Schweitzer v. Harvey Stone, S & I Trucking Co.

371 P.2d 201, 13 Utah 2d 199, 1962 Utah LEXIS 181
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMay 4, 1962
Docket9215
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 371 P.2d 201 (Schweitzer v. Harvey Stone, S & I Trucking Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schweitzer v. Harvey Stone, S & I Trucking Co., 371 P.2d 201, 13 Utah 2d 199, 1962 Utah LEXIS 181 (Utah 1962).

Opinions

CALLISTER, Justice.

These are personal injury and property damage actions arising out of a rather involved automobile accident. . Florence Schweitzer filed suit for personal injury against Harvey Stone, S & I Trucking Company, Lloyd Higginbotham, Fred Sullivan and Western Auto Transport Company. Lloyd Higginbotham, Western Auto Transport Company and Fred Sullivan cross-complained against Harvey Stone and S & I Trucking, who counter-cross-claimed. Ivan Sheffy filed a complaint in intervention against Lloyd Higginbotham, Western Auto Transport Company and Fred Sullivan.

During the trial of the case, Western Auto Transport, Higginbotham and Sullivan settled the Schweitzer claim before the case was submitted to the jury; which returned a verdict in favor of Schweitzer against all defendants, with the exception of Sullivan, who was dismissed out of the case as a party defendant by the trial judge. A verdict of $4,500 was returned in favor of Sheffy on his complaint in intervention against Higginbotham and Western Auto Transport. A verdict in the sum of $8,000 was .returned in favor of Sullivan on his cross-complaint against Stone and S & I Trucking Company. The jury further found against Stone and S & I Trucking Company on their counter-cross-claims.

Stone and S & I appealed from the judgment in favor of Schweitzer and against them, but this appeal was dismissed, upon settlement out of court, by stipulation of those parties. Therefore, the Schweitzer aspect of the case is not now before us.

Stone and S & I appealed from the judgment against them and in favor of Sullivan. However, this appeal has also been dismissed upon stipulation of the parties and by order of this court.

Neither Stone nor S & I have appealed from the adverse judgments on their counter-cross-claims, which leaves only the appeal of Higginbotham and Western Auto from Sheffy’s judgment to be considered.

The occurrences giving .rise to the causes of action here involved are as follows:

At approximately 10:30 p. m. on April 20, 1957, three trucks and trailers, belonging to S & I Trucking Company and loaded with drilling mud, were proceeding eastward on U. S. Highway 30. As they approached a point approximately 17 miles east of Echo Junction in Summit County, Utah, Harvey Stone, an employee and [201]*201driver of one of the S & I units, attempted to pass the lead S & I truck and trailer. At this point the trucks were on an uphill grade and the highway was divided into two eastbound traffic lanes and one westerly traffic lane. Before he could pass the lead truck, Stone’s unit sputtered and the motor quit. He coasted uphill and as far as possible to the right until his truck and trailer came to a standstill. The night was dark, but the highway was comparatively straight at this point and the stalled truck was visible for §ioths of a mile to the west and over 900 feet to the east.

The last S & I truck, driven by Ivan Sheffy, passed the stalled unit and parked about 400 to 500 feet farther up the highway as far to the right as possible. Sheffy set the brakes, left the head and clearance lights on, switched on the turn indicator, and walked back to the stalled truck to see if he could be of assistance. Upon reaching the truck he stood on the highway and put his head in the left window of the cab. Stone, believing his truck had run out of gas, had switched over to the auxiliary tank and was trying to start the engine. Sheffy endeavored to help him.

At this moment a Western Auto Transport truck, loaded with new pickup trucks and driven by Lloyd Higginbotham, crashed into the rear of the stalled S & I track with resultant property damage and injuring Stone, Sheffy and Fred Sullivan, who was asleep in the cab of the Western Auto Transport truck.

The impact of the collision threw a pickup truck from the Western Auto Transport onto the road and into the westbound traffic lane. Neither Stone nor Sheffy saw or heard the approach of the Western Auto Transport truck.

A few moments later an automobile driven by John Schweitzer, with his wife, Florence, as a passenger, came over the hill from the east, swerved to the left to miss the pickup truck, and crashed into the two wrecked trucks.

Among other things, the evidence was conflicting as to whether there were lights on the stalled truck and whether it was partially into the center lane of traffic or entirely in the outside lane.

With respect to their appeal from the judgment in favor of Sheffy, the appellants, Higginbotham and Western Auto Transport, first contend that the lower court erred in refusing to direct a verdict in their favor or, in the alternative, refusing to grant a new trial for the reason that the answers of the jury to special interrogatories were inconsistent with its general verdict.

At the conclusion of the evidence the court instructed the jury generally on the issues of. the case and, pursuant to Rule 49, U.R.C.P., submitted to the jury a series of interrogatories in which it was [202]*202directed to make specific findings. The pertinent questions and the answers thereto by the jury were:

“QUESTION 1
“(A) Was Harvey Stone negligent by allowing the gasoline of one tank to become exhausted before switching to the auxiliary gasoline tank?
“Answer: Yes.
“If so, was such negligence a proximate cause of the collision, (a) Between the two trucks involved? ■
“Answer: Yes.
“(b) Between the Schweitzer car and two trucks involved?
“Answer: Yes.
' (B) Was Harvey Stone negligent in failing to remove the S & I truck from the travelled portion of the highway?
“Answer: No.
“If so, was such negligence a proximate cause of the collision,
“(a) Between the two trucks involved ?
“Answer: No.
“(b) Between the Schweitzer car and the two trucks involved?
“Answer: No.
“(C) Was Harvey Stone negligent in failing to have lights on or flares about the S & I truck immediately prior to the collision between the two trucks ?
“Answer: Yes.
“If so, was such negligence a proximate cause of the collision,
. “(a) Between the two trucks- involved ?
“Answer: Yes.
“(b) Between the Schweitzer car and the two trucks involved?
“Answer: Yes.”
“QUESTION III
“(A) Did Ivan Sheffy negligently expose himself to a hazard which he knew or in the exercise of a reasonable care should have known might result in harm to him by assisting Harvey Stone to start the stopped truck when there were no lights on said truck withotit first putting flares out to warn other motorists of the presence of said truck?
“Answer: Yes.

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Related

Hawley v. Mellem
405 P.2d 243 (Washington Supreme Court, 1965)
Smith v. Franklin
376 P.2d 541 (Utah Supreme Court, 1962)
Schweitzer v. Harvey Stone, S & I Trucking Co.
371 P.2d 201 (Utah Supreme Court, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
371 P.2d 201, 13 Utah 2d 199, 1962 Utah LEXIS 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schweitzer-v-harvey-stone-s-i-trucking-co-utah-1962.