Jones v. Berry

456 S.W.2d 515, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2715
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 25, 1970
DocketNo. 15631
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 456 S.W.2d 515 (Jones v. Berry) 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
Jones v. Berry, 456 S.W.2d 515, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2715 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

COLEMAN, Justice.

This is a suit for damages growing out of an intersectional collision. The trial court entered a judgment for the defendant based on a jury verdict.

Appellants assert that the trial court erred in refusing to admit the testimony of an eye witness, after the close of the defendant’s case, on the ground that the testimony was part of the plaintiffs’ case in chief and was not proper rebuttal testimony. Appellee contends that this ruling of the trial court was correct, but that if the court was in error, it was not shown to be so prejudicial as to require a reversal of the case. We conclude that the trial court erred in its ruling, but that, in light of the record as a whole, we cannot say that the excluded testimony would have in all reasonable probability resulted in a [516]*516jury verdict on which a judgment for the plaintiffs could have been rendered. Duncan v. Smith, 393 S.W.2d 798 (Tex.1965).

In response to special issues submitted, the jury did not find (1) that the defendant failed to keep a proper lookout; (2) that the defendant failed to yield the right of way to the plaintiffs; that the defendant failed to bring her vehicle to a stop before entering the intersection.

The jury found that Gary Jones, the minor plaintiff, operated the motorcycle at an unsafe speed which was a proximate cause of the accident in question; that he failed to keep a proper lookout which was a proximate cause of the accident; and that the collision was not the result of an unavoidable accident. The jury failed to find facts establishing that the defendant had the right of way at the time of the accident or that Gary Jones failed to yield same.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Highway 124 and La Bleu' Road in Winnie, Texas. The plaintiff was proceeding south on the inside lane of the highway. An automobile driven by Mrs. Rooks was also proceeding south on the highway signaling for a righthand turn into the La Bleu Road. The defendant was going east on La Bleu Road, which has one lane for traffic proceeding east and one lane for traffic going west. There is a stop sign for traffic entering the intersection from the road. A Shell gasoline station is located on the northwest corner of the intersection.

Roger Breaux was called as a witness by the plaintiff. He was employed at the Shell station, as was the plaintiff. He testified that he saw the accident. He stated that the defendant slowed down, but did not stop, at the stop sign. He heard the motorcycle and saw it before it got in front of the station. He “just kind of followed him.” He was certain that he “saw Pat Berry come to that stop sign and not stop.” When he was confronted with a statement he had signed some five months before the trial in which he stated that he saw defendant’s car about one and a half car lengths west of the stop sign and that he did not remember whether it stopped for the stop sign or not, he stated that he was working at the time he made the statement and that he did not now remember what he said. He glanced over the statement before he signed it. At the time he was answering the questions,' he didn’t want to tell anyone about the accident. He didn’t see her stop completely. Finally in answer to a question as to whether he was absolutely sure that the car didn’t stop at the stop sign, he said: “Well, no sir. I can’t say exactly.” “Well, I mean, I wasn’t watching inch for inch.” The car entered the intersection when the motorcycle was about eighteen feet away from it. The motorcycle was moving up on the side of the car that was turning to the right.

Larry Haufpauer, who also worked at the Shell station, saw the collision. He saw the boy on the motorcycle apply his brakes and heard the motorcycle horn blow when the motorcycle was about one hundred feet from the point of impact. The boy was going about forty miles per hour. He saw the car before the actual impact. It was being driven east on the intersecting street. When he saw the car it was in motion, but it was not moving very fast.

The testimony of these witnesses would have been sufficient to support a finding that the defendant failed to stop at the stop sign.

Gary Jones, the plaintiff, testified that • he was driving in the lefthand lane of the highway between forty and forty-five miles per hour. He knew it was a busy day at the Minimax store located near the intersection. As he looked up the road before he got to the intersection he had seen cars pass the intersection. As he was approaching the intersection, there was a car with its blinker lights on. “Then as I turned, there was just another one in front of me and that was it.” Before he reached the intersection the car in the [517]*517righthand lane was ahead of him a little. He thought that it blocked the defendant’s view of him. He didn’t pass the car “completely”. “It was just turning sort of long — just slowed down and turned and that was it.” He might have been only one hundred feet from the intersection when he blew his horn and applied his brakes. He couldn’t be sure because everything happened so fast. “ * * * I just remember going along there and cars in front of me — sort of like a dream — then all of a sudden there was a car to my right, and all of a sudden a blue car there — and grabbed all the brakes and then, bam (snapping fingers).” The first time he saw the defendant’s car it was “coming right out in front of me.” He was looking straight down the road and he didn’t turn his head to the right to look for traffic. He thinks that from two hundred feet back he could see 180 degrees when he was looking ahead. He knew there were cars on La Bleu Road because there always were, but he wasn’t expecting one to come out in front of him. The defendant’s car was a blue Chevrolet. When he first saw the car, it was “sort of coming around in front of me” and was going about two miles an hour. It was a clear day and visibility was good. The head of a person driving a motorcycle is as high as, or possibly a little higher than, that of a person driving an automobile. The motorcycle was a little less than half the length of a standard automobile. The seat and handlebars of the Honda motorcycle would be below the window level of such a car.

Patricia Ann Berry testified that she had been at a washateria near the Mini-max store on the corner, and that she entered La Bleu Road from the parking lot and turned to the right. She was behind another car and had to stop four times before she finally attempted to cross Highway 124. When she got to the stop sign, she stopped and looked both ways before proceeding. She saw Mrs. Rooks’ car make a turn into La Bleu Road. She then looked both ways and did not see the motorcycle. The car did not block her vision. She was in the second lane of the highway when her car was hit. She does not know where the motorcycle came from. Her hearing is impaired. She never did see the motorcycle and she did not hear anything.

Mrs. Montin Rooks saw the accident. She was driving south on Highway 124 preparing to turn right on La Bleu Road. She knows Pat Berry and saw her stopped at the stop sign on La Bleu Road. At that time she was in front of the Shell station, about four car lengths from the intersection. She was not certain whether the car was behind or in front of the stop sign. As she was about to turn right, Pat Berry’s car had entered Highway 124 and had cleared her lane of traffic. At about that same time she heard a motorcycle race its motor beside her car. Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
456 S.W.2d 515, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-berry-texapp-1970.