McGregor Milling & Grain Co. v. Russo

243 S.W.2d 852, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1747
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 1, 1951
DocketNo. 2963
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 243 S.W.2d 852 (McGregor Milling & Grain Co. v. Russo) 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
McGregor Milling & Grain Co. v. Russo, 243 S.W.2d 852, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1747 (Tex. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

Miss Martha Russo, a feme sole, brought this suit against the McGregor Milling & Grain Company, a corporation, to recover damages for injuries she sustained while - enroute from Waco, Texas, to Fort Worth, Texas, and alleged that at the time she [854]*854received her injuries she was a guest of James Marshall Crouch, an agent of said corporation, who was acting within the scope of his authority by virtue of his employment. She alleged in effect that the parking of the car on the paved portion of the highway was intentional on the part of Crouch, and that his conduct in so doing was heedless and in reckless disregard of her rights and safety. Crouch was killed in the accident, but his estate was not made a party defendant to this cause. Defendant seasonably filed motion for peremptory instruction, which was overruled.

It is without dispute that the highway at the point of the accident in question was approximately 100 feet wide; that the concrete slab was 20 feet wide and divided into two traffic lanes, one for traffic moving south and one for traffic moving north. The shoulders of the highway were constructed and improved with gravel and were wide enough for cars to park on the gravel. While Crouch and Miss Russo were proceeding just beyond the town of Burleson one of his rear tires blew out and he brought the car to a stop and left it standing on a part of the paved portion of the traffic lane provided for. traffic moving in a northerly direction. While Crouch was engaged in changing the tire one Garcia, driving a car in a northerly direction, struck Miss Russo. Evidence was tendered to the effect that the accident happened just about dusk. It was cloudy and cold and misting rain and the rain was freezing on the windshields and some of the passing cars had turned on their lights.

The jury in its verdict found substantially that Miss Russo was a guest of Crouch at the time of the accident and injuries and that Crouch, in driving and operating the automobile, was acting within the scope of his employment; that Crouch parked the automobile with a portion of the same on the paved and main traveled portion of the highway and his car was standing in such place at the time the collision took place; that it was possible for Crouch to have parked the car off of the paved and main traveled portion of the highway and that Crouch acted in a heedless and reckless disregard of others, including Miss Russo, by such parking; that the parking of the car on the paved and main traveled portion of the highway was a proximate cause of the collision; that Miss Russo sustained injuries and damages as a direct and proximate result of the parking and leaving of the car with a portion thereof on the paved and main traveled portion of said highway, and awarded her damages in the sum of $5,550.

The jury further found that Garcia drove a stolen automobile down the highway with his windshield frozen over, so that he could not see out of it, but found that such acts of Garcia were not the sole proximate cause of the collision, and that such acts of Joe Garcia, in driving his car in such condition, were not a new and independent cause of the accident; that Garcia was driving the car at an excessive rate of speed under the circumstances but found that such driving was not the sole proximate cause and that such excessive rate of speed was not a new and independent cause of the accident; that Garcia was driving his car without keeping a proper lookout for cars ahead of him, but also found that such conduct was not the sole proximate cause of the accident ; that Garcia’s failure to keep a proper lookout was not a new and independent cause of the accident; that Garcia failed to. discover the car in which Miss Russo and. Crouch had been riding prior to the accident, but found that such failure was not. the sole proximate cause, and that such failure was not a new and independent cause of the accident. The jury further found that Garcia failed to drive to his left around the car in which Miss Russo and Crouch, had been riding and further found that such, failure of Garcia was not the sole proximate cause and that it was not a new and. independent cause of the accident. It also, found that Garcia drove his car on the highway when his windshield wiper was not working, and that such conduct was not the sole proximate cause, and that it was not a. new and independent cause of the accident;, that the action on the part of Crouch in having Miss Russo accompany him on a. trip was a deviation of his employment a.s an agent of the corporation, but that the-action of Crouch in having Miss Russo-[855]*855accompany him on the trip was not an act beyond the scope of his .employment.

The jury acquitted Miss Russo of gross negligence, hut convicted her of negligence in the following respects and found that each was a proximate contributing cause of the accident; (1) failure to protest to Crouch as to the place he stopped the automobile; (2) failure to request Crouch to move the automobile before the collision; (3) failure to move away from the automobile prior to the collision; (4) failure to get in a safe place prior to the collision; (5) standing outside of the automobile at the time of the collision; (6) standing behind the car of James Marshall Crouch at the time of the collision; and (7) failure to keep a proper-lookout. The jury also found that her injuries were not “the result of an unavoidable accident.”

After the verdict was rendered the appellant seasonably filed motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and to disregard certain findings of the jury and stated the reasons therefor and prayed the court to render judgment for defendant. Contemporaneously therewith the defendant filed motion for judgment based on the verdict of the jury and set out the reasons therefor and the court overruled each of the foregoing motions and granted plaintiff’s motion for judgment and the decree awarded to Miss Russo the sum of $5,550, as found by the jury.

Appellant’s first point is substantially that the court erred in overruling, its motion for peremptory instruction as well as judgment non obstante veredicto, because there is no evidence that appellant owed or violated any duty to plaintiff who, after getting out of the automobile safely, voluntarily walked on to the highway where she was struck by a passing motorist. We think this contention must be sustained.

In Thomas v. Southern Lumber Company, Tex.Civ.App., 181 S.W.2d 111, 113, this court held: “It is fundamental that no act or omission can be wrongful within the meaning of the law of torts so as to form the basis of recovery for damages unless such act or omission involves the violation or neglect of some legal duty which the person sought to be charged therewith owes to the injured party at the time -and place of injury. In the absence of any such duty or of injury resulting from its breach, there can be no actionable negligence and hence no legal liability or right of recovery for damages.” See points 1 and 2, and cases there cited. In Broadus v. Long, 135 Tex. 353, 138 S.W.2d 1057, 1059, we find this statement: “In order to render the master liable for the acts of his servant, such act must be committed within the scope of the general authority of the servant, in furtherance of the master’s business, and for the accomplishment of the object for which the servant is employed.”

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Bluebook (online)
243 S.W.2d 852, 1951 Tex. App. LEXIS 1747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgregor-milling-grain-co-v-russo-texapp-1951.