MRS. BAIRD'S BREAD COMPANY v. Williams

425 S.W.2d 1, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2648
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 13, 1968
Docket7866
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 425 S.W.2d 1 (MRS. BAIRD'S BREAD COMPANY v. Williams) 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
MRS. BAIRD'S BREAD COMPANY v. Williams, 425 S.W.2d 1, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2648 (Tex. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

FANNING, Justice.

A truck-automobile collision case. P. A. Williams sued Mrs. Baird’s Bread Company, a corporation, and its employee truck driver, Banks, who was acting in the scope of his employment, for damages for personal injuries, occasioned by the collision of defendant’s bread truck with plaintiff’s automobile. The collision in question occurred at the intersection of North Van Burén and West 12th Streets in the City of Mount Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. Plaintiff was driving on W. 12th Street, a through street, and had the right of way and was almost through the intersection when the bread truck collided with the right rear fender and bumper of his automobile. In response to special issues submitted a jury found to the effect that defendants were guilty of several acts of negligence proximately causing injuries to the plaintiff. The jury found to the effect that Banks failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to stop the bread truck at a stop sign at the intersection, that Banks drove the truck into the path of the P. A. Williams automobile, that Banks failed to apply the brakes on his truck as a person of ordinary prudence would have done under the same or similar circumstances. The jury in response to the damages issues, 12, 13, 14 and 15, awarded plaintiff $21,000.00 for his injuries, plus $737.65 for past doctor, medical and hospital expenses, plus $2,000.-00 for future doctor, medical and hospital services, aggregating a total award of $23,-737.65. The jury in response to special *3 issues submitted also acquitted the plaintiff of any and all acts of contributory negligence. Judgment was entered for plaintiff upon the verdict of the jury and appellants have appealed.

Appellants present 8 points upon appeal. Appellants’ points 1, 2 and 3 are briefed together and are as follows:

“POINT OF ERROR NO. 1
“THE VERDICT OF THE JURY, FINDING THAT THE PLAINTIFF, P. A. WILLIAMS, WAS NOT NEGLIGENT IN FAILING TO KEEP A PROPER LOOKOUT WHICH NEGLIGENCE WAS A PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE COLLISION IN QUESTION, IS CONTRARY TO THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT AND PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE AND IS, IN FACT, NOT SUPPORTED BY ANY EVIDENCE.
“POINT OF ERROR NO. 2
“THE VERDICT OF THE JURY, FINDING THAT THE PLAINTIFF, P. A. WILLIAMS, WAS NOT NEGLIGENT IN FAILING TO KEEP A PROPER LOOKOUT WHICH NEGLIGENCE WAS A PROXIMATE CAUSE OF THE COLLISION IN QUESTION, IS SUPPORTED BY INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.
“POINT OF ERROR NO. 3
“THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING THE MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL OF DEFENDANTS, MRS. BAIRD’S BREAD COMPANY AND ALVIN DEWEY BANKS, FOR THE REASON THAT THE UNCON-TROVERTED EVIDENCE ESTABLISHES AS A MATTER OF LAW THAT PLAINTIFF, P. A. WILLIAMS, FAILED TO KEEP A PROPER LOOKOUT.”

For a comprehensive discussion of the law applicable to the determination of such character of points, see Chief Justice Calvert’s article, “No Evidence and ‘Insufficient Evidence’ Points of Error”, 38 Tex. Law Rev., No. 4, p. 361.

The collision in question occurred on May 26, 1966, about 12:45 P.M. at the intersection of West 12th Street with North Van Burén Street in the City of Mount Pleasant, Texas. West 12th Street runs generally in an East and West direction and North Van Burén runs in a North and South direction. North Van Burén dead-ends into West 12th at the intersection where the collision occurred. Photographs of the intersection are shown in the record. There was a large stop sign erected on North Van Burén Street, so as to indicate that motorists should stop before proceeding into the intersection with West 12th Street. There were no stop signs or traffic signals on West 12th Street at this intersection. Plaintiff P. A. Williams was driving East on West 12th Street at about 20 or 25 miles per hour; and he had observed defendant’s bread truck coming from the South on North Van Burén when he was 40 to 50 feet from the intersection. Williams was quite familiar with W. 12th Street as he lived on it and it was a street which led towards the place where he was working and he was familiar with the stop sign at North Van Burén Street and he expected the bread truck to stop at the stop sign before proceeding into the intersection with W. 12th Street.

Considering the evidence most favorable to the verdict as we must do with respect to the “no evidence” question, about the time he entered the intersection, Williams turned his head to the left to spit tobacco and immediately the bread truck came into W. 12th Street and struck the right rear quarter panel and bumper of Williams’ automobile. Williams admitted that he did not see the bread truck at the exact time of the impact as his head was turned to the left but that his automobile had already passed the intersection when the bread truck hit the right rear fender and bumper of his automobile. There is evidence from *4 plaintiffs’ witnesses that indicates that the collision occurred at a time when defendant’s truck was about four feet into the intersection and that Williams’ automobile was through or virtually through the intersection when the defendant’s bread truck struck Williams’ car at its right rear bumper and right rear fender.

Banks, the driver of defendant’s bread truck, while claiming that he had stopped at the stop sign on North Van Burén, admitted that he did not look to his left from where the Williams car was coming, before proceeding to the intersection, and he detailed his version of the collision, in part, as follows:

“Q. What size bread truck was this that you were in that day, sir ?
A. It’s a one ton van type.
Q. Is it dual wheeled?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right, You say then you proceeded north on North Van Burén Street and you knew where that stop sign was, •didn’t you?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You had driven that many times?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. It was a large visible stop sign there, wasn’t there?
A. Yes,-sir.
'Q. All right, when you drove up there and stopped now did you look to your left?
A. No, sir.
Q. Why didn’t you look to your left?
A. It’s just a habit. I always look to the right to see if this is clear before checking out this way then I look to the left before taking off.
Q. If you had looked would there have '.been anything to keep you from seeing Mr. Williams’ vehicle coming from the left when you looked?
A. I would have saw it when I did look before I took off.
Q. But you never did look and never did see the vehicle, did you ?
A. Not until he came in front of me.
Q. Tell the jury whether you even saw Mr. Williams’ vehicle?
A. When I turned to look around and looked — just as I turned my head when he went by the front of me.

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Bluebook (online)
425 S.W.2d 1, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mrs-bairds-bread-company-v-williams-texapp-1968.