Higginbotham v. International-Great Northern R.

99 S.W.2d 338
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 2, 1936
DocketNo. 4658
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 99 S.W.2d 338 (Higginbotham v. International-Great Northern R.) 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
Higginbotham v. International-Great Northern R., 99 S.W.2d 338 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinions

JACKSON, Justice.

This suit was instituted by the appellants, Clarence Higginbotham and his wife, against the appellees as trustees and receivers of the International-Great Northern Railway Company.

The appellants claim damages for personal injuries that each received at a crossing on the track of the Railway Company by a collision of their automobile with a freight train which they claim was negligently operated by appellees.

The- case was submitted to the jury on 43 special issues, a number of which are immaterial to this appeal, but the findings on certain issues, the substance of which we will state, will be sufficient to disclose the matters pleaded and the questions here presented.

The jury, in response to special issues, found in effect that the operators of the train failed to sound the whistle or ring the bell as they approached the crossing; that such failures were each negligence and a proximate cause of appellants’ damages; that there was no negligence in the failure of the employees to keep a lookout; that the train was not operated at a rate of speed constituting negligence; that Clarence Higginbotham sustained damages in the sum of $3,500, and his wife suffered damages in the sum of $1,500; that the collision was not the result of an unavoidable accident; that Clarence Higginbotham was driving the automobile, and at the time was under the influence of intoxicating liquor, but said condition was not contributory negligence nor the proximate cause of the injuries; that he looked and listened for the train before entering on the crossing; that he was guilty of negligence in driving the car with more than two people in the seat with him, but that such negligence was not the cause of the collision.

Special issue No. 18-A was submitted by the court in the following language: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that plaintiff, Clarence Higginboth-am, failed to bring his automobile to a complete stop before entering on the crossing immediately before the collision?”

This issue was answered in the affirmative, but in response to issues Nos. 19 and 20, the jury answered that such failure did not constitute negligence, and was not the proximate cause of appellants’ injuries.

Special issue No. 41 is as follows: ‘Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the plaintiff, Clarence Hig-ginbotham, was guilty of negligence in failing to bring his automobile which he was driving to a complete stop at a point near enough to the track of the railroad so that he would be in a position to see whether or not a train was approaching before proceeding on to the crossing?”

This issue was answered in the affirmative, and, in response to issue 43, the jury found that such negligence proximately caused or contributed to cause the collision and the injuries to appellants.

On the findings of the jury in answer to issues 41 and 43, judgment was rendered for appellees.

The appellants contend, first, that the findings of the jury on special issues Nos. 41 and 43 were immaterial and should he disregarded; and, second, if not to be disregarded, such findings were in irreconcilable conflict with special issues Nos. 18-A, 19, and 20, and therefore furnished no basis for a judgment.

The testimony discloses that the railroad extended north and south and the road appellants were traveling extended across it east and west, and appellants were approaching from the east; that some 2 or 2½ hours before the collision, the appellants, traveling the same road going west to a creek where they expected to do some fishing, passed over the same crossing; that the road appellants were traveling was not a state highway and not recognized and kept up by the county; that it was a community road across which gates had been placed, had not been repaired in recent years, and was in bad condition. The right of way was fenced, and there was a gate 36 feet from the center of the track approaching from the east, and after entering the right of way gate there was a considerable grade to and over the tracks. Weeds and grass were so high that they obstructed the view of the parties as they entered the gate and an approaching train could not be seen until they reached within a dislance of 13½ feet from the center of the track, at which point a train could be seen a distance of 510 feet approaching the crossing from the north. The appellants were traveling in a 1926 model car, which was very noisy.

Appellant, Clarence Higginbotham, testified that he looked both ways as he drove inside the gate, but could not see north or [340]*340south along the track because of the grass and weeds; that he shifted gears to climb the grade, and was on the track and the train within 3 to 8 feet of him before he discovered its approach. .

The words, “entering the crossing immediately before the collision,” as used by the court in issue 18-A, were apparently construed by the jury to mean entering at the right of way gate 36 feet from the center of the track. Under the record this, in our opinion, is the correct interpretation of the meaning of the word “crossing” as used in connection with the other language in the charge. Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Rodriguez et ux. (Tex.Com.App.) 288 S.W. 151.

The failure to bring the automobile to a complete stop before entering the crossing immediately before the collision was not negligence, according to the jury’s finding, and this finding is supported by the uncontroverted testimony which shows that stopping his automobile and looking for the approach of a train, at the entrance to the crossing would have been useless since the approach of a train was completely obscured. Had appellant stopped and looked 13½ ■ feet from the center of the track, the train could have been seen approaching from a distance of 510 feet. The jury found that appellant, Clarence Higginbotham, was guilty of negligence in failing to stop at a point where the approach of the train could have been seen, and this finding, in our opinion, is not an immaterial issue, nor is it in conflict with the findings in issues Nos. 18-A, 19, and 20.

In addition to the actual knowledge acquired by appellants from passing, over the same crossing a short while previous to the accident, “A railroad track is of itself a proclamation of danger, imposing upon the traveler at the railroad crossing a positive duty of using care to avoid trains.” San Antonio & A. P. Ry. Co. v. Singletary (Tex.Civ.App.) 251 S.W. 325, 326.

In Jones et al. v. Louisiana-Western Ry. Co. (Tex.Com.App.) 243 S.W. 976, 980, in speaking of the fact issues relative to the duty of one approaching a railroad crossing, .it is said: “Whether he looked again toward the east in the short minute and a half between the time he started his truck and the time it was struck by the train, how far he looked, or whether an ordinarily prudent person would have looked again, or how far such person would have looked, were likewise questions for the jury. Whether he, in the exercise of ordinary care under all the circumstances in evidence, should have discovered the train in time to again stop his truck before it entered upon the track was also a question for the jury. It is true this theory is based on estimates, but such estimates were in evidence, and the jury had the right to accept and consider them.”

In Barron v. H. E. & W. T. Ry. Co. (Tex.Com.App.) 249 S.W.

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