Northern Texas Traction Co. v. Armour

290 S.W. 544, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 1243
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 1925
DocketNo. 11190.
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 290 S.W. 544 (Northern Texas Traction Co. v. Armour) 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
Northern Texas Traction Co. v. Armour, 290 S.W. 544, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 1243 (Tex. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, J.

The Northern Texas Traction Company has appealed from a judgment against it in favor of Armour & Co. for the sum of $750, as damages done to a motor truck owned by plaintiff resulting from a collision between the truck and one of defendant’s street ears. The accident happened on Evans avenue, in the city of Fort Worth, near the point of intersection of that street with Davis street. Evans avenue runs north and south, and Davis street runs east and west. Immediately prior to the accident, Josh Pressley, plaintiff’s driver of the motor truck, was driving the truck along Davis street in an easterly direction until' he reached Evans avenue, when he turned onto the latter street in a southerly direction. A grocery store was located at the southwest corner of the intersection of the two streets. On the east side of the grocery store several automobiles were parked in front of and so near the sidewalk that, in order to pass around them, it became necessary for Press-ley to drive the truck onto the street car track, and, while on the track, one of defendant’s street cars, which was traveling in a northerly direction along Evans avenue, collided with the truck and virtually demolished it. The collision occurred a short distance south of the intersection of the two streets.

The case was tried before a jury who returned a verdict upon special issues submitted by the court.

The jury found that when the motorman operating the.street car first began to apply the air brakes after discovering the danger of the collision, the street car was traveling at the rate of 25 miles an hour, and that in so operating the ear he was guilty of negligence which was the proximate cause of the collision. The jury further found that, when the street ear collided with the motor truck, it was traveling at the rate of 12 miles an hour, and that the motorman was guilty of negligence' in operating it at that speed, which negligence was the proximate cause of the collision. There was a further finding that after the motorman in charge of the street car discovered the danger of the collision, he exercised ordinary care to use all of the means at his command consistent with the safety of the street car and passengers riding thereon to avoid the collision. That finding was upon the issue of negligence after discovered peril, which was presented in plaintiff’s petition.

The issues of negligence of the motorman operating the street car submitted to and determined by the jury, as shown above, were all presented in plaintiff’s pleadings. There were further findings by the jury on issues of contributory negligence on the part of Josh Pressley, the driver of the motor truck, which issues were tendered by the defendant in its pleadings. One of those findings was to the effect that prior to and upon the occasion of the collision the driver of the motor truck did not operate the same in such a reckless and indifferent manner as to reasonably endanger the lives or property of the citizens of Fort Worth. That issue was submitted in the language of an ordinance of the city, which was pleaded by defendant and which prohibited the operation of such a vehicle in that manner.

Special issue No. 11, with the finding of the jury thereon, was as follows:

“No. 11. The revised ordinances of the city of Fort Worth provide:
“ ‘All vehicles and street cars going in a northerly direction or southerly direction shall have the right of way over all vehicles and street cars going in an easterly and westerly direction.’
“Bearing in mind the terms and provisions of the ordinance immediately above quoted, you will answer the following question:
*546 “Question. Do you find from the evidence that plaintiff’s truck driver upon the occasion of the collision, in the exercise of ordinary care on his part, as that term has been hereinbefore defined for you, should not have driven the truck into Evans avenue until the defendant’s street car had passed him? Answer. No.”

The jury further found that, after plaintiff’s motor truck had been driven onto Evans avenue and before the collision occurred, it was traveling at the rate of 8 miles an hour, which was not a negligent rate of speed, and that the operation of it at that rate of speed was not the proximate cause of the collision.

Following are further special issues with the findings of the jury thereon:

“No. 18. Question. Was Josh Pressley, the driver of the automobile truck, just prior to the collision, exercising ordinary care as that term is hereinabove defined, to keep a lookout to the south on Evans avenue? Answer. Tes.
“No. 20. Question. Do you find from the evidence that the failure, if any, of Josh Pressley to stop the motor truck in question before it passed out into the path of the street car was a proximate cause of the collision in question? Answer. Tes. •
“No. 21. Question. Do you find from the evidence that the stopping of the automobile truck by its driver, Josh Pressley, in the path of the street ear was negligence, as that term has been defined for you hereinbefore? Answer. No.
“No. 24. If you have answered special issue No. 11 in the affirmative, then you need not answer this question, but if you have answered same in the negative, then answer this question:
“Question. Do you find from the evidence that the failure, if any, on the part of the driver of the motor truck to wait for the street car in question to pass by Davis street to the north thereof, before driving the motor truck out into the path of the street, car coming north on Evans avenue, was a proximate cause of the collision in question? Answer. Tes.
“No. 25. The revised ordinances of the city of Fort Worth provide:
“ A vehicle turning to the right into another street shall turn the corner as near to the right-hand corner as possible.’
/‘Bearing in mind the terms and provisions of the ordinance immediately above quoted, you will answer the following question:
“Question. Do you find from the evidence that the driver of the motor truck, when he turned from Davis street into Evans avenue, failed to turn the corner as near to.-the right-hand corner as possible? Answer. No.”

The term “ordinary care” was defined in the first paragraph of the court’s charge; the term “negligence” in the second paragraph; the term “contributory negligence” in the third paragraph; and the fourth paragraph of the charge reads as follows:

“By ‘proximate cause,’ as that term is used in this charge, is meant the efficient and moving cause without which the injury in question would not have occurred; that is, an act becomes the proximate cause of an injury whenever such injury is the natural and probable consequence of the act in question and ought to have been foreseen in the light of the attendant circumstances.
“Bearing in mind the foregoing definitions and instructions, you will, from the evidence, trúe answer make to the following questions:”

Then follow the special issues submitted. The finding in answer to special issue No.

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Bluebook (online)
290 S.W. 544, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 1243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northern-texas-traction-co-v-armour-texapp-1925.