Mississippi Road Supply Co. v. Baker

199 So. 2d 820, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1312
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 12, 1967
DocketNo. 44481
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 199 So. 2d 820 (Mississippi Road Supply Co. v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mississippi Road Supply Co. v. Baker, 199 So. 2d 820, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1312 (Mich. 1967).

Opinion

INZER, Justice.

This is an appeal by Mississippi Road Supply Company, a corporation, from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Chickasaw County, [822]*822wherein appellee, Miss Virginia Baker, obtained a judgment for $15,000 as damages for personal injuries resulting from an automobile accident which she alleged was caused by the negligence of appellant’s servant in turning its vehicle into appellee’s lane of traffic. Upon a motion for a new trial the circuit court found that a verdict of the jury fixing the damages at $15,000 was so excessive as to evidence bias, passion and prejudice, and ordered a new trial on the question of damages only, unless appellee would enter a remittitur of $4,000. Prior to the time that the appellee was required to signify whether she would enter the remit-titur, this appeal was perfected. Appellee cross-appeals from the action of the trial court relative to granting a new trial.

Appellant assigns as error on the part of the trial court many reasons for the reversal of this case. We will discuss only those assignments of error which we deem to merit discussion.

The principal contention of the appellant is that the trial court was in error in refusing to grant its request for a peremptory instruction and its motion for a directed verdict. We are of the opinion that the peremptory instruction was properly denied, as “[i]t is uniformly held that in determining whether a peremptory instruction should be given the court must look solely to the testimony on behalf of the parties against whom the peremptory instruction is requested, and must take that testimony as true along with all reasonable inferences which could be drawn therefrom.” Dehmer v. Hederman, 252 Miss. 839, 173 So.2d 924 (1965).

The evidence on behalf of appellee establishes that at the time of the accident, which occurred about 5 p. m. on March 18, 1965, Miss Baker was returning to her home in Houston from Tupelo on Highway 8. This highway runs generally east and west, and intersects a county road which was formerly Highway 8 from the north. The point where the road intersects is just inside the city limits of Houston, and is located at the low crest of the slope of a hill.

As appellee approached the intersection she was meeting a pickup truck owned by appellant and driven by its servant in the course of his employment. Appellant’s vehicle was followed by a butane gas truck. Appellee testified that she was not in any hurry and was driving leisurely. The speedometer on her car was broken, but she estimated her speed to be between 30 and 40 miles per hour.

She testified that when she was near the intersection appellant’s driver abruptly turned the pickup truck into her lane of traffic. She did not see him give any signal of his intention to turn. She immediately applied her brakes, and her car skidded toward the pickup truck which was then in her lane of traffic. The butane gas truck speeded up, and appellee, in order to avoid striking the pickup truck, turned her car to the left into the other lane of traffic. She was able to avoid striking either of the other vehicles, but was unable to straighten her car, and it went off the south side of the highway. It crossed a small drain ditch and struck an embankment, where it came to a sudden stop. Appellee was thrown forward against the steering wheel, snapping her head forward and then backward. Her leg was cut when it struck a knob on the air conditioner.

The drivers of both trucks stopped and hurried to her aid. She did not think she was badly hurt, and with the assistance of the truck drivers and other people she was able to get her car back on the highway, and drove it to her home.

Appellant’s defense was that its driver was not guilty of any negligence that caused or contributed to the accident, and that the sole proximate cause of the accident was the negligence of appellee. Appellant did not plead contributory negligence, and relied solely on the contention that it was not liable under the facts of this case.

[823]*823Appellant’s driver testified that he gave a proper left turn signal with his signal light, and that when he started his turn he did not see appellee’s car approaching the intersection. He said when he had gotten his front wheels off the highway, appellee’s car came over a rise in the road at a high rate of speed, which he estimated to be at least 60 miles per hour, and that she applied her brakes with such force that she lost control of her car. He gave as the reason that he did not see her car approaching that he could not see over the crest of the hill. However, the photographs introduced in evidence clearly show that one making a proper left turn into Old Highway 8 has an unobstructed view of the highway over the crest of the hill and for some distance beyond. Furthermore, Roy Davis, city marshal and appellant’s own witness, testified that a driver making a proper left turn at this intersection would have an unobstructed view of the highway to the east. The driver also testified that on the day preceding the trial he went back to the scene of the accident and stepped off the distance from the point where appellee applied her brakes to the point where she struck the embankment and he found the distance to be 250 feet.

The driver of the butane gas truck testified that before the pickup truck reached the intersection he observed the signal light on the pickup truck indicating that the truck was going to make a left turn into Old Highway 8. As the truck was making the turn, he saw appellee’s car come over the hill. He estimated the distance from the point where appellee started skidding to the point of impact to be about 250 feet. He estimated her speed to be between 50 and 60 miles per hour, based upon the skid marks.

When the testimony of appellee is considered in its most favorable light, together with the reasonable inferences that may be drawn therefrom, it is clear to us that the trial court was correct in overruling the motion for a peremptory instruction. It was a question for the jury to determine from the conflict in evidence whether appellant’s driver was guilty of any negligence that caused or contributed to the accident. It accepted appellee’s version of how the accident happened, and the evidence is sufficient to support their verdict as to liability.

Appellant also assigns as error the admitting into evidence a map which was shown to be improperly or erroneously drawn. Miss Baker drew a map indicating the relative position of the three vehicles as she first noted them when they approached the intersection. The map itself was not accurate as to the position of a nearby motel and the changing positions of the vehicles, but the map was fully explained to the jury as to its representation and as to the time of the representation. Appellee admitted that the map was not accurate, but illustrative only.

The introduction of maps and diagrams into evidence is largely in the sound discretion of the trial judge. Crawford v. City of Meridian, 186 So.2d 250 (Miss.1966). King v. State, 251 Miss. 161, 168 So.2d 637 (1964), cited in Crawford, held that the trial court did not make an error in giving defendant an opportunity on cross-examination to point out anything on the drawing which he thought was wrong in the plat. In the case at bar appellant questioned Miss Baker on cross-examination about the plat, and we are unable to see how the jury could have been misled by allowing the plat to be introduced in evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
199 So. 2d 820, 1967 Miss. LEXIS 1312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mississippi-road-supply-co-v-baker-miss-1967.