Keller v. Federal Bob Brannon Truck Co.

151 Tenn. 427
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 151 Tenn. 427 (Keller v. Federal Bob Brannon Truck Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keller v. Federal Bob Brannon Truck Co., 151 Tenn. 427 (Tenn. 1924).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Haul

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case is before the court upon the plaintiff in error’s (plaintiff below), petition to rehear.

The case was decided, and the judgment of the court of civil appeals affirmed, at the last term of the court without an opinion. The parties will be referred to according’ to their status in the trial court; that is, as plaintiff and defendant.

On April 24, 1922, the plaintiff, J. P. Keller, instituted the present action by original summons in the circuit court of Davidson county against the Federal Bob Bran-non Truck Company, a corporation, to recover for damage sustained by his Buick automobile by reason of the alleged negligent operation of a Cadillac automobile belonging to defendant, and which collided with the plaintiff’s automobile.

At the same time and in the same suit plaintiff sued out a writ of attachment and had the same levied on the Cadillac automobile of the defendant, which was then in possession of Vogley & Todd at their repair shop in the city of Nashville.

Thereafter, to-wit, June 5, 1922, plaintiff filed his declaration containing two counts. The first count relied on common-law negligence.

The second count averred that the proximate cause of the accident and the resulting damage to plaintiff’s automobile was the negligent driving of defendant’s automobile by one Huggins along and upon one of the main thoroughfares of the city of Nashville at a greater rate of speed than fifteen miles per hour, in violation of an ordinance of said city, and at.a greater rate of speed [430]*430than twenty miles, per hour, in violation of chapter 173, Acts of 1905.

To this declaration defendant filed a plea of not guilty.

The case came on for trial before the court and a jury November 27,1922, when the defendant moved the court to quash the attachment on the following’ grounds:

“First. The attachment does not show on its face that the automobile in question was run at the time of the accident in excess of twenty miles an hour on a public thoroughfare.
“Second. The attachment does not allege, even if the automobile was running in excess of twenty miles an hour, that it was being willfully done, and said attachment is therefore void.”

This motion was temporarily overruled by the trial judge.

Later, and during the trial of the case, plaintiff made a motion to be allowed to amend the writ of attachment by inserting in the affidavit the word “willfully” and the words “by running more than twenty miles per hour on one of the highways of the State. ’ ’ This amendment was allowed by the court.

At the close of all the evidence defendant moved the court to direct the jury to return a verdict in its favor, which motion was overruled, and the case was submitted to the jury. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $500, and judgment was entered' in accordance with the verdict of the jury.

The defendant moved for a new trial on several grounds. The first was:

“There is no evidence to support the verdict of the jury.”

[431]*431Second:

“The evidence preponderates against the verdict.”

The court expressly overruled all of the grounds of the motion except the third and fourth, which were sustained.

The third ground of the motion was that the court erred in permitting plaintiff to amend the attachment in the particular before mentioned, and in failing and refusing' to sustain defendant’s motion to quash the same; it being void because the affidavit did not allege that defendant’s automobile was being run in excess of twenty miles an hour, and in willful violation of the statute, and because the amendment was to the substance and not to the form of the attachment.

The fourth ground of the motion was that the court erred in failing and refusing at the conclusion of all the the evidence to sustain defendant’s motion for a directed verdict.

As before stated, the court sustained these two grounds of the motion, quashed the attachment, and rendered a judgment, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, dismissing plaintiff’s suit and taxing him with the costs of the case.

From this judgment plaintiff appealed to the court of civil appeals. That court affirmed the judgment of the trial court, and the case was brought before this court upon plaintiff’s petition for writ of certiorari and for review.

As before stated, this court affirmed the judgment of the court of civil appeals; hence the petition to rehear.

As we understand plaintiff’s position in his petition for a rehearing, he does not abandon his three legal [432]*432propositions set up in liis assignments of error in the court of civil appeals and in this court, to-w’it:

(1) That the attachment was valid.

(2) That the defendant is liable under the statute for the damage to plaintiff’s automobile.

(3) That the defendant is liable at common law for the damage to plaintiff’s automobile.

He only discusses and presses on the court, in his petition to rehear, his second proposition, and earnestly insists that there is statutory liability upon the part of defendant under the undisputed facts as disclosed by the record. He insists that defendant is liable to him for damages under chapter 173, Acts of 1905. Section 3 of this act provides:

“That no automobile shall be run or driven upon any road, street, highway, or other public thoroughfare at a rate of speed in excess of twenty miles per hour; provided, that any municipality shall have the authority to prescribe a lower maximum rate of speed within its corporate limits.

By section 5 of the act it is provided:

“That whenever any suit for damages is broug’ht in any court of competent jurisdiction for injuries to person or property caused by the running of any automobile in willful violation of the provisions of this Act, there shall be a lien upon such automobile for the satisfaction of such recovery as the court may award whether, at the time of the injury, such automobile was driven by the owner thereof or by his chauffeur, agent, employee, servant, or any other person using the same by loan, hire, or otherwise.”

[433]*433We think that the attachment was clearly void because neither it nor the affidavit upon which it was issued stated that defendant’s automobile, at the time of the collision, was being operated upon the thoroughfare at a rate of speed in excess of twenty miles per hour, and in willful violation of the statute. We think further that the trial court committed error in allowing the plaintiff; to amend the attachment, because the amendment went to the substance, not to the form merely. The statute (Shannon’s Code, section 5237) provides that the attachment law shall be liberally construed, and the plaintiff before or during trial shall be permitted to amend any defect of form in the affidavit, bond, attachment, or other proceedings; and no attachment shall be dismissed for any defect in or want of bond, if the plaintiff, his agent, or attorney will substitute a sufficient bond.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

McIntosh v. Neal-Blun Co.
182 S.E.2d 696 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1971)
Midwest Dairy Products Co. v. Esso Standard Oil Co.
246 S.W.2d 974 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1952)
Haupt v. Cincinnati, N. O. & T. P. Ry. Co.
232 S.W.2d 598 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1950)
Messer v. Reid
208 S.W.2d 528 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1948)
Trimble v. Bridges
180 S.W.2d 590 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1943)
Durso v. A. D. Cozzolino, Inc.
20 A.2d 392 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1941)
Long v. Tomlin
125 S.W.2d 171 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1938)
East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Motor Transp. Co. v. Brooks
121 S.W.2d 559 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1938)
Sadler v. Murphy
77 S.W.2d 70 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1934)
Raines v. Mercer
55 S.W.2d 263 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1932)
Rent-A-Car Co. v. Belford
45 S.W.2d 49 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1932)
New York Casualty Co. v. Lawson
24 S.W.2d 881 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1930)
Gemmell Bros. Co. v. Durham
11 Tenn. App. 97 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1929)
Kittrell v. Holden
5 Tenn. App. 592 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1927)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
151 Tenn. 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keller-v-federal-bob-brannon-truck-co-tenn-1924.