Sisk ex rel. Sisk v. Driggers

364 S.W.2d 76, 1962 Mo. App. LEXIS 595
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 1962
DocketNo. 23471
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 364 S.W.2d 76 (Sisk ex rel. Sisk v. Driggers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sisk ex rel. Sisk v. Driggers, 364 S.W.2d 76, 1962 Mo. App. LEXIS 595 (Mo. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

BROADDUS, Judge.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries. Plaintiff recovered a verdict and judgment for $/500 against defendants Driggers and Butler from which they have appealed.

Defendants do not contend that plaintiff did not make a submissible case. Thus a brief statement of the facts will be sufficient to present the issues involved.

This action arises out of a motor vehicle collision which occurred about 4:30 p. m. on October 2, 1959, on Ü. S. Highway 50 in Johnson County, Missouri, at about 1.8 miles west of Pittsville. Highway 50 generally runs east and west and at the place of the collision is intersected by a north-south gravel road. Highway 50 is a two-lane blacktop highway with one east-bound and one west-bound lane and is approximately 22 feet wide. The intersection where the collision occurred is at or near the bottom of a valley or low place between two hills or grades so that vehicles approaching the intersection traveling either east or west are moving down grade. There are no curves in Highway 50 in the immediate vicinity of the scene of the collision.

It was daylight and cloudy' at the time of the collision. It had been raining and the surface of Highway 50 was wet and slick.

Four automobiles were involved in the collision, to-wit: A Plymouth coach being operated by Virgil Sisk, plaintiff’s father, a Ford Convertible being operated by defendant Driggers, a DeSoto Sedan being operated by defendant Butler, and a Ford Station Wagon being operated by defendant John Christopher. Plaintiff, Lloyd Sisk, then 9 years of age, was a passenger in his father’s car.

At the time in question, plaintiff’s father had stopped his westbound car in the westbound lane of the highway at the foot of the hill, waiting for eastbound traffic to pass so he could make his left turn across the eastbound lane. All parties agree that Sisk was signalling his intention to turn as he waited there. The crest of the [78]*78hill behind S'isk’s stopped signalling automobile was approximately 1500 to 2000 feet to the east and the visibility was good.'

As defendants Driggers and Butler approached the scene westbound, Driggers overtook and passed the Butler car east of the .crest of the hill. When' Driggers got to the crest of the hill he could see the Sisk car stopped on the pavement 1500 to 2000 feet ahead of him. signalling for a left turn. When defendant ".Butler came over the crest) Driggers was already more than orie-half way down the hill.

- As Driggers-approached the stopped Sisk car he slowed his own car down to' 30 miles' per'hour, then turned off the pavement'oHto'the shoulder'where his car skidded and 'hit- a culvert which threw him back on‘the road-into collision with the Sisk' car.-v-"- ■ • ;■ .<■

’'Defendant’ Butler came over the crest of the'h'ill,'saw Driggers ahead and down the hill closer'to th'e intersection than to her,, drové down the hill at a speed she and her husband say was 50 miles per hour. Virgil Sisk said it was 60 to 70 miles per hour. .The BuRers continued down the hill, talking, until their car was about the length of the court room from the. Sisk and Drig-gers cars when defendant Butler applied her brakes. Her car skidded and crashed into the rear of the Sisk car knocking the latter across the center line into collision with defendant Christopher’s eastbound station wagon.'

Sergeant Ernest W. Van Winkle, the investigating officer of the Highway Patrol was an eye-witness to the last part of the four-car collision and arrived at the scene almost immediately thereafter. He measured and identified the various skid marks made by the vehicles at the scene.

The jury’s verdict was. in favor of the. defendant Christopher.

- Deffend'ant Butler’s first point is that the court 'erred ⅛' excluding, the' testimony of--' férfed from thé' deposition of 'the witness Curtis'to the effect that so' far as she was: able to determine there were no injuries resulting from the collision other than to defendant Butler and her passenger. Defendants do not dispute the fact that plaintiff was injured, nor do they claim that the verdict was excessive. In view of that situation defendant Butler’s counsel frankly conceded' in the oral argument that the point is not well taken.

For her point II defendant Butler contends that the court erred in overruling her motion to strike the testimony of the witness Van Winkle wherein in response to defendant Christopher’s counsel the court permitted the witness to relate the statement made to him by Christopher as to how the accident happened. Defendant made no objection on the ground that the testimony was hearsay as she now complains to this court. Thus the question is-not preserved for determination here.

Defendant Butler in her third assignment asserts that it was error to give at plaintiff’s request Instruction No. ¾. which is as follows:

“You are instructed that if you find and believp from the evidence that at ■ the time and place mentioned in evidence that plaintiff, Lloyd F. Sisk, was- . riding in his father’s westbound Plymouth automobile where it was stopped in the westbound lane of Highway 50, at or near the intersection mentioned ini evidence with its electric turn signal flashing for a left turn, if so, and that thereafter, while said Plymouth remained stopped that defendant Susie ■ Irene Butler drove her westbound De-Soto automobile over the crest of the hill east of the intersection and that she negligently allowed said DeSoto to-overtake and collide with the rear of the Plymouth in which plaintiff was riding, if so, and if you further find that such negligence on the part of Defendr ant Butler, if any, directly and proxi-m'ately cáüs'éd,-or combined, 'concurred and ’ cofltfib'uted with':the liegligeneé;'';1 [79]*79if any, of one or both of the other defendants to directly and’proximately cause plaintiff to be injured, if so, then your verdict shall be in favor of the plaintiff, Lloyd F. Sisk, and against Defendant Susie Irene Butler.”

Plaintiff justifies the giving of this instruction under the so-called “rear end collision doctrine” enunciated in the much cited case of Jones v. Central States Oil Co., 350 Mo. 91, 164 S.W.2d 914. We agree with the view taken by plaintiff.

As his first point which he sets forth in subdivisions A, B, C and D defendant Driggers contends that it was error to give Instruction No. I. This was plaintiff’s main verdict directing instruction against Driggers. His chief attack on the instruction is that it failed to require a finding that a collision occurred between his automobile and the Sisk car. That fact was never in ■dispute. It is not error to omit conceded facts from an instruction. Wyckoff v. Davis, 297 S.W.2d 490, 496, Mo.Sup.

Under “B” he contends that the instruction failed to require a finding that plaintiff was injured as a result of collision ■caused by Driggers’ negligence. Contrary to defendant’s assertion, the closing paragraph of the instruction requires such finding.

Under “C” he asserts that the in■struction did not hypothesize facts which ■constituted actionable negligence on his part. Plaintiff’s theory of recovery against Driggers was that he violated a legislative standard of conduct, to-wit: that set forth in Sect. 304.016 V.A.M.S. as follows:

“2.

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Bluebook (online)
364 S.W.2d 76, 1962 Mo. App. LEXIS 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sisk-ex-rel-sisk-v-driggers-moctapp-1962.