Sampley v. Aulabaugh

589 S.W.2d 666, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 357
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 2, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 589 S.W.2d 666 (Sampley v. Aulabaugh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sampley v. Aulabaugh, 589 S.W.2d 666, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 357 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

SANDERS, Judge.

Defendants have appealed from a jury verdict in favor of the Plaintiff for personal injuries. The Plaintiff-Appellee, Charles Douglas Sampley, sued the Defendants-Appellants, Charles D. Aulabaugh and Vol-State Chemical Corporation, for personal injuries. Plaintiff was injured when, as a result of the crane or hydraulic lift on which he was standing being struck by a truck, he fell to the sidewalk from the crane while working on a neon sign.

The accident occurred near the intersection of the easterly side of Dodds Avenue and the north side of 34th Street in the City of Chattanooga. At this point the two streets run at right angles. Dodds Avenue, which is a four-lane street, runs in a north-south direction and 34th Street, which is a two-lane street, runs in an east-west direction. Shortly before the accident the Plaintiff had driven his employer’s truck to the intersection of the two streets for the purpose of repairing a neon sign located near the intersection. The truck he was using was equipped with a 64-foot hydraulic crane called a sky hook, commonly known as a cherry picker except this crane did not have a bucket on the end of it for a person to stand in. The base of the neon sign was located in a parking lot and set back approximately six feet from the east side of Dodds Avenue and about eight feet from the north side of 34th Street.

Upon arriving at the location the Plaintiff pulled his truck into 34th Street and backed it into the parking lot with the rear of the truck near the east end of the sign and the front wheels in 34th Street against the curb on the north side. In this position the truck was parked parallel with Dodds Avenue. After positioning the truck the crane was swung around at a 90° angle to the truck, parallel with 34th Street. It was raised to a height of approximately 12 feet above and perpendicular to the ground. In this position the end. of the crane extended 12 to 18 inches beyond the curb into Dodds Avenue. The Plaintiff had two yellow cone markers which he placed on 34th Street but nothing was placed on Dodds Avenue to warn oncoming traffic of the obstruction in that street.

Immediately before the accident the Defendant, Charles Aulabaugh, was operating a truck of his employer, Defendant Vol-State Chemical Corporation, in a northerly direction on Dodds Avenue. The truck had a van-type body which was approximately 20 feet long and 12 feet high. Immediately before reaching the intersection he was driving on the right side, or curb lane, of the street and stopped to let a fellow employee out of the truck. In the meantime the traffic light at the intersection turned to red on Dodds Avenue. When it turned green the Defendant pulled across the intersection. It was his intention to pull into the center lane of Dodds Avenue after passing the intersection and he was looking into his side mirror to check for traffic coming from the rear. As he did, the right front top corner of the van on his truck struck the portion of the crane that was extending out over Dodds Avenue.

As the result of this collision the Plaintiff was knocked off the crane and seriously injured. In his complaint the Plaintiff charged the Defendant failed to keep a proper lookout ahead, he did not have his vehicle under reasonable control and he was guilty of operating his vehicle in violation of T.C.A. § 59-858.

[668]*668In their answer the Defendants denied all allegations of negligence. They also charged the Plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. They said he was negligent in placing the crane on which he was working where it extended out over Dodds Avenue, in failure to warn approaching traffic of the extended crane over Dodds Avenue, he failed to keep a proper lookout for and to warn approaching traffic of the obstruction, his placing the crane out over the street constituted an obstruction in violation of T.C.A. § 54-925 and a violation of Chattanooga Code Section 34 — 28. They also contended the Plaintiff was in violation of certain safety regulations by not wearing a safety belt at the time of the accident.

The case was tried before a jury which found the issues in favor of the Plaintiff and fixed his damages at $72,500. Defendants’ motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, or a motion for a new trial, was overruled and they have appealed and assigned error.

The Defendants have assigned 41 assignments of error, many of which are repetitious or frivolous or do not comply with the rules of this court and serve only to burden the record. However, we do find merit in a limited number of the assignments. In their first assignment of error Defendants say there was no evidence to support the verdict.

We cannot agree. Although there is an extremely close question on the issue of contributory negligence, we conclude there was a question for determination by the jury.

The Defendants, in their answer, say that at the time of the accident the Plaintiff was in violation of T.C.A. § 54-925, which provides as follows:

“Obstructing roads a misdemeanor— Commissioner failing to sue incurs penalty — Disposition of fines and penalties. Any person who shall place, or cause to be placed, on any public highway, any brush, briers, or any other material or thing which may obstruct or damage such highway, or render it inconvenient or hurtful to the traveling public, or who may encroach upon the same in constructing any fence, wall, or like improvement, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be fined as in other misdemeanors. The commissioners shall bring suit against any person thus obstructing, damaging, or encroaching on any highway, within thirty (30) days after such fact comes to his knowledge, and, on failure to do so, shall be subject to a fine of five dollars ($5.00), which may be recovered by any person subject to highway duty in his district suing therefor. Such fine, when collected, and also any fine if collected by the commissioners under this section, shall be paid on receivable warrant of county judge or chairman to the county trustee, for the benefit of the roads of the said commissioner’s district.”

In his charge to the jury the Court did not charge the jury with reference to this statute. The Defendant requested the following special charge based upon the statute: “You are instructed that it is unlawful to place or cause to be placed on any public highway any material or thing which may obstruct such highway or render it inconvenient or hurtful to the traveling public.”

The Court declined to give this special request and Defendants assigned this as error.

The Defendants also relied upon the following city ordinance for the City of Chattanooga as a defense. It provides:

“SEC. 34-28. BOXES, BARRELS, MERCHANDISE, OTHER ARTICLES.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to obstruct the streets or sidewalks with boxes, barrels, machinery, agricultural implements, etc., except when receiving and forwarding goods, wares and merchandise, and then only for a reasonable time.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
589 S.W.2d 666, 1979 Tenn. App. LEXIS 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sampley-v-aulabaugh-tennctapp-1979.