Page v. Scaramozi

288 S.W.2d 909, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2179
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 14, 1956
Docket12951
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 288 S.W.2d 909 (Page v. Scaramozi) 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
Page v. Scaramozi, 288 S.W.2d 909, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2179 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

POPE, Justice.

Eileen Scaramozi, a widow, individually and as next friend for her five minor children, sued Holland Page, and obtained judgment on a verdict. Page, under a contract with the State of Texas, had undertaken to remove and replace a culvert near the intersection of Elgin Street and Rigsby Avenue in San Antonio. He began excavations and pil.e.d the material in a portion of the intersection. Dominic Scaramozi, the plaintiff’s,husband, ran into the mound and died four hours later. Page contends that the court. should have instructed a verdict in his favor because he was under no legal duty to protect the deceased from a danger which was open and obvious and of which he had knowledge, that the trial court erred in excluding certain evidence, that the damages are excessive, and the jury committed misconduct.

The accident occurred about ten o’clock one Sunday morning, on a clear day. Deceased proceeded in his pick-up truck in a northerly direction along Elgin Street toward Rigsby Avenue. Pie could easily see the mound, for it was about ten feet high, covered about one-half the width of Elgin Street on which deceased was driving, and extended across the paved portion of Rigs-by which intersected Elgin. The jury found that defendant’s failure to place a barricade next to the pile of dirt and debris to guide traffic proceeding out of Elgin Street around the debris was negligence; that there was a large object or objects of debris on the street around the edge of the pile of dirt; that such debris was in such position that motor vehicles traveling on Elgin Street into Rigsby would come in contact with it; that defendant knew, or should have known, in the exercise of ordinary care, of the presence of such .objects in sufficient time to have remedied the condition; that defendant’s employees permitted such objects to remain on the street; and that permitting such condition was negligence. The jury further found that defendant failed to place a warning sign for traffic on Elgin Street to circle the mound of debris at such distance as a person of ordinary prudence would have done, and that defendant failed to carefully guard such mound. Each of the negligent acts was found to be a proximate cause. De-] ceased was acquitted of all acts of con- Í tributory negligence. The court submitted ¶ defensive issues inquiring whether the pile ; of dirt and the conditions surrounding it , were open and obvious to deceased, and • whether the conditions complained of around the mound were open and obvious to deceased to the extent that he had full knowledge and appreciation of the danger. The jury answered each of those issues in. the negative.

Despite the findings against defendant, Page urges that, as a matter of law, he should have judgment in a case where deceased ran into the mound which was easily visible. If deceased ran head-on into the mound, his point would be good, but plaintiffs did not pitch their case on that basis. Plaintiffs do not complain about the mound, but about the unknown and unguarded conditions on Elgin Street surrounding the mound. Every issue was factually disput-' ed. Witnesses for defendant, Page, testified that deceased ran his car upon the mound, which extended some SO feet, and fell off the side. Plaintiffs’ witnesses testified; supported by pictures, eye witnesses, and tire marks on rocks and in the dirt; that the car proceeded slowly around the edge of the mound; .that it suddenly bounced so hard that deceased hit the top of the car; that the car was diverted into the side of and upon the mound and then turned over. Plaintiffs further showed that, in breaking -up the culvert, defendant’s employees piled stones on the mound and some of them rolled to the edge of the street. Witnesses testified that there were large stones around the mound. One witness testified that a large stone was underneath the truck in the street when the truck was raised. Another witness said about the car: “It made a big bounce up, then *911 went up the pile of dirt and turned over to the left side.” Another witness testified: “It was very sudden. It jumped on the dirt.” A witness identified a rock which had tire marks on it. The rock was introduced in evidence. A county highway patrolman testified that he saw defendant’s employed place smudge pots on the larg-e rocks, that the " condition existed several days before the accident, and that he advised against it for the very reason exemplified by this accident. The patrolman testified that the rocks were present the evening after the accident.

Defendant’s witnesses testified that there were no rocks in the street at the foot of the mound. A witness who operated a business across the street stated she had never noticed them. Photographic evidence conflicts with that testimony. Plaintiffs’ evidence showed that, though the rocks were present, they were not open and obvious, as they were camouflaged by the texture of the stones, street and debris, and could not be seen unless it was known that they were present. Even if seen, the stones could not be seen in time to avoid them. There was evidence in support of the idea that large stones were permitted to roll into the street, that deceased did not know this in sufficient time, but that defendant did know it and had a previous warning; that the car hit a stone and was deflected into the mound.

“One who in- the exercise of a lawful right, and without negligence on his part * * * obstructs the road with a foreign substance, is bound to give warning of the danger created thereby.” Buchanan v. Rose, 138 Tex. 390, 159 S.W.2d 109, 110.

That duty extends to the traveled portion of the street, and sometimes even beyond it. City of Waco v. Darnell, Tex.Com.App., 35 S.W.2d 134; Gabbert v. City of Brownwood, Tex.Civ.App., 176 S.W.2d 344; City of Waco v. Criswell, Tex.Civ.App., 168 S.W.2d 272; City of Corpus Christi v. Caddell, Tex.Civ.App., 98 S.W.2d 372.

The conflicting evidence presented a jury question, because, “A plaintiff’s right to recover cannot be defeated on the theory that he assumed the risk of, injury under the doctrine of volenti non fit injuria unless it appears that with full knowledge of the nature and extent of the danger involved he put himself in the way of the particular risk involved as the result of an intelligent choice.” Triangle Motors of Dallas v. Richmond, 152 Tex. 354, 258 S.W.2d 60, 64; Blanks v. Southland Hotel, 149 Tex. 139, 229 S.W.2d 357; Peck v. Peck, 99 Tex. 10, 87 S.W. 248; Dudley & Orr v. Jacobs, Tex.Civ.App., 257 S.W. 315; Juliano v. State, 190 Misc. 180, 71 N.Y.S.2d 474; Connelly v. State, Ct.Cl., 44 N.Y.S.2d 331; Volinsky v. Public Service Coordinated Transport, 5 N.J.Super. 320, 68 A.2d 894; Clark v. Meyers, 173 Kan. 96, 244 P.2d 217.

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Bluebook (online)
288 S.W.2d 909, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2179, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-v-scaramozi-texapp-1956.