him from Markley, and that he desired to get for his mother the best amount possible for her car, and that he was to pay the remainder of the consideration for the car he purchased, if the deal was consummated, for his own use.

This appeal involves the sole point of the propriety of the instructed verdict. The court instructed the verdict for appel-lee on the theory that Fowler, to whom Markley had entrusted the car for him to go to see his mother, and, if he could get her to sign the papers transferring her old Chevrolet car to Markley the trade in value, $225, to be applied to a payment by her son on the car to be purchased by him from Markley, was not an agent for Markley in the contemplated transaction, but was a bailee in possession of the Markley car for Markley.

Appellant presents two assignments of error against the judgment. They both urge the same contention — that Fowler was acting as the agent of Markley, and for Marlcley’s benefit. He has presented an able and interesting brief supporting this contention.

We have concluded that, under the undisputed facts, the judgment must be upheld. Markley simply placed a car in the possession of Fowler to be used by Fowler in going to see his mother to obtain her permission for him to trade in her old car as a payment on the Markley car which he, Fowler, had selected to purchase — not the one he was allowed to drive, but a used car — and Markley had no right of control or actual control over Fowler in the trade which he might make with his mother in obtaining her permission to trade in the old car. In this Fowler had the untrammelled right to make any arrangement with his mother he could — -as to whether he would pay for the secondhand car, or whether the ownership of the secondhand car should be in him or his mother, and whether • his mother should have the right to use the secondhand car, and any other matters which might occur between him and his mother in arriving at their understanding in the matter. Fowler’s interest in the transaction was not in line with that of Markley. Fowler desired to obtain the utmost value possible for his mother’s old car, this to redound to both his and her benefit, not to Marldey’s — his and his mother’s interest was adverse to that of Markley, and so his attitude was not that of an agent who must act for the benefit of his master. [309]*309Markley did not have one of his employes to accompany Fowler on the trip to see Fowler’s mother. Fowler had complete charge of and control of the Markley car. If any one should be considered as a prospective purchaser of the Markley car, it was Fowler. The buyer of a car can not be the agent of the seller. Markley was seeking to sell Fowler a used car. Fowler, in another car (new Ford V-8) of Markley’s, was going to see his mother to obtain her consent for him to trade in an old car owned by her as a payment on the used car he sought to purchase. It seems to be settled in this state that an automobile dealer is not liable to a third person for injuries negligently inflicted by a prospective buyer while testing the automobile unaccompanied by an employe of the dealer. Bertrand v. Mutual Motor Co., Tex.Civ.App., 38 S.W.2d 417, 418, writ refused. In the cited case, Mrs. Bertrand suffered personal injuries when she was struck by an automobile owned by the Mutual Motor Company, and sued for damages occasioned by her injuries. The car at the time was being driven by a prospective purchaser who (as here) was not accompanied by an employe or salesman of the Motor Company.

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

Related

Horkey v. Cortz
173 A.2d 741 (Superior Court of Delaware, 1961)
Usera Santiago v. González Rodríguez
74 P.R. 454 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 S.W.2d 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gathright-v-carl-markley-motor-co-texapp-1940.