Ramming v. Halstead

77 S.W.2d 920
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 14, 1934
DocketNo. 13080
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 77 S.W.2d 920 (Ramming v. Halstead) 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
Ramming v. Halstead, 77 S.W.2d 920 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

DUNKLIN, Chief Justice.

While Ross Halstead was traveling north on a motorcycle on the east side of Lamar street, a public street in the city of Wichita Falls, his machine collided with an automobile driven by Frank Whitmire that was traveling south on the west side of the same street, but at the time of the collision had turned to" the left and. in an easterly direction in order to stop at a filling station fronting west and near the middle of the block, and the collision occurred while the automobile was headed in that direction. The collision occurred about 6 o’clock on the evening of February 23, 1931; it was dark, and a rain was falling which made visibility difficult. As a result of the collision Ross Hal-stead sustained serious injuries. Archie Ramming was riding in the automobile with [921]*921Frank Whitmire, the driver at the time oí the collision.

Ross Halstead instituted this suit against Archie Ramming to recover damages for the injuries so sustained by him upon allegations of negligence on the part of both Whit-mire and Ramming, which was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury.

In answer to special issues the jury found that the turning of the automobile in question to the east at the time and under the circumstances already noted was negligence; that both Frank Whitmire and Archie Ramming were guilty of negligence in failing to keep a proper lookout for traffic headed in a northerly direction; that Archie Ramming was guilty of negligence in permitting the automobile to be driven on the east side of the street, and that the negligence in each of those particulars was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries; and that plaintiff had sustained damages as the result of his injuries in the sum of $9,500. There was a further finding that no light was burning on plaintiff’s motorcycle on the occasion in question, but that the absence of such a light did not contribute to plaintiffs injuries. The jury also exonerated plaintiff from all charges of contributory negligence presented in defendants’ answer.

At the time of plaintiff’s injuries he was in the employ of the Allison Drug Company, a lawful subscriber to the Workmen’s Compensation Law of Texas, who carried a policy of insurance with the Globe Indemnity Company. A compromise settlement was made by that company with the plaintiff which was duly approved by the Industrial Accident Board, for the aggregate sum of $1,64S.35. Under the terms of that policy of insurance the Globe Indemnity Company was subrogated to the rights of Ross Hal-stead for damages which might be recovered by him in this suit, to the extent of the indemnity so paid, and the indemnity company intervened for that relief.

Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff against Archie Ramming for $9,500 assessed by the jury, with an apportionment thereof in favor of the intervener for the amount claimed in the intervention. The defendant Archie Ramming has prosecuted this appeal.

The issue of whether or not Frank Whit-mire in driving the automobile at the time of the accident was then acting in the capacity of servant of defendant Archie Ramming was never submitted to the jury, although the defendant by objections made to the issues submitted called to the attention of the trial court the necessity of the submission of that issue, and also presented to the court a request for the submission of an issue as to whether or not under the terms of Frank Whitmire’s employment the defendant Archie Ramming had the right to direct the mode and manner of the performance of the work to be done by him.

The defendant also objected to the submission of issues Nos. 9, 10, and 11, inquiring whether or not defendant permitted the automobile to be driven on the east side of Lamar street at the time and place in question, and whether or not in so doing he was guilty of negligence, which was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries, in answer to all of which issues the jury found in plaintiff’s favor. The objection to those issues was that by inference they assumed the existence of the relation of master and servant between the defendant and Frank Whitmire, with authority on the part of defendant to direct and control the manner in which the automobile was driven.

We have reached the conclusion that the assignments of error indicated above should be sustained, since the cause of action asserted in plaintiff’s pleadings was specifically based on the theory that in driving the automobile on the occasion of the collision Frank Whitmire was acting as the servant of defendant, who was therefore liable for his negligence.

The testimony showed that appellant was a dealer in Royal Typewriters, and that Frank Whitmire was employed to sell them. Whitmire furnished his own automobile for transportation of those instruments as he traveled through the country, paying all of his expenses in making those trips, and receiving from the defendant a commission on any sales made by him. He was assigned certain territory within which to make the sales, but under the terms of employment the appellant did not have the right to direct when he would start out on a trip nor when he should return. Before starting on a trip, he would be charged on defendant’s books with the typewriters taken out by him and would be given credit for the ones returned and for the proceeds of any sales made by him. On the occasion of the accident, appellant and Whitmire had decided to make a trip to a cei’tain portion of Eastern Texas to determine whether or not Whitmire might probably succeed in making sales in that territory. The arrangement made was for appellant to go with Whitmire in the latter’s [922]*922ear, and the expenses of operating the automobile were to be shared by them equally. Whitmire was to do the driving, and was driving at the time of the accident. No witness testified to any agreement between Whitmire and Ramming that, the latter would have the right to direct the former in the manner the automobile should be operated, and no one testified that defendant did in fact give any such directions.

The opinion of the Commission of Appeals in the case of National Cash Register Co. v. Rider, reported in 24 S.W.(2d) 28, 30, is in point here. Indeed, the facts of that case and the case at bar were quite similar. That case arose out of a collision between an automobile driven by Weeks and a wagon driven by plaintiff Rider, resulting in personal injuries to Rider and damage to his wagon. Weeks was employed by the National Cash Register Company to sell its cash registers-on a commission basis, but in pursuit of that employment he exercised his own choice as to when and where he would go within a certain territory designated by the company; but if he should leave the territory or go on a vacation trip he was obligated to notify the company. Sales made by him were subject to confirmation by the company. The automobile he was driving was owned by him but had printed on the side “National Cash Register Company.”

Rider recovered judgment against the National Cash Register Company for damages based on findings of the jury that the collision resulted from the negligence of Weeks in driving the automobile, and liability of the company was claimed on allegations in plaintiff’s pleadings that Weeks was its employee. The trial court held that such agency was conclusively established, and therefore did not submit that issue to the jury; and the Court of Civil Appeals at Texarkana [13 S.W.(2d) 414] affirmed that judgment. But the Commission of Appeals reversed the judgments of the trial court and of the Court of Civil Appeals.

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Bluebook (online)
77 S.W.2d 920, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ramming-v-halstead-texapp-1934.