Parris v. McCallay

1967 OK 40, 424 P.2d 62, 1967 Okla. LEXIS 361
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 14, 1967
Docket41333
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 1967 OK 40 (Parris v. McCallay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parris v. McCallay, 1967 OK 40, 424 P.2d 62, 1967 Okla. LEXIS 361 (Okla. 1967).

Opinion

BLACKBIRD, Justice:

This action grew out of an automobile collision at a street intersection in Altus, on January 30, 1963. The colliding autos were a 1959 model Cadillac sedan, driven by plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as defendant, and a 1953 model Studebaker sedan, driven by defendant in error, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff. The intersecting streets are “A” Street, extending east and west, and Lee Avenue, extending north and south. Plaintiff’s Studebaker approached the intersection from the south on Lee Avenue; defendant’s Cadillac approached it from the west on A Street.

In plaintiff’s petition filed in March, 1963, he alleged that the collision -was proximately caused by defendant’s negli *64 gence in several respects, including that of driving her car at an excessive and dangerous rate of speed in violation of a certain Altus city ordinance, which prescribes a speed limit of 20 miles per hour, and of failing to yield the right of way to his car in violation of “47 Old. St.Ann. § 11-401(b), * * Plaintiff further alleged that, as a result of the collision, he was thrown from his automobile to the pavement and rendered unconscious, that five of his ribs and his pelvic bone were broken; that he suffered a deep laceration on his head, disfiguring him for life, together with multiple bruises and scratches over his entire body. The items of his damages set forth under plaintiff’s first alleged cause of action total $20,729.10, and are described as: $100.00 for medical attention to his wife, who was a passenger in his Studebaker at the time of the collision, $10,000.00 for his pain and suffering, $500.00 for his disfigurement, $764.94 for his past, present and future medical expenses, $2080.00 for loss of earnings during this six months he was totally disabled and $7284.16 for lost earning capacity during the 15.77-year period of his life expectancy. Under a second cause of action plaintiff prayed for damages to his auto in the sum of $237.00 and costs of this action.

In defendant’s answer and cross petition, she denied all of the material allegations of plaintiff’s petition, and alleged that the collision was caused by his negligence in failing to keep a proper lookout, failing to yield the right of way, failing to use the means at hand to avoid the collision, and speeding. Under her first cause of action, defendant alleged, among other things, that her Cadillac “was totally destroyed in the proximate value of $2500.00”, for which sum she prayed recovery as damages. Under her second cause of action, defendant alleged that, as a result of plaintiff’s negligence, she sustained a severe lumbo-sacral strain and an aggravation of a preexisting back condition, for which she prayed damages in the amount of $10,000.00 and her costs.

Thereafter, in January, 1964, plaintiff filed a reply to defendant’s answer and an answer to her cross petition. In July, 1964, the parties filed a stipulation, in which it was agreed, among other things, that on January 30 of that year, plaintiff was fifty-eight years of age and had a life expectancy of 17.51 years, and that defendant was twenty-nine years of age and had a life expectancy of 42.16 years; that the damages to plaintiff’s car amounted to $237.00 and those to defendant’s car were $2500.00. In said stipulation it was also agreed that a certain Altus ordinance said to be attached to the stipulation as “Exhibit A” with reference to the speed of vehicles on said City streets, was in effect “on January 20, 1964.”

At the trial, after the City ordinance above referred to was introduced in evidence, the court included among its instructions, without objection, one which stated that the speed limit at the intersection involved was 20 miles per hour. Because the case was tried as if that were the controlling speed limit at said intersection on the date of the collision, and there is no challenge, or dispute, relative to the matter in the briefs filed herein, it will be assumed that this was an established fact.

As a witness for himself, plaintiff expressed his opinion that when he first saw defendant’s car in the intersection, a few feet to the left of his, it was traveling 45 miles per hour, and that his own car was traveling “under twenty”. He further testified that he was hospitalized for 12 days after the collision, and was in bed on account of it for another 12 weeks, and in a wheel chair for an additional two weeks. His testimony, and medical evidence, generally supported the allegations of his petition as to the nature and extent of his injuries, and his pain and suffering therefrom. Plaintiff’s testimony as to which of the two autos reached the intersection first was rather vague and indefinite.

Owen Clark, a member of the Altus “City Patrol” testified as a witness for plaintiff, that he received a call about the accident at 9:35 A.M., the day it occurred, that, *65 when he arrived at its scene, plaintiff’s Studebaker was on the grass and against a cedar tree on the southeast corner of the intersection and defendant’s Cadillac was in a yard, between two trees, at the northeast corner of the intersection. This witness further testified, among other things: “From the evidence at hand, the location of * * * the 1959 Cadillac, hit the 1953 vehicle, * * * right in front of the left wheel knocking it completely around in a southeasterly direction.” This officer further testified that he did not see plaintiff, but that he talked to the defendant at the “Base hospital”, where she was taken in an ambulance after the accident, and that: “She stated that she was driving at least twenty-five miles an hour and when she entered the intersection she saw the other vehicle and she pressed down on the accelerator to try to beat the car across the intersection; tried to get out of its way.” The officer further testified that there were no skid marks in the intersection, that “A” Street is 24 feet wide and Lee Avenue is 27 feet wide, where they intersect; that, at the point of impact, defendant’s car was 19 feet, 1 inch, and plaintiff’s car was 5 feet, 9 inches, into the intersection; that he couldn’t say which auto entered the intersection first, but that defendant’s auto “probably” did, because of the distance into the intersection (from its western edge) of the point of impact.

In her defense, defendant testified, among other things, that her auto entered the intersection before plaintiff’s; that, when her car entered it, she “would say” it was going fifteen miles per hour and that she told the policeman (above mentioned) that “I was going between maybe twenty and fifteen miles an hour.” She further testified that she didn’t know how fast plaintiff’s car was traveling. On cross examination, defendant denied telling the officer that when her car entered the intersection she speeded up to “beat” plaintiff. Other parts of her cross examination, as it appears in the casemade, are as follows:

“Q Have you had any speeding violations since this accident?
“A Yes, I have.
“Q Did you plead guilty in those things ?
“A I did not plead guilty.
“Q Were you tried?
“A No, I wasn’t tried.
“Q What did you do about this type of violation ?
“ MR.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1967 OK 40, 424 P.2d 62, 1967 Okla. LEXIS 361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parris-v-mccallay-okla-1967.