Prater v. Holbrook

251 S.W.2d 547, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1698
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 15, 1952
DocketNo. 4826
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 251 S.W.2d 547 (Prater v. Holbrook) 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
Prater v. Holbrook, 251 S.W.2d 547, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1698 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

R. L. MURRAY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in the district court of Polk County, overruling the plea of priviledge of John D. Prater, appellant in a suit for damages brought against him in Polk County by A. D. Holbrook, appellee. The suit arose out of an automobile collision between cars driven by the two parties. The collision occurred in Polk County, and appellee alleged that various acts of negligence oil the part of appellant were crimes and active acts of trespass and that they were [549]*549the proximate causes of personal injuries to himself and damages to his automobile. The appellant filed 'his plea of privilege to be sued in the county of his residence, Titus County. The plea was duly controverted, and upon a hearing of that plea testimony was introduced, argument was had, and judgment rendered and entered overruling the plea. The hearing was had before the court without a jury, and the court filed, at the request of appellant, its findings of fact and conclusions of law. Appellant has perfected his appeal from that judgment.

The court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law are as follows:

Findings of Fact .

(1) That the defendant, John D. Prater, operated the Buick car driven by him, on the occasion in question, and at the time of the collision, of said Buick automobile with the car owned and operated by plaintiff, A. D. Holbrook, into the lane of the highway for south bound traffic, in an area where there were broken, or dashed stripes, on the defendant’s, John D. Prater’s side of the center line of the highway.

(2) That the defendant, John D. Prater, operated the Buick car, at the time and on the occasion in question, under the facts and circumstances, at an excessive rate of speed.

(3) That the defendant, John D. Prater, operated the Buick car, at the time and on the occasion In question, within a “no passing zone”, as determined and marked by the State Highway Commission of the State of Texas on a portion of the highway where overtaking and passing was especially hazardous under the existing facts and circumstances.

(4) That the defendant, John D. Prater, at the time and on the occasion in question, drove the Buick car, then and there being operated by him, to his left side of the center of the roadway in an effort to overtake and pass another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, at a time when such left side was not free of on-coming traffic for sufficient distance ahead to permit such overtaking and passing to be completely made without interfering with the safe operation of the vehicle driven by plaintiff, A. D. Holbrook, approaching from the opposite direction.

(5) That the defendant, John D. Prater, failed to beep a proper lookout under the facts and circumstances for other vehicles using the highway.

(6) That the defendant, John D. Prater, failed to observe the broken, or dashed stripes, on his, John D. Prater’s left side in the direction in which he was'traveling, or on the east side of the center line of the highway in the direction in which defendant, John D. Prater, was traveling.

(7) That the plaintiff, A. D. Holbrook, was entirely off the paved portion of the 'highway, with all four wheels of his car on the east side thereof, when struck by the automobile operated by defendant, John D. Prater.

That said acts on the part of defendant, John D. Prater, constituted and were active acts of negligence,, committed in Polk County, Texas; that by reason thereof, this Court has jurisdiction of said defendant and of this cause.

Conclusions of Law.

The Court finds that this Court has jurisdiction of the defendant, John D. Prater, “under and by virtue of Section Nine (9), Article 1995 of the Revised Civil Statutes of the State of Texas. [Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 1995, subd. 9].”

Appellant’s first point is that the trial court’s findings of fact Nos. 1 and 7 cannot individually or collectively form any basis for the judgment of said court because such findings are in irreconcilable conflict; such conflict being fatal and having the effect of canceling both of said findings. His argument under this point is that in the finding of fact No. 1 the court found that appellant operated his car on the occasion in question and at the time of the collision into the west lane of the highway and that in its 7th finding of fact the court found that appellee was entirely off the paved portion of the highway with all four wheels on the east side thereof, when struck by the [550]*550automobile operated by' Prater, the appellant. He says there is a conflict between these two findings because it is readily apparent that both of these findings cannot be true, that if the collision took place west of the center line of the highway then it certainly could not have taken place entirely off the paved portion of the highway on the east side. We note that the court in its findings used the words “when struck by the automobile” in the 7th finding of fact and used the phrase “at the time of the collision” in the 1st finding of fact. These differently worded phrases do not necessarily refer to the same moment, that of impact of the two automobiles. The phrase “at the time of the collision” includes, in addition to the moment of impact, that period of time immediately preceding such impact in which the events took place which led up to and contributed to the actual impact of the two cars. “At the time” may signify a period of time as distinguished from a point of time. 7 C.J.S. p. 162; 4 Words & Phrases, p. 707 et seq.; Mackey v. Queen City Woodworks & Lbr. Co., 216 Mo.App. 205, 261 S.W. 132. With this meaning of “at the time” in mind it is seen that the two findings of fact are not inconsistent. It is possible that the appellant during that period of time immediately before the impact of the two cars turned his car into the west lane of the highway, which was his left-hand side, and thereafter turned to the right into the east lane and drove across the east lane to a point on the east side of the highway and off the concrete, where it struck the car of the appellee. We find no merit in this first point and it is overruled.

Appellant’s 5th point is that the trial court erred in overruling the plea of privilege because (1) there is no finding that any of the acts of negligence as has been found by the trial court on the part of the appellant was a proximate cause of the collision in question and the injuries and damages allegedly sustained by appellee, and (2) there is no evidence on which to base an assumed finding that any of the acts of appellant as found by the trial court was a proximate cause of the collision in question and the injuries and damages allegedly sustained by appellee, and (3) the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence shows that the acts of appellant as found by the trial court were not a proximate cause of the collision in question. The appellant has ably set forth in his brief under this point numerous authorities in support of the proposition that there can be no recovery in a suit based upon negligence of a defendant without a finding that his acts of negligence found in the case were a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries and damages. He extends this argument and attempts to apply it to the instant case, in which the question of venue was primarily the one before the court, wherein the issues were tried before the court sitting without a jury.

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Bluebook (online)
251 S.W.2d 547, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prater-v-holbrook-texapp-1952.