Gray v. Newberry

380 S.W.2d 22, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2571
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 12, 1964
Docket7544
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 380 S.W.2d 22 (Gray v. Newberry) 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
Gray v. Newberry, 380 S.W.2d 22, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2571 (Tex. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

DAVIS, Justice.

Plaintiff-appellee, L. W. Newberry, sued the defendant-appellant, Maxine Gray, joined by her husband, W. C. Gray, for damages as the result of a collision between a pickup that was being driven by the ap-pellee and an automobile being driven by the appellant, Mrs. Gray, which occurred in the City of Jacksonville on Highway 69 on October 9, 1961. Appellee was traveling in a southerly direction and the appellant was traveling in a northerly direction. Doyle Chandler was also traveling in a northerly direction, and had brought his pickup to a stop to await the traffic that was traveling in a southerly direction to pass by so he could turn off to the left to go to his place of residence. It was raining, and as appellant approached the pickup that was being driven by Doyle Chandler she either drove the car, or improperly applied her brakes, and drove it, or permitted it to skid, to the west side of the highway and meet the appellee head-on. The appellee contends that the appellant was negligent in many respects, and *24 that such negligence proximately caused the collision. The case was tried before a jury. The jury answered all the special issues in favor of the appellee and assessed his damages in excess of $32,000.00. The appellant filed an amended motion for new trial, which was overruled, and has perfected her appeal. She brings forward 22 points of error.

By her points, appellant contends that the trial court erred in entering judgment against her for the following reasons:

The appellee was guilty of negligence that caused the collision as a matter of law;

The appellee failed to keep a proper lookout;

The answers of the jury to special issue No. 22 are against the weight and preponderance of the evidence;

There was no evidence that would require the submission of any issues to the jury about any negligent acts or omissions on the part of the appellant;

There was no evidence, and insufficient evidence, to support the submission of Issues 1 and 2 inquiring if appellant drove her car across the center stripe of the highway, and that such act was negligence;

There was no evidence, and insufficient evidence, to support the submission of special issue No. 4 that appellant negligently applied her brakes;

There was no evidence, and insufficient evidence, to support the submission of special issue No. 6, nor to support the jury finding that appellant was negligently operating her vehicle at an excessive rate of speed;

There was no evidence, and insufficient evidence, to support the submission of special issue No. 8 that the appellant failed to keep a proper lookout;

There was no evidence, and insufficient evidence, to support the submission of special issue No. 10 that appellant was guilty of following too close to the vehicle of Doyle Chandler;

There was no evidence to support the submission of special issue No. 12 that appellant failed to keep her vehicle under proper control;

In submitting special issue No. 12, “Proper Control”, having already submitted issues Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, because such submission is repetitious and constitutes an undue emphasis and a comment on the case;

In submitting special issue No. 1, because such issue is multifarious in that it constitutes a comment upon the weight of the evidence;

In instructing the jury that in connection with special issue No. 14 they could consider the loss of future earning capacity, because there were no pleadings to support such submission and instruction;

The jury finding to special issue No. 14 is excessive and the evidence is insufficient to support such finding; and,

In overruling her motion for an instructed verdict.

Appellant relies upon the cases of Wichita Valley Ry. Co. v. Fite (Ct.Civ.App.), 78 S.W.2d 714, N.W.H., and Standard Paving Co. v. Webb (Ct.Civ.App.), 118 S.W.2d 456, N.W.H., to support the theory that the appellee was guilty of negligence as a matter of law. The cases are not in point. According to the evidence, the appellant was driving her car in a northerly direction, late in the afternoon, while it was raining, and the appellee was driving in a southerly direction. Immediately after the appellee had met Doyle Chandler, the appellant either drove or skidded her car across the center stripe of the highway and into the vehicle that was operated by the appellee at a time and on such an occasion that he would not have had time to avoid the collision. He was keeping a proper lookout, and was not guilty of negligence *25 as a matter of law. There is sufficient evidence to support the jury finding that the appellee did not fail to keep a proper lookout as inquired about in special issue No. 22.

We must disregard all evidence adverse to any legal admissible evidence and consider only the evidence favorable to the findings of the jury. 4 T.J. (2) 324, Sec. 804. In 4 T.J. (2), p. 326, quoting from Section 804, we find the following:

“A reviewing court will consider the evidence and the inferences properly to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the party who obtained an uninstructed verdict, and in considering controverted issues of fact, the appellate court will accept as true the testimony that tends to support the verdict.”

Harris v. Winslar (Ct.Civ.App.), 314 S.W.2d 642, N.W.H. It is our duty to consider controverted issues of fact as true which tends to support the verdict. Brewer v. Foreman (Ct.Civ.App.), 362 S.W.2d 350, N.W.H.; Coates v. Moore (Ct.Civ.App.), 325 S.W.2d 401, W.R., N.R.E. See, also, 5 C.J.S. Appeal and Error § 1264(3), p. 126; 5A C.J.S. Appeal and Error § 1653a (1), p. 407.

Foreseeability is a necessary element of proximate cause. The driver of .an automobile is presumed to know that the •operation of an automobile inherently involves a danger of collision with other vehicles. They will not be required to anticipate or foresee that another driver will act negligently or unlawfully, or close their eyes to what is plainly visible and would have been observed by a person of ordinary prudence in a similar situation.

In this case, the appellee did not see the .appellant crossing the center stripe of the highway in ample time to prevent the collision. 7 T.J. (2) 440, Sec. 107, and 7 T.J. (2) 442, Sec. 107, and the authorities cited thereunder.

On the issues of “no evidence” and “insufficient evidence”, it seems unnecessary to quote from the record, but suffice it to say that it was raining, and the road was slick. The appellant was on her way home from work. Immediately prior to the collision, she either started to pass Doyle Chandler, or negligently applied her brakes and permitted her car to skid across the center stripe of the highway and hit the appellee head-on. She was either following Doyle Chandler too closely, or she was failing to keep a proper lookout.

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Bluebook (online)
380 S.W.2d 22, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-newberry-texapp-1964.