Reuter v. Gilbreath

401 S.W.2d 658, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 3119
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 10, 1966
DocketNo. 6674
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 401 S.W.2d 658 (Reuter v. Gilbreath) 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
Reuter v. Gilbreath, 401 S.W.2d 658, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 3119 (Tex. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

HIGHTOWER, Chief Justice.

This lawsuit, brought to recover personal injury and property damages, arose out of a collision in Woodville, Texas, between an automobile driven by appellee and a cement mixer truck being driven by one of the appellants, Caesar Parker. Both vehicles were proceeding in the same northwesterly direction on State Highway 287. Parker was an employee of the other appellant, and was acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the collision. Trial was to a jury and resulted in a judgment for appellee in the amount of $5,550.00. The parties will be referred to as they were in the trial court or by name.

Defendants first brief and argue their points of error 2 through 5 together. They refer to the answer of the jury to Special Issue No. 25 which was predicated upon an affirmative answer to Special Issue No. 24, which inquired of the jury as to whether the plaintiff drove his automobile to the left side of the roadway in an attempt to pass the truck when he was approaching within 100 feet of the intersection of Highway 287 and Myrtle Street. The jury’s answer to said issue was “We do”. Special Issue No. 25 was the causation issue, to which the jury answered “We do not”.

In its first series of points defendants contend (2) the court erred in refusing their motion to disregard the answer to Special Issue No. 25, (3) in refusing its motion for new trial because of no evidence, (4) insufficient evidence, and (5) the finding was against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence so as to be manifestly unjust.

Several of defendants’ other points also complain of the court’s error in overruling their motion to disregard several other findings of the jury, and by their first point, which they have briefed last, they complain of the court’s error in refusing their motion non obstante veredicto. We shall treat certain aspects of these latter contentions in the latter part of the opinion after first treating contentions relating to the evidence to support all jury findings complained of.

We summarily overrule defendants’ points of no evidence and insufficient evidence to support the answer to Issue No. 25 because, by first determining the contention of whether the answer of the jury is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence so as to be manifestly wrong, we must consider all the evidence, favorable and unfavorable to the answer of the jury, and after such consideration, we feel it is self-evident that said points are without merit.

The evidence favorable to defendants is:

The collision occurred at the intersection of Myrtle Street and U. S. Highway 287 [661]*661within the city limits of Woodville, Tyler County, Texas, at about 1:00 p. m. At that point Highway 287 runs approximately southeast and northwest, and Myrtle Street runs approximately north and south. Highway 287 at said intersection is paved with a center stripe, 20 feet wide, with shoulders on each side wide enough for a car to get on; Myrtle Street intersects said highway, approximately at right angles and it is about the bottom of the hill and level at the intersection. There is a street sign there that says “Myrtle Street” about IS feet from the edge of the intersection; the sign is about IS feet west of Myrtle Street and about 42 feet from the hard surfaced highway. The sign is 6 inches wide and 20 inches long. There are no branches or anything else to keep one going west from seeing the sign “Myrtle Street”. There are homes along that area. It had been raining before the accident; the streets were wet, and slippery. The defendant Parker was driving a cement mixer truck, more fully described hereinafter, taking concrete from the plant near the depot in Woodville, Texas, to a house foundation on Myrtle Street. The cement mixer truck was green and the drum was orange. The truck was equipped with mechanical turn signals to indicate the direction the truck would turn — blinker lights on each side, located in front and in back on each side; on the front they were mounted on the tops of the fenders; on the rear of the truck the signal lights were between the dual wheels. Just prior to the collision Parker was driving approximately 20 m. p. h., on his right, the north lane. Parker saw the plaintiff’s car before the collision at the top of the hill southeast of Myrtle Street, towards Woodville, about 300 feet away — in his rear view mirror. He was approximately 300 feet from Myrtle Street when he put his signal lights on, indicating a left turn. The light buttons on the inside showed that the signal lights were burning, blinking, and he could see the signal light on the left front fender burning and blinking. He continued to watch plaintiff’s car behind him; it made no move to pass; and when Parker was about 20 feet from the intersection, he looked ahead and seeing no traffic, he began to make his left turn from the highway into Myrtle Street when the collision occurred — about S or 6 feet from the intersection. At, the time of the collision defendants’ truck was in the right lane, ready to make the left turn, when it was hit, appellee’s car knocked him right into the intersection. At that time he was going 4 to 5 m. p. h. Plaintiff did not see any red lights on the back of defendants’ truck, indicating that the track was applying its brakes. The impact of plaintiff’s car with defendants’ truck was with such great force that the front end of the truck reared up — and kind of jumped.

Plaintiff was driving a 1959 Oldsmobile on a Friday, en route to Fort Worth, Texas, from Fort Polk, Louisiana, on a three-day pass. He did not stop for lunch; he picked up some cakes from a service station. He was traveling by himself. He was coming from the northeast and was driving in a northwesterly direction, on a sort of straight-away, straight on each side of the intersection where the collision occurred, for about a quarter of a mile, on a smooth black topped highway. The truck was in the highway ahead of him, going in the same direction — northwesterly, and he saw it about 300 yards ahead of him. At that time he and the truck were in the right hand lane. He didn’t know how fast he was driving. The truck was going slower than he and he was overtaking the truck. He had just come over the hill; he guessed that he was on top of the hill; and as he started down the hill, he saw the truck down the hill. He was not meeting any traffic; his left lane was clear, and the only thing that he could see in his right lane was the truck. There was nothing about the weather that interfered with his view. He speeded his car up to go around the truck. He guessed he was going about 45 m. p. h. when he stepped on the gas to pass the truck. He couldn’t say for sure that before the collision the truck had crossed the centerline or any [662]*662part of it. When plaintiff did apply his brakes, he slid. The road was like glass, and he applied his brakes when he was about two car lengths away, and his car didn’t slow down. Immediately after the accident the signal lights on the left front fender of the truck were still burning, still blinking; the signal lights on the rear of the truck were knocked off; the mud -flaps and the license plates on the rear of the truck were knocked off; and the frame of the truck was knocked out of alignment. There were no marks on the side of the truck; it was not hit broadside; the only marks on the truck were on the rear of it. The Chief of Police investigating the collision found, when he arrived at the scene, defendants’ truek sitting in the middle of Myrtle Street and the plaintiff’s car in the ditch.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Structural Metals, Inc. v. Impson
469 S.W.2d 261 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Christy v. Blades
448 S.W.2d 107 (Texas Supreme Court, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
401 S.W.2d 658, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 3119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reuter-v-gilbreath-texapp-1966.