Levi v. Ashland Oil and Refining Company

1972 OK 63, 496 P.2d 370
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 18, 1972
DocketNo. 43271
StatusPublished

This text of 1972 OK 63 (Levi v. Ashland Oil and Refining Company) 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
Levi v. Ashland Oil and Refining Company, 1972 OK 63, 496 P.2d 370 (Okla. 1972).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Justice:

Here we have a petition for certiorari to the Court of Appeals, Division 1, for the review of a decision of that court affirming the trial court’s judgment for defendants in accordance with a jury verdict. Cer-tiorari granted.

The action in the trial court was for damages resulting from an automobile accident in which plaintiff’s husband was killed. This accident happened shortly after dark the day before Thanksgiving on Avery Road, a black-topped county road which parallels the Arkansas River a few miles west of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Defendants were Ashland Oil and Refining Co., the owner of a truck-trailer combination involved in the accident; Mr. Graddy, the truck driver; and Mr. Bryant, an Ashland foreman.

On appeal, the plaintiff argues generally under several propositions that the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on some of the fundamental and material issues of the case. An understanding of the arguments presented requires a brief summary of the evidence. It should be kept in mind that on most of the material issues, the evidence was in conflict.

At about 3:00 o’clock p. m. on the day of the accident, the Ashland truck-trailer driven by Graddy, traveling east on Avery Road, came to a stop with mechanical trouble. At that point there were guard posts on both sides of the road. Graddy pulled the truck to the right, then got out and allegedly placed warning devices of the reflector type along the road in accordance with the requirements of 47 O.S. 1971, § 12-408. It appears, however, that most of the truck-trailer was still on the traveled portion of the roadway.

Graddy notified Ashland’s Tulsa office of his difficulties and Mr. Bryant, the Ash-land foreman, came to the scene. A mechanic was called. After some efforts to make repairs at the scene, the mechanic removed some truck parts and took them back to his shop in Tulsa for repair. Grad-day and Bryant left the scene about 4:30 p.m., but without turning on any of the truck-trailer lights. It was contemplated that the mechanic would finish his work, notify the foreman and return to the scene in time to put the truck in condition to be moved under its own power before dark. However, the repair work at the shop took longer than was expected, and was not completed until after dark.

Under government weather records admitted by stipulation, the sun set on that day at 5 :20 p.m.; the sky was overcast with broken clouds, and the moon did not rise till after 9 o’clock p.m.

A little after 6:00 p.m., plaintiff’s husband, Mr. Levi, was returning from a fishing trip to Keystone Lake with a friend, driving his own car. They were traveling east on Avery Road. Apparently, Levi failed to see the stalled truck-trailer in the traffic lane in front of him until he was close to it. He swerved his car to1 the left across the center line, where it collided with a pickup truck approaching from the opposite direction. Levi was killed instantly in the crash. The pickup truck driver is not a defendant.

Under the two allegations of negligence in plaintiff’s amended petition, two sections of the statute are involved. 47 O.S.1971, § 11-1001, provides in pertinent part in sub-section (a) that no person shall “stop, park or leave standing any vehicle” upon the main-traveled part of the highway when it is practicable to leave such vehicle off the main-traveled part of the highway. Subsection (b) provides that “This section shall not apply to the driver of any vehicle which is disabled while on the paved or main-traveled portion of a highway in such manner and to such extent that it is impossible to avoid stopping and temporarily leaving such disabled vehicle in such position” (emphasis supplied).

[373]*37347 O.S.1971, § 12-408, provides in specific detail the type and placement of warning devices to be used when a vehicle such as Ashland’s truck-trailer is disabled upon the traveled portion of a highway, or the shoulder thereof. The reflector-type warning devices allegedly used in this case are specifically approved.

Plaintiff’s two allegations of negligence are contained in paragraph 8, sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), of her amended petition, upon which the case was tried. Sub-paragraph (b) may fairly be described as an allegation of negligence in failing to set out the warning devices in the manner, and in the places, prescribed by § 12-408. No complaint is made of the rather detailed instruction given by the trial court as to the requirements of this section of the statute.

Sub-paragraph (a) (of the allegations) was as follows:

“Negligence and want of care of the defendants and each of them in leaving the aforementioned truck upon the trav-veled portion of the paved road for a period of time prior to the accident herein concerned, under such circumstances as aforesaid as to constitute an obstruction and hazard to traffic approaching from the west on said road after dark, which should have been foreseen by defendants in the exercise of ordinary care and prudence; and negligence and want of care of defendants in parking, stopping, and leaving said truck standing in violation of Section 11-1001 of Title 47 of Oklahoma Statutes.” (Emphasis added).

Although this language is not as clear as it might have been, we think that in view of the portions emphasized above, and under the facts in this case, it may be described fairly as an allegation of negligence in failing to remove the truck-trailer from the roadway within a reasonable time after the emergency created by the mechanical trouble had ended.

The evidence that the vehicle was “disabled” and unable to move under its own power is uncontradicted; therefore, under § 11-1001 (b), defendants were authorized to leave the vehicle in place temporarily. There is substantially uncontradicted evidence that they left the vehicle in place about three hours, and until after dark, before the accident happened. There is also evidence which would have justified a jury conclusion that it could conveniently have been moved by a wrecker or tow-truck long before dark.

Although this Court apparently has never considered the provisions of § 11-1001 (b) before, an almost identical Wisconsin statute has been considered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an action arising out of a strikingly similar accident. See Walker v. Kroger Grocery and Baking Co., 214 Wis. 519, 252 N.W. 721, 92 A.L.R. 680. In that case, after detailing the circumstances of the accident and setting out the statute involved, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said:

“ * * * As the evidence warranted a finding that Hegley [the truck driver], in the exercise of ordinary care, could and should have removed the truck from the concrete roadway before jacking it up, it was within the province of the jury to find that, because of his failure to do so, he was equally negligent with his employer. The latter, in addition, could also be considered negligent in that respect because of the delay caused by its mechanic in taking the studs back to Madison for repair, instead of doing that work in a shop in the nearby village of Cambridge.”

To the same general effect, see 8 Am.Jur.2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 817, and 60A C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 332, page 383. For other cases involving very similar statutes, see Shelton v. Lowell, 196 Or. 430, 249 P.2d 958, and Boger v.

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Shelton v. LOWELL
249 P.2d 958 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1952)
Phillips v. Barker
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Boger v. Kellner
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Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Stanton
1920 OK 180 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1920)
International Harvester Co. v. Snider
1939 OK 162 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Roadway Express, Inc. v. Baty
1941 OK 38 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1941)
Walker v. Kroger Grocery & Baking Co.
252 N.W. 721 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1934)

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Bluebook (online)
1972 OK 63, 496 P.2d 370, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levi-v-ashland-oil-and-refining-company-okla-1972.