Ortega v. Figueroa & Gautier

48 P.R. 392
Supreme Court of Puerto Rico·Decided April 26, 1935·No. No. 6618·Published

Opinion

Me. Justice Cóedova Davila

delivered the opinion of tlie court.

This is an action for damages brought by Eafael Ortega against the firm of Figueroa & Gautier, on account of an accident which occurred on August 18, 1932. It is alleged in the complaint that the plaintiff, who was riding a bicycle on Fernández Juncos Avenue in the Municipality of San Juan, was run over by a truck belonging to the defendant, negligently driven by Juan Colón Martinez, without sounding’ his horn or any other warning device, and without giving any other .signal of his proximity, and who was riding on the left side of the road at a speed greater than 24 kilometers per hour. The plaintiff alleges also that the defendant Figueroa & Gautier was on the date of the accident a mercantile partnership constituted in accordance with the laws of Puerto Eico, •devoted to the purchase and sale of automobiles and trucks, and that the aforesaid driver of the truck which ran over the plaintiff-appellant was an employee of the defendant, acting at that moment within the scope of his employment. The complaint concludes with a prayer that the defendant be adjudged to pay to the plaintiff the sum of $500, estimated to be the amount of the damages suffered by reason of the accident in question.

The defendant denied the essential allegations of the complaint. It admitted that it is a mercantile' partnership, and set up as a special defense that the accident which plaintiff suffered was due exclusively to his negligence, imprudence, and rashness.

[394] The action was commenced in the Municipal Court of San Juan, which dismissed the complaint. The district court rendered a like judgment on appeal. Several errors are attributed to the court below. We shall commence with the second and last assignment, to the effect that the lower court erred “in entering judgment dismissing the complaint ancl in holding that the negligence of the appellant was the proximate cause of the accident, and in not holding that such accident was due to the negligence of the defendant firm, since the former conclusion is not sustained by the evidence, which shows, by a preponderance thereof, the negligence of the appellee.”

The facts which the appellant considers to have-been proved do not differ substantially from those which the-court below thought to have been shown. According to the-appellant, the following facts were- proved:

“On August 18, 1932, the plaintiff and appellant, Rafael Ortega,, was riding on a bicycle on the right side of Fernandez Juncos Avenue, going from east to west, and a truck, of the brand Willis Knight, bearing dealer’s license number X2-19, was travelling in the same-direction. Upon reaching the comer of Nolasco Rubio Street in Puerta de Tierra, Ortega put out his left hand at right angles, indicating his intention to cross, and did cross to the left where the truck was running. As the truck overtook the bicycle, the driver-of the former failed to sound his horn or any other warning device,, and gave no signal of his proximity, as a consequence of which Ortega crossed to the left, was run down by the truck and thrown to the pavement. The appellant suffered a light wound in the left arm and a heavy bruise in the chest, which prevented him from working for a period of twenty days and caused him excrutiating physical pain and mental anguish.”

Tbe court below found as proved that “on tbe 18th of August 1932, about 4:30 in tbe afternoon, tbe defendant was racing along on a bicycle on Fernández Juncos Avenue-, in San Juan, and a Willis Knigbt truck, license number X2-19, was travelling in tbe same direction; that upon reaching tbe corner of Nolasco Rubio Street, formerly known as Pelayo-[395] Street, in Puerta de Tierra, when the truck was overtaking the bicycle, the rider of the latter extended his hand at right angles and crossed toward the left, where the truck was travelling, and the bicyclist received a slight wound in the left elbow, according to the testimony of Dr. Emilio finm-piano.”

As may he seen, it is admitted by both parties and found as proved by the lower court that the appellant, when the truck was overtaking the bicycle, put out his hand at right angles and crossed toward the left. In the opinion of the court below the signal which the plaintiff made, according to subdivision “†”, section 12 of the Motor Vehicle Act, was to stop and not to cross the road from right to left. The lower court states that Fernández Juncos Avenue is a much travel-led public highway, where there was a probability that other vehicles would he following the plaintiff, as has been shown' that they were following him; and that he was negligent in turning the corner in the manner in which he did, this negligence being the cause of the accident.

With reference to the signal mentioned by the lower court, the plaintiff says:

“I made that signal on taking the corner, in turning, while on the right, at the very moment of turning, and I sounded my bell. There was a policeman. The street where I was going to turn is now called Nolaseo Rubio, formerly it was Pelayo. That street ends in the sea. I was carrying a tarpaulin to Pier Five. I was going through there, on private business of my own. It is a populous place. When the truck hit me, I was going to turn toward Pelayo Street, was crossing the road from right to left, in the direction of the shore. It was when I was crossing the street that I felt the blow. I did not see the truck, if I had seen it I would not have passed. I could not see for a long distance, since when mounted on the bicycle I could look forward but not behind. I know how to *ride a bicycle. I learned when I was a boy in Morovis. When one is riding on a bicycle he cannot look behind for any distance. There were persons in front. I looked behind but not very far. I did not notice the noise of the truck; I do not remember its color; I did not see the person who was driving it. At that moment I did not notice the [396] license plates because I fell to the ground like one dead; I know that it was a truck. It was coining from Santurce toward San Juan. In-the same direction in which I was going. The truck hit me with the front part of the body and not with the mudguard. ’ ’

Juan A. Piñero, witness for the plaintiff, testified among other things, as follows: “The truck hit the bicycle with its right front part. I can not say whether it hit it with the mudguard or with the first half door. I do not know whether the truck collided with the bicycle or the bicycle with the truck. That was almost in the middle of the street; more toward the left than toward the right, and what happened was that the other went in there believing that the rider of the bicycle was perhaps not going to turn in there. I saw no more than the moment of the collision.”

Francisco Rios, who was riding behind Ortega on a bicycle, stated that “the truck did not sound a horn or give any other wanning signal”; that Ortega was riding in front of him, “put out his hand and turned, and when he turned, the car came and struck him, throwing him to the street.”

The witness Agapito Miranda testified that he could not tell much about the accident, that when he saw Ortega he was already on the ground, that the accident was with a truck which kept on going, and that he did not hear any horn in spite of the fact that he was about ten feet away.

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Ortega v. Figueroa & Gautier, 48 P.R. 392 (prsupreme 1935).

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