Hance v. R. Méndez & Hnos.

52 P.R. 324
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 24, 1937
DocketNo. 7129
StatusPublished

This text of 52 P.R. 324 (Hance v. R. Méndez & Hnos.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hance v. R. Méndez & Hnos., 52 P.R. 324 (prsupreme 1937).

Opinions

Mr. Chief Justice Del Toro

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an action for damages in which judgment was rendered against the plaintiff.

It is ahegecl in the complaint that on May 14, 1934, the defendant partnership was the owner of a truck devoted to the transportation of merchandise, which was being driven along the insular highway number 3 by one of the partners, Alejandro Méndez, and that Leonides Hance, an employee [325]*325of the partnership, was riding upon the platform of the truck; that upon taking a curve, Méndez did not reduce the speed, and that, being in the middle of the road, he swerved sharply upon meeting another truck going in the opposite direction, throwing Hance off onto the road, who fractured his skull and died as a result of the fracture.

It is further alleged that Hance was holding’ on with his hands to one of the wooden divisions on the truck, which, in spite of the fact that it was loaded, had no lateral guards; that Hance was 19 years old, was active and in good health, had finished the eighth grade in the public schools, and was earning a dollar a day with which he was assisting his parents, who are his only heirs, his mother being confined in the insular insane asylum.

The complaint was filed by the father. He claims damages in the amount .of $10,000 for his mental suffering and material losses.

The defendant admitted that it was the owner of the truck, that it was being driven by its partner, Alejandro Méndez, that Hance was an employee of the partnership, that he fell and died; defendant contended, however, that the fall was due to the negligence of the employee himself, in that he was seated upon an oil drum which rolled on account of the natural movement of the vehicle in taking the curve, as a result of which Hance lost his balance and fell at the very moment in which another truck was passing; that the latter truck ran over him and caused the injuries resulting in his death.

Defendant further averred that the parents of Hance, taking advantage of Act No. 85 of 1928 (Laws, p. 630), had filed a claim with the Industrial Commission, which had rendered a final decision, and that the plaintiff was therefore without a remedy in the courts.

The case went to trial, and the lower court, as we have already stated, decided against the plaintiff. In the state[326]*326ment of the case and opinion, tlie court expressed itself, in part, as follows:

“Tbe scene of the accident was inspected by the court ... it is a curve which on account of the natural topography of the soil is blind from one side to the other, that is, from the two angles joined by the curve. The highway has a width of 6.8 meters at the place in which, according to the evidence, the two vehicles met. Defendant’s truck from the measurements made by the marshal in the presence of the court, is 2 meters wide, and the other one meter 92 centimeters. It appears that when defendant’s truck, according to the evidence, reached the apex or angle of the curve and at a point very close to the apex or sharpest angle of the curve, and at the moment at which the other truck going in an opposite direction passed that of the defendant, a drum (steel barrel) fell off, and immediately thereafter the body of Leonides Hance Mateo fell to the road. Defendant’s truck was loaded with 93 boxes of noodles and 3 empty drums. None of the boxes fell off, nor did any of the other drums. The vehicles did not collide, and there is nothing to sustain the allegation of the defendant that the other truck ran over or injured the deceased. The only eye-witness of the accident, that is, the only witness who saw the fall, Pelegrin Torres, is unable to give an exact description of how the fall took place. The defendant offered in evidence a document sworn and subscribed before a notary public by this same witness giving a version completely contrary to that given at the trial. From a consideration of all the evidence, the fact is that the deceased Leonides Hance, who on that day had been working as a laborer for the defendant, was riding on the platform, but we do not know whether seated or standing; that when the defendant’s truck took the curve to which we have referred in our ocular inspection, another truck coming in the opposite direction passed it; and that without any collision or disturbance whatever, immediately thereafter a drum fell to the ground, of the three which were being carried as part of the cargo, and that following the drum, Leonides Hance Mateo fell to the road, and suffered injuries as a result of which he died.
“Let us see whether the acts of negligence averred by the plaintiff have been established by the evidence. Leaving aside the testimony of Pelegrin Torres, Francisco Rivera characterizes the speed of the defendant’s truck as ‘quite usual;’ Ana María Pérez characterizes it as ‘high speed;’ Ramón Rivera Vizcarrondo testifies that prior to the accident defendant’s employee passed him in his truck [327]*327at a speed greater than that at which he was travelling, which was from 30 to 35 kilometers per hour; Secundina Conde, that ‘he was going at a fast speed;’ Eladio Mulero made a similar statement! They all agree that the defendant’s truck was travelling in the middle of the road. It does not appear from the evidence that any other part of the merchandise which the truck was carrying fell; that the vehicle collided with the other, or that any of the other laborers who were riding on the platform fell.
“There is no statute in Puerto Rico requiring that a truck be provided with lateral guards around its platform to prevent persons riding thereon from falling off. Similarly, it does not constitute negligence per se that a vehicle was travelling in the middle of the road, if the road is open and there is nothing to raise a presumption that there is any immediate danger. In the case of Aguayo v. Municipality of San Juan, 35 P.R.R. 390, the evidence tended to show that the driver of a municipal owned vehicle was driving in the middle of the road, and it was held that it does not generally constituted actionable negligence for the driver of a vehicle to occupy any part of a road when not passing any vehicle or person. The' general rule in actions based on negligence is that the occurrence of an accident creates no presumption of negligence, unless the circumstances surrounding the event causing the injury are such as to offer a basis for a reasonable inference that if the person under a duty to do so had exercised due care, diligence and zeal, the accident would not have happened. This doctrine is cited in the case of Correa v. The Fajardo Sugar Co., 29 P.R.R. 318. It is also a well-known rule that there must be at least a reasonable showing of negligence.
“Plaintiff! advances in his brief the proposition that the inference to which the analysis of the evidence may logically lead us is that the accident occurred by reason of the fault or negligence of the defendant’s agent, and that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable. Here the defendant has offered a satisfactory explanation of the facts, and his only offense has been to pretend that this accident was submitted to the Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico for decision, that that board might pay indemnity to the plaintiff on account of the accident. Such is the inference with plaintiff draws from the contradictions in the evidence which we have noted.

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52 P.R. 324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hance-v-r-mendez-hnos-prsupreme-1937.