Smith v. Weindorff

287 S.W.2d 740, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2087
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 12, 1956
Docket6010
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 287 S.W.2d 740 (Smith v. Weindorff) 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
Smith v. Weindorff, 287 S.W.2d 740, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2087 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

R. L. MURRAY, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in the District Court of Montgomery County in a suit arising out of the collision of two motor trucks at a highway intersection.

Appellee Weindorff was driving his own truck in a southerly direction on the Con-roe-Decker Road. The truck of the appellant, defendant in the trial court, was being driven in a westerly direction on the Huff-smith-Ventura Road by an agent of appellant Smith. ¡Smith’s truck was struck on its right-hand side of the rear of the cab and Weindorff’s truck was damaged largely on its left front end. Weindorff received extensive and serious physical injuries in the wreck, for which the jury by its verdict awarded him $25,000. He also was awarded $869.89 for damages to his truck and also the sum of $788:80 for medical, surgical and hospital expenses.

•The jury by its verdict found that the driver of Smith’s truck was operating it at a greater rate of speed than a prudent person should have operated it, that this was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision; that the driver of Smith’s truck failed to yield the right of way to Weindorff, that this was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision; that the driver of Smith’s truck failed to keep a proper lookout and that this was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision.

The jury by its verdict also acquitted Weindorff of driving his truck at an excessive rate of speed. - It did not find that Weindorff entered the intersection after the other truck had entered the intersection. It also did not find that Weindorff failed to apply his brakes properly and at the proper time. It also did not find that Weindorff failed to keep a proper lookout.

The court rendered judgment on the verdict in favor of appellee against the appellant for $26,658.69. The appellant has duly perfected his appeal after his motion for new trial was overruled.-

Appellant brings his appeal under four Points of Error. We think it necessary to discuss in detail only appellant’s second point, which complains of' the trial court’s action in refusing to receive the verdict of the jury as first tendered to the court, and instructing the jury that such verdict contained a conflict in the. answers to two groups -of special issues. The jury first returned in to court a verdict which found in answer to Special Issues 25, 26 and 27 of the court’s charge that, the vehicle driven by appellee Weindotff entered the intersection after the milk truck of. appellant Smith had entered it, that such action was negligence and was a proximate'cause of the collision. The trial judge declined to receive the verdict and instructed the jury that their answers to such issues were in conflict with their answers to Special Issues Nos. 6, 7 and 8, by which the jury answered .that the driver of appellant’s milk truck failed to yield the right of way to the appellee, that this was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision. The appellant objected to the action and instruction, contending that no conflict in the issues existed. The jury retired and changed their answers to Special Issues 25, 26 and 27. The verdict then returned was accepted by the court showing a finding to Issue No. 25 that the jury did not find that the Weindorff vehicle entered the intersection after ¡Smith’s milk truck had entered the intersection. Special Issues Nos. 26 and 27 were not answered by the jury, after their finding of “No” in answer to Issue No. 25.

We think the learned trial court was in error in concluding that the answers of the jury first returned to the court in answer to Special Issue No. 25, that the *742 appellee’s truck entered the intersection after appellant’s truck did, was in conflict with the jury’s finding in answer to Special Issue No. 6 to the effect that the driver of appellant’s truck failed to yield the right of way to Weindorff. The appellee says that' the finding by the jury that the driver of appellant’s truck failed to yield the right of way at the intersection could mean only that the operator of appellant’s truck did not enter the intersection first. He argues that if appellant’s milk truck did not enter the intersection first then it must have entered after appellee’s vehicle. He points out then that the jury’s first answer to Special Issue No. 25 was directly in conflict with this answer, because it would have found that Weindorff entered the intersection after Smith’s truck entered it. We do not believe that the jury’s finding in answer to Special Issue No. 6 must be regarded as finding only that appellant’s milk truck did' not enter the intersection first. The driver of appellant’s milk truck could, have been negligent in failing to yield the right of way to, Weindorff and his truck for various other reasons than that based on the fact of not entering the intersection first. From the evidence .the appellee Weindorff’s vehicle was approaching Smith’s truck from its right, and if both trucks were approaching the intersection at approximately the same time the driver of Smith’s truck could have been found negligent for failure to yield the right of way to the vehicle approaching from his right. It canno.t ¡be disputed that both trucks were approaching this intersection at approximately the same time because they collided in the intersection. From other findings by the jury, which are supported by the evidence, appellant 'Smith’s truck was being driven at too high a rate of speed as it approached the intersection and the driver of such truck failed to keep a proper lookout for vehicles traveling on the intersecting road; that the driver of appellant Smith’s truck failed to keep his truck under proper control. Failure to yield the right of way might have been found negligent because of any or all of these other facts found. The finding, therefore, in answer to Special Issue No. 6 that the driver of appellant’s truck failed to yield the right of \yay to appellee’s truck was not a finding that he entered the intersection after Weindorff entered it, and such finding was not in conflict with the answer to Issue 25 tendered by the jury.

The tendered verdict by the jury, which was not accepted by the court, appears to us more in the nature of a verdict which convicted the appellant, the defendant in the trial court, of various acts of negligence and also convicted the appellee, the plaintiff in the trial court, of contributory negligence. Such findings are not unusual in collision cases, and the mere fact that a finding of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff was made would not prevent the trial judge from entering a judgment on the verdict. The general rule as stated in Little .Rock Furniture Manufacturing Co. v. Dunn, 148 Tex. 197, 222 S.W.2d 985, is that, “A conflict is fatal only when each party, by relying upon one or more of the conflicting findings having support in the evidence, together with the balance of the verdict, and ignoring the findings in conflict therewith, might insist that-he is entitled to judgment.” McDonald’s Texas Civil Practice, Vol. 3, Sec. 15.06. Such a rule can have no application to such findings as are here presented in a collision case in which the plaintiff is convicted of contributory negligence. The jury’s answers here to Special Issues Nos. 6, 7 and 8 would have been sufficient to support a judgment in the plaintiff-appellee’s favor if the finding in answer to Special Issues 25, 26 and 27 were disregarded.

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Bluebook (online)
287 S.W.2d 740, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 2087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-weindorff-texapp-1956.