Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Co. v. Johnson

1936 OK 422, 58 P.2d 888, 177 Okla. 288, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 654
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 2, 1936
DocketNo. 26147.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1936 OK 422 (Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Co. v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Co. v. Johnson, 1936 OK 422, 58 P.2d 888, 177 Okla. 288, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 654 (Okla. 1936).

Opinion

CORN, J.

This appeal is prosecuted by the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, a corporation, and M. Moore, as plaintiffs in error, against J. A. Johnson, defendant in error, from a judgment rendered against them for personal injuries incurred in an automobile collision, the judgment having been rendered on October 4, 1934, by the district court of Oklahoma county. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court; J. A. Johnson, defendant in error, as plaintiff, and the plaintiffs in error will be designated as defendants.

Plaintiff alleges that on or about the 2Gth day of October, 1933, about 8:00 o’clock a. m., said plaintiff was driving east on Ash avenue about one-half mile east of Eastern avenue in the southeast part of Oklahoma City, that he was driving a Buick coupe in a careful and prudent manner, and that the defendant Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, by and through its agent, M. Moore, was driving a Ford coupe, 1930 model, in the same direction in the center of the highway. That the plaintiff herein overtook the defendant M. Moore and started to pass the car belonging to the defendant Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company on the left-hand side. That said plaintiff sounded a warning with his horn, and as the front wheels of plaintiff’s car were parallel with the rear wheels of the defendant’s car, the defendant M. Moore, acting for and on behalf of himself and for and on behalf of the defendant Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company as their *289 agent, servant, and employee, without giving any prior warning of his intention to do so, made a sharp turn to the left to go into a leasehold owned by the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, and in order to avoid a broadside collision the plaintiff was forced to turn his car sharply to the left and into a ditch about six feet deep, receiving the injury which will be hereinafter more specifically set out.

Plaintiff further alleges that the defendants and each of them were negligent in failing to give any warning or signal of an intention- to make a left turn, and that the defendant M. Moore, acting for and on behalf of himself and as agent for the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, was ■further negligent in deliberately driving the car which he was operating across the road after plaintiff’s warning of his intention to pass said automobile, and that the negligence hereinbefore set out was the proximate cause of the injury complained of.

Plaintiff further alleges that by reason of the negligence on the part of the defendants and each of them he received a fracture of the patella or kneecap on his right leg, and that by reason thereof he is totally and per.manently disabled, and that he is unable to perform any kind of gainful labor, and that at the time he received said injury he was employed as a roustabout earning $100 per month, and that he was damaged in the sum of $15,000.

The defendant M. Moore, by his separate answer to the plaintiff’s petition, denies singularly and all the allegations contained in said petition, except that an accident occurred between the car in which he was riding and the Buick ear being driven by the above-named plaintiff on October 26, 1933.

For further answer and defense this defendant states that if the plaintiff sustained the damage and injuries as set forth in his petition, which is specifically denied, the said damage and injury was occasioned solely by reason of his own negligence in that he failed to exercise ordinary care for his own safety.

Further answering and for defense, defendant states that it was the duty of the said plaintiff, X A. Johnson, to at all times have his car under control and keep a proper lookout for traffic ahead; that at the time and place set forth in said plaintiff’s petition, said plaintiff failed to do this; therefore, the defendant says that if he were in any wise negligent, which is specifically denied, the conduct on the part of the plaintiff, as referred to herein, either caused or contributed to the accident complained of, and by reason of which he is not entitled to recover.

The answer of the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, filed at the same time, is as follows:

“Comes now the defendant, Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, a corporation, and for its separate answer to the plaintiff’s petition on file herein denies singularly and all the allegations contained in the plaintiff’s petition except that it is a corporation licensed and doing business as set forth in plaintiff’s petition.
“For further answer and defense defendant states that if the plaintiff sustained the damage and injuries as set forth in his petition, which is specifically denied, the said damage and injury was occasioned solely by reason of his own negligence in that he failed to exercise ordinary care for his own safety.
“Further answering and for defense, defendant states that it was the duty of the said plaintiff, X A. Johnson, to at all times have his car under control and keep a proper lookout for traffic ahead; that at the time and place set forth in said plaintiff’s petition, said plaintiff failed to do this; therefore, the defendant says that if it or its agent were in any wise negligent, which is specifically denied, that the conduct on the part of the plaintiff as referred to herein either caused or contributed to the accident complained of, and by reason of which he is not entitled to recover.”

The issues thus joined, the cause was tried to a jury, and a verdict was rendered for the plaintiff.

The defendants’ third specification of error raises a question of sufficient impor’tance upon its face to entitle it to consideration, but when viewed in the light of the record is of no merit and can be of no avail to them, as may readily be seen from an examination of the record. Said specification and the instruction of the court involved therein are as follows:

“The trial court in instruction No. 12 instructed the jury to consider a purported act of negligence on the part of defendants which was not pleaded in the petition, not within the purview of the facts set out in the petition, and not justified by the evidence, all of which was prejudicial to the rights of the defendants.”

Instruction No. 12, given by the court and excepted to by the defendants, reads as follows:

*290 “You are instructed that the statutes of this state provide that all motor vehicles, before passing other vehicles from the rear, shall give notice of approach ■ by horn or other signal before passing, provided that said vehicle shall be required when signaled to turn to one side and give half of the road. The statutes further provide that all vehicles turning to the left into another road, shall pass around the center of the intersecting road before turning.
“You are further instructed that if you believe from the evidence in this case, by a preponderance thereof, that the defendant Moore, in turning to the left, did not pass around the center of the intersecting road which he was attempting to turn into, and such failure was the proximate cause of the injury complained of, then your verdict should be for the ijlaintiff.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1936 OK 422, 58 P.2d 888, 177 Okla. 288, 1936 Okla. LEXIS 654, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indian-territory-illuminating-oil-co-v-johnson-okla-1936.