Lovell v. DeHoney

615 S.W.2d 276, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 3467
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1981
DocketNo. 20445
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 615 S.W.2d 276 (Lovell v. DeHoney) 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
Lovell v. DeHoney, 615 S.W.2d 276, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 3467 (Tex. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

CARVER, Justice.

This case grew out of a collision at an intersection controlled by signal lights. The parties included Mrs. Lovell (one of the drivers), her husband, and her employer on one side and Mr. DeHoney (the other driver), his employer, and his compensation carrier on the opposite side. Following a jury trial and verdict, judgment was entered that the Lovell side take nothing. The Lo-vell side appeals urging that the cause be reversed and remanded because the opinion of an accident reconstruction expert, offered by the DeHoney side, was improperly admitted and caused an improper verdict [277]*277and judgment. We affirm because we hold that the trial court had discretion to admit the opinions of the expert witness (1) as to the danger to motorists because of the signal timing sequence and (2) as to the speed of the vehicles just prior to the collision.

It is not disputed in the record that the collision occurred within the intersection of Highway 75 and Munson Street in the city limits of Denison, Texas, nor that such intersection was controlled by light signals operated by the city at the time of the collision, nor that the light signals were in operating condition at the time of the collision. The disputed issues were what color signal was facing each driver at various times during each driver’s approach to and' entry into the intersection and what was the respective driver’s speed as each approached and entered the intersection.

During his qualification examination, Vamus Walker, the challenged expert witness, testified that he was a Registered Professional Engineer licensed by the State of Texas with experience in accident reconstruction since 1973. Walker described the general method he employed in accident reconstruction as, “the accumulation of evidence and all information surrounding the accident; the conditions of the weather, the roads, the traffic, the time of day and all other types of information that can be accumulated, to use in painting the picture over and describing what happened and what caused the accident, and to estimate speeds, trajectories and energy dissipation in the accident.” In this particular instance, Walker described his investigation to include:

On my visit I surveyed and examined the accident site, took measurements to be able to reproduce the dimensions and the conditions of the accident site.
I studied traffic and the traffic control at the accident site. Studied the movement of traffic and the responses of the vehicles and generally the flow of traffic. I examined the automobile that was involved in the accident, in which we found the automobile in partial disassembly. We reassembled the automobile to the extent that measurements could be made, and also could be measured and estimates of energy dissipation in the damage to the automobile could be made. I exam-' ined the truck that was involved in the accident, which had been repaired, and I examined the trailer that was involved in the accident, which did not suffer any damage. I then studied the police reports and statements of witnesses to the extent that I could chart the flow of information to the point where I could detect the consistency of certain information and inconsistencies.
In this method I can reconstruct the best picture of the accident and estimate the speeds and the trajectories or the path of the vehicles prior to and after the collision.

The Lovell side’s complaint about Walker’s testimony is based upon two objections offered during his testimony. When Walker was asked if the signal light timing he observed during his investigation was relied upon by him as being the same timing that was in effect on the day of the accident and Walker responded that he had phoned the city department responsible for signal lights and it had reported that there was no change, the Lovell side objected on the ground that Walker’s investigation was “totally based on hearsay.” When Walker was asked if he had an opinion as to the speed of the respective vehicles at the time of the collision, he responded that he had formed an opinion based upon (1) the angle of contact between the vehicles, (2) the direction of distortion of each vehicle’s frame and body, (3) the area or terrain on which the vehicles were moving, (4) the weight, type and design of each vehicle, (5) the weather, (6) photographs of the vehicle involved, (7) the ability of each to maneuver and the physical evidence of the maneuver, (8) the laws of physics, and (9) the statements of the drivers and witnesses to the accident. The Lovell side objected on the ground that the opinion lacked a “proper predicate” in that he did not sufficiently detail everything he had considered in reaching his opinion.

[278]*278The Lovell side first argues that the opinion of the expert in relation to the signals should have been rejected because he relied solely upon the telephone call to the city to form or support the opinion expressed to the jury. We cannot agree. The opinion expressed to the jury began with the expert’s own observation at the time of his investigation and the danger for motorists at the intersection was stated to lie in the relatively brief interval between color signals when coupled with human reaction time, the mass (weight times speed) of each vehicle, and the driver’s ability to overcome the inertia of motion inherent in each moving vehicle when a change in the light occurred. It is true that the expert’s calculations were expressed in reliance upon the city’s telephone statement that the timing of the lights was unchanged since the accident, but the expert’s opinion was valid, regardless of the actual timing of the signals on the day of the accident, because any timing of the signals would, on the same scientific principles, merely produce a calculation of danger to a greater or lesser degree. The expert’s opinion that the intersection was dangerous was echoed in the record by Mrs. Lovell and the expert’s reliance on the telephone report of unchanged timing of the lights was echoed by the witness Cain who estimated the yellow light timing as “no more than a couple of seconds.” The expert’s qualifications were not challenged, nor was there a challenge to the scientific principles he employed in reaching his opinion of damages. The degree of danger opinion the expert expressed did rely on the hearsay report from the city; however, the degree of danger opinion would have been calculated as being substantially the same, using the timing of the lights as given by the witness Cain. We conclude that the expert’s opinion as to the danger to motorists at the intersection was not based solely on hearsay. In Moore v. Grantham, 599 S.W.2d 287 (Tex.1980) our supreme court reviewed the prior decisions of the appellate courts of this state and affirmed its prior holding in Slaughter v. Abilene State School, 561 S.W.2d 789 (Tex.1977) wherein the court stated:

In permitting the doctor’s testimony into evidence, we declared our understanding of the state of the law in relation to expert opinion testimony: “Texas courts have followed the general rule that

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Bluebook (online)
615 S.W.2d 276, 1981 Tex. App. LEXIS 3467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lovell-v-dehoney-texapp-1981.