Lowe v. Irvin

373 S.W.2d 623, 52 Tenn. App. 356, 1963 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMarch 19, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 373 S.W.2d 623 (Lowe v. Irvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowe v. Irvin, 373 S.W.2d 623, 52 Tenn. App. 356, 1963 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

AVERY, (P.J.,W.S.).

These cases are here on appeal in error from the Court below by plaintiffs-in-error complaining of the action of the trial court in directing verdicts in favor of defendant-in-error Irvin, at the conclusion of plaintiff’s proof. There were two cases, as shown above, wherein James Edward Lowe, a minor, brought suit by next friend for personal injury damages, and the other by his father, Fred J. Lowe, for medical expenses resulting from injuries to his son.

Since there are two cases, consolidated and tried together, growing out of the same alleged careless action in the trial of which, at the conclusion of the evidence of the plaintiffs, the Court directed a verdict in each case favorable to defendant-in-error. Hereafter in this opinion we will let the word “plaintiff” refer to both [358]*358the son and the-father, and the word “defendant” to Ernest A. Irvin. Where the father and son are referred to separately, it will be by their respective names or by the words “Son” or “Father”.

Declarations in the two cases are identical except as relates to the damages sued for. Each declaration is in two counts, the first connt alleging a common law violation and liability to plaintiffs, and the second connt alleging liability because of violation of T.C.A. Section 59-858.

The injury resulted from a collision of an automobile driven by the defendant with a bicycle on which James Edward Lowe, a minor 9 years of age, was riding and approaching the Old Niles Ferry Road on which the defendant was traveling, and:

< < * * * wag ^ieil within the clear and open view of the defendant had he been properly observant, but notwithstanding the presence of the plaintiff’s son approaching said intersection, the defendant, at. an excessive speed under the circumstances, without keeping a proper lookout ahead,, without keeping his vehicle under proper control, without seeing what he should and would have seen by the exercise of due care and in wanton disregard of the presence of the plaintiff’s son did operate his automobile into the intersection of said roadway and the Old Niles Perry Road and at a time when the plaintiff’s son had operated his bicycle into the intersection, whereupon the automobile and the bicycle collided with great force and violence, throwing the plaintiff’s son to the ground and injuring him as hereinafter set out.”

[359]*359Following that statement the injuries of the young man are fully described, which are rather serions injuries, but from oiir view of the case and proper disposition of same, needs no further or other reference thereto in this opinion.

In the second count it is charged that the defendant operated his automobile in violation of T.C.A. “Title 59 — Section 858, Reckless Driving: (a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving. ’ ’

This count clearly charges defendant with reckless driving in violation of the quoted section of the Code. The damages laid in the declaration of the minor is $25,000 and in the declaration of -his father is $5,000.

There was first filed a plea by the defendant, which is a specific plea, having be¿n filed under the orders of the Court before any general issue plea was filed, and in this plea it is admitted that the collision between the automobile and this bicycle resulted in the injury of the minor defendant. It specifically avers that the accident occurred not at an intersection of ways, but that the plaintiff was riding out of a private driveway into said highway or Old Niles Ferry Road, and that this collision occurred in that sort of an intersection. It denies that defendant had a clear view of traffic approaching from that private drive, but avers that the view from the direction the defendant approached the place where the collision occurred was hidden by a bank and growth along the road and in the field adjacent thereto.

It is admitted that this private drive from which the plaintiff came into the highway was on. defendant’s left; [360]*360excessive speed is denied; speed in violation of the law is denied; the charge that defendant was not keeping a lookout ahead is denied, and the charge that he did not have his car under proper control is denied and there are specific allegations that he violated none of these common law negligent averments and then it affirmatively asserts that the minor rode his bicycle out of said private driveway without stopping or looking, and operated said bicycle into the side of defendant’s car and that there could be no avoidance of the bicycle hitting the car of the defendant.

As to the second count defendant denies that he violated any part of T.C.A. Section 59-858 or any other statutes of the State of Tennessee, and there is a further plea to both first and second counts to the effect:

“1. That any injuries which the plaintiff’s son sustained were not as a result of any negligence of the defendant whatsoever,” in that he rode his bicycle, “out from a private driveway and into defendant’s left side without stopping, without looking or without seeing that he could do so in safety,”

and that the way and manner in which the minor operated his bicycle was the proximate cause of his injury.

The plea then avers that if the Court should hold that the accident occurred at an intersection, defendant pleads the violation of T.C.A. 59-828 subdivision (a) to the effect that a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle which has entered the intersection from a different highway, and:

“(b) When two (2) vehicles enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same [361]*361time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle on the right.”

Defendant also alleges that the plaintiff’s son was guilty of violating T.C.A. Section 59-831 which provides that:

“The driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from a private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching on said highway. ’ ’

It also avers that the minor violated T.C.A. Section 59-873 which provides:

“Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by chapters 8 and 10 of this title, except as to special' regulations in secs. 59-872 — 59-878 and except as to those provisions of chapters 8 and 10 of this title which by their nature can have no application. ’ ’

This case was heard on the briefs before the Judges of the Western Section of the Court of Appeals, sitting at Knoxville, Tennessee, in the Eastern Section on December 4,1962, taken under advisement, and is now disposed of by this opinion.

The only assignment of error is as follows:

“1. That the Trial Court erred, to the prejudice of the plaintiffs, in directing the jury at the close of the plaintiffs’ proof to render a verdict in favor of the defendant. ’ ’

Plaintiff’s proof is very short and somewhat simple, and the substance of which is that the father of the minor [362]

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Bluebook (online)
373 S.W.2d 623, 52 Tenn. App. 356, 1963 Tenn. App. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowe-v-irvin-tennctapp-1963.