Lone Star Cab v. Chatham

449 S.W.2d 790, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2638
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 7, 1970
Docket296
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 449 S.W.2d 790 (Lone Star Cab v. Chatham) 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
Lone Star Cab v. Chatham, 449 S.W.2d 790, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2638 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

BARRON, Justice.

This is a personal injury suit filed by plaintiffs, Thelma Chatham and husband, Cleothus Chatham, against Lone Star Cab, Adams Leasing Company, Inc., Basil Donald Morehead and Ralph Morehead, to recover damages allegedly sustained by Thelma Chatham as a result of an automobile collision between a taxi in which said plaintiff was a passenger and a vehicle being driven by Basil Donald Morehead, on January 13, 1966 at the intersection of Lockwood and Cavalcade Streets in the City of Houston. Prior to the time of trial, the Moreheads were dismissed from this suit. The case was submitted to a jury on special issues, and the jury answered the special issues as follows:

(a) Jesse Jasper (driver of the taxi) did not fail to keep a proper look out for vehicles on Lockwood approaching the Cavalcade intersection from the opposite direction.

(b) The taxi driver failed to yield the right-of-way to the Morehead vehicle, but such was not a proximate cause of the collision. (numbers 3 and 4).

(c) Basil Morehead failed to keep a proper lookout on the occasion in question, but such failure was not the sole proximate cause of the occurrence in question.

(d) Morehead failed to yield the right-of-way to the taxi cab, but such was not the sole proximate cause of the occurrence, (numbers 7 and 8).

(e)Morehead was driving his vehicle at a greater rate of speed than it would have been driven by a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care under the same or similar circumstances, but such was not the sole proximate cause of the occurrence.

The jury awarded plaintiff damages in the sum of $6,404.50.

The plaintiffs timely filed motion to disregard the jury’s answer to special issue number 4 regarding proximate cause in connection with the taxi driver’s failure to yield the right-of-way, and on a hearing the trial court granted the motion and found as a matter of law that the failure of the taxi driver to yield the right-of-way as found by the jury in response to special issue number 3 was a proximate cause of the collision in question. The trial court then entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, Mrs. Chatham and husband, for the above sum.

Appeal has been properly perfected by Lone Star Cab and Adams Leasing Company, Inc. from the judgment of the trial court.

The evidence shows that Morehead was driving north on Lockwood and was approaching the Cavalcade intersection immediately prior to the accident. Lockwood is a four-lane street with two lanes for traffic going north, and Morehead was traveling in the outer lane nearest the curb. The intersection was controlled by traffic lights, and Morehead testified that the light had turned green before he entered the intersection. As he approached the intersection he did not become aware of the taxicab until it was directly in front of the Morehead car at a distance of approximately one car length. Morehead could not stop his car to avoid the collision, and he struck the taxicab behind the right rear door.

*792 Jesse Jasper, the taxi driver, had been traveling south on Lockwood, and his paid passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Chatham. As he approached the Lockwood-Cavalcade intersection he testified that he intended to make a left turn on Cavalcade, and prior to making the turn he stopped the taxi. There were several cars traveling north on Lockwood, and he checked to see that the traffic was clear, especially in the curb or outer lane going north. After he checked and failed to see any cars he turned his eyes the way he was going and started to make his left turn. After he had turned he looked to his right and saw the Morehead car coming at a distance of about three car lengths. Just after he came to a full turn he testified that the Morehead car had “just popped up out of nowhere.” He testified that he guessed the Morehead car came from down the street but that the car was not in. sight when he began to turn and that he could see back several cars, and that there were no cars coming. He admitted, however, that when his taxi was clearing the northbound inside or first lane of Lockwood, he looked to his right and saw the Morehead car coming. Since he was already in the process of making his left turn, he then “put the gas to the floor” and proceeded ahead of the Morehead car. The taxi was struck by Morehead, and the passenger, Mrs. Chatham, was injured as a result thereof.

Appellants contend that the trial court erred in disregarding the jury’s finding that the taxi driver’s failure to yield the right-of-way was not a proximate cause of the accident and in finding as a matter of law that it was a proximate cause of the collision; because the jury’s said finding had support in the evidence; because the verdict of the jury, after the above action, contained irreconcilable conflict in that the jury also found that Morehead failed to yield the right-of-way to the taxi, and because as a matter of law the acts of Morehead were the sole proximate cause of the accident in question.

In deciding a question of whether there is evidence of probative force to support a finding, a reviewing court must consider only the evidence and inferences tending to support the finding and disregard all evidence and inferences to the contrary. Garza v. Alviar, 395 S.W.2d 821, 823 (Tex.Sup.). The trial court may disregard the jury’s finding to a special issue only when there is no support in the evidence. Rule 301, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

In connection with special issue number 3 the court gave the following instruction which was not objected to:

“You are instructed that the driver of a vehicle within an intersection intending to turn to the left shall yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard, but said driver, having so yielded and having given a signal, may make such left turn and the drivers of all other vehicles approaching from the opposite direction shall yield the right of way to the vehicle making the left turn. You are instructed that a vehicle constitutes an immediate hazard if it is in such proximity to the intersection that a. person exercising the highest degree of care would not attempt to turn in front of it.”

The main question thus presented here is whether a driver who turns left in front of a vehicle coming from the opposite direction when the approaching vehicle is in hazardous proximity to the intersection may be legally liable for the resulting collision, and whether the driver’s failure to yield the right-of-way under such circumstances may be a proximate cause of the resulting accident as a matter of law.

As above stated, Jasper made the left turn, he says, after he had determined that there were no cars traveling *793 north which were close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, but when he approached the northbound inside lane he saw the Morehead car at a distance of approximately three car lengths from him.

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Bluebook (online)
449 S.W.2d 790, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lone-star-cab-v-chatham-texapp-1970.