Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc. v. Bentley

505 S.W.2d 421, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2029
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 8, 1974
DocketNo. 17485
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 505 S.W.2d 421 (Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc. v. Bentley) 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
Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc. v. Bentley, 505 S.W.2d 421, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2029 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

OPINION

MASSEY, Chief Justice.

The question is whether, as a matter of law, the negligence of a truck driver in proceeding to drive his vehicle after the discovery that the brakes thereon were not working properly, indeed that there was likelihood of a total brake failure, constituted a new and independent cause of a collision which resulted in injury to the plaintiff. If it should be so held there would be eliminated as a proximate cause of such collision the negligence of the defendant who was responsible for the defective condition of the brakes.

Our holding is that the action of the truck driver did not, as a matter of law, constitute a new and independent cause; that persisting as an issue of fact to be determined by the jury was the matter of whether the negligence of him who was responsible for the defective brakes constituted a proximate cause of the collision.

The jury refused to find that the negligent action of the truck driver in knowingly continuing to drive the truck with knowledge that the brakes were defective constituted the sole proximate cause of the collision. The jury found that the negligence of the defendant responsible for the defective condition of the brakes was a proximate cause of the collision (i. e., under the court’s definition, a cause . “unbroken by any new and independent cause” which produces an event, etc., etc.).

Based on the jury’s findings the trial court rendered judgment for damages against the truck driver and his employer and also against Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc. Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc., became the sole appellant.

We affirm that judgment.

The day prior to the collision in question the appellant’s parts division had negligently supplied an improper brake cylinder to a mechanic who installed it on the truck in question. The following morning the collision occurred. The matter of negligence on the part of the mechanic is a moot question since the jury acquitted him thereof. Upon the appeal the matter of whether the appellant was negligent in supplying [423]*423the brake cylinder is also moot since for purposes of the appeal negligence is conceded. Unquestionably the truck driver was guilty of negligence amounting to a proximate cause of the collision as the jury found.

But for the question of whether the truck driver’s negligence in continuing to operate the truck after experiencing brake failure constituted a new and independent cause as a matter of law there would be no question but that the negligence of the appellant amounted to a proximate cause of the collision.

The type of brake cylinder involved has “plungers” which transmit pressure of the hydraulic brake system by expansion against and upon the brake shoes, so that in a properly working brake the brake shoes by pressure upon the brake drums would create friction by which the vehicle on which the brake cylinder had been installed might be brought to a stop.

Since the brake cylinder was one for a different size or shape of brake shoe the “plungers” were more or less “creened” on the truck in question. In other words they did not thrust staight out so that there was proper pump action, but thrust out at an angle so that a strain was placed upon the washers through which they operated. This not only permitted a “binding” of the “plungers”, but also would cause a distortion of the washers through which the “plunging” action should take place when there was attempt by the vehicle operator to manipulate the brakes. This was probably calculated to eventually cause a leaking of the hydraulic brake fluid or even a rupture of some part of the makeup of the cylinder whereby there might be a complete loss of the brake fluid with consequent total brake failure. All the foregoing the jury was entitled by the evidence to infer, as it probably did. Where there is sufficient loss of brake fluid in the hydraulic braking system of a vehicle there will be a total failure of the brakes.

Before the time of the collision the truck driver, in the course of making delivery of a load of sand, was driving upon an expressway in the City of Fort Worth. His intention was to drive down a ramp leading off the expressway to alight at a street called Beach Street, there to stop at a stop sign and then turn onto Beach and drive north thereon toward the point to which he intended to deliver the load of sand. However, there was a total failure of the brakes on the truck as he descended the ramp. The truck could not be stopped. The driver guided the truck so that it went across Beach Street and upon the ramp on the opposite side leading back up onto the expressway.

He drove the truck back onto the expressway and continued to another exit ramp by use of which he got back down onto the city streets. He “crippled around”, as he termed it, and his brakes began to work again. Though not entirely satisfied with the way the brakes were working the driver elected to try to go on to the point of his intended delivery. He located Beach Street, where he turned and proceeded toward the north thereon for several blocks until he reached the point of an intersection where he stopped in obedience to traffic signal lights. He testified that his brakes stopped the truck without difficulty thereat. Upon a change of the signal lights he started forward, but the engine of the truck “died”. He stopped when this occurred, but in the attempt to hold the truck by application of the brake pedal there was a second complete brake failure. It was later discovered that there was a rupture of the hydraulic system and that all the brake fluid had drained out underneath the truck. Precise nature of the rupture was not shown.

By reason of this second total brake failure the truck began to roll backward and downgrade. It rolled into the vehicle of the plaintiff. The force of the collision caused property damage and personal injuries to plaintiff.

[424]*424Our holding is that under the foregoing state of facts the question of new and independent cause was for the jury. By construction of the jury’s findings in the verdict it found against the appellant’s contentions that the negligence of the truck driver in his continued operation of the truck up until the time of the collision constituted a new and independent cause thereof. On appeal appellant contends that such was a new and independent cause as a matter of law.

On the general Texas law it was written in Hopson v. Gulf Oil Corp., 150 Tex. 1, 237 S.W.2d 352, at page 355 (1951), as follows : “Two elements or tests of proximate cause are causation and the limitation to foreseeable consequences. As to causation, it is said that if the defendant’s act or omission was a substantial factor in bringing about the result, it will be regarded as a cause, and that ordinarily it will be such a substantial factor if the result would not have occurred without it. Prosser on Torts, p. 321, § 46. . Further the court wrote (at page 356) “In using fore-seeableness as a test to determine proximate cause, this Court and the Courts of Civil Appeals have been careful to point out that for the defendant’s negligence to be regarded as a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury it is not necessary that the defendant should or would reasonably anticipate the very consequences or the exact nature of the plaintiff’s injury or the precise manner of its infliction. It is sufficient that the defendant would reasonably have anticipated consequences or an injury of the general nature of that which ensued, (citing cases)”.

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505 S.W.2d 421, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2029, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jack-williams-chevrolet-inc-v-bentley-texapp-1974.