Southern Coach Lines, Inc. v. Ball

250 S.W.2d 104, 35 Tenn. App. 587, 1952 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 18, 1952
StatusPublished

This text of 250 S.W.2d 104 (Southern Coach Lines, Inc. v. Ball) 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
Southern Coach Lines, Inc. v. Ball, 250 S.W.2d 104, 35 Tenn. App. 587, 1952 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinions

HOWELL, J.

The plaintiff, Howard E. Ball, Jr., as Administrator of the estate of his father Howard E. Ball, deceased, filed this suit against the defendant Southern Coach Lines, Inc. for $50,000 damages as a result of the death of Howard E. Ball in an accident in which the automobile owned and driven by the deceased collided with a bus owned and operated by the defendant on Charlotte Avenue in Nashville.

The accident happened about 10:15 a.m. on March 3, 1950, on Charlotte Avenue betwen 25th Avenue North and 26th Avenue North in Nashville, at a point in front of a Thoni Service Station which is on the north side of Charlotte Avenue, about 200 feet west of the overpass over the rails of the N. C. & St. L. Railway.

The declaration alleges in the first count that:

“On said occasion-the deceased, Howard E. Ball, drove his automobile near the center of Charlotte Avenue, and came to a stop in front of the said Thoni Service Station, for the purpose of turning to his left, and into said service station. After waiting for other vehicles that were travelling toward the west to pass, the deceased, while driving in a careful and prudent manner, attempted to complete his turn and continue across the northerly side of Charlotte Avenue to said service station. Said vehicle operated by the deceased made the turn and proceeded across the northerly side of Charlotte Avenue, and had reached a point on the northerly edge of said street when said automobile was struck on the right side [589]*589by a large passenger bus owned by the defendant, Southern Coach Lines, Inc., bearing Tennessee License Number l-Taxi-D-3518, and being operated by the servant, agent or employee of said defendant in the course of its business, and being operated in a careless, reckless, unlawful, and negligent manner by the said servant, agent, or employee. Plaintiff alleges that said bus was travelling in a westerly direction, and as it topped the hill or overpass approaching plaintiff, it came down said hill toward the automobile which plaintiff’s intestate was driving, at a fast, reckless and dangerous speed, and plaintiff further alleges that said large passenger bus was not under the control of the driver, and that said driver was not keeping a proper lookout ahead. ’ ’

The second count of the declaration alleges that the defendant’s bus was being operated recklessly and in violation of Code Section 2681, and the third count charges a violation of Code Section 2682 in that the bus was being driven at a careless rate of speed such as to endanger the life, limb and property of the deceased and in excess of the statutory speed in that particular location. The fourth count of the declaration alleges a violation of the City Ordinance which has reference to driving a vehicle in a wilful and wanton manner in disregard of the safety of persons or property of others, and the fifth count charges a violation of an ordinance of the City of Nashville prohibiting the driving of a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent and greater than 30 miles per hour.

The remaining counts of the declaration have reference to the damages to the 1937 Buiek automobile owned and operated by the deceased at the time of the accident.

[590]*590The defendant pleaded not guilty and the case was tried before the Judge and a jury in the Circuit Court and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for $26,675 and costs.

By proper procedure the defendant has appealed in error to this Court and has assigned errors.

It is insisted for the defendant that the trial Court erred in failing to sustain the defendant’s motion for peremptory instructions, that there is no material evidence to support the verdict, that there is no proof of negligence on the part of the defendant which proximately caused the injuries sustained by the deceased and that the plaintiff’s intestate was guilty of contributory negligence which bars a recovery. There are several more insistences of the defendant raised in the twenty-seven assignments of error.

The record discloses that the accident happened substantially as alleged in the declaration and there is little controversy as to the principal facts. The deceased was driving East on Charlotte Avenue and near the center of the street which is about 42 feet wide, and he came to a stop on the South of the center of the street in front of the Thoni Service Station which is on the North side of the Street and therefore to the left of the deceased, he having stopped in order to make a left turn into the service station. After waiting for other vehicles that were travelling "West on Charlotte Avenue to pass, the deceased attempting to complete his turn into the station, proceeded across the North side of the street and in front of the bus of the defendant which was proceeding West on its right or the North side of the street when the collision occurred. About 200 feet East of the scene of the accident is the overpass over the railroad and the [591]*591pavement of the street slopes downward on the Eastern side of the hill to where the collision took place.

The plaintiff insists that the negligence of the defendant’s driver in driving at an excessive speed and in a reckless and careless manner is established by the testimony of Haywood Western and F. D. Hooper, two of his witnesses.

Hey wood Western of Milan Tennessee, a truck driver, had stopped at Thoni’s Service Station to get gas for his truck and he testified in part as follows:

“Q. Now, tell us just what you saw at the time of the accident, when you first saw the bus, when you first saw the truck, and how they came together. A. Well, I just drove up there to get gas and I hadn’t been there but just a second or two and I was looking up that way, of course.
“By the Court:
“Was your truck headed east or west? A. I was coming into town.
“The Court: All right, east, then.
“A. And I saw the bus coming over the hill and I looked around and about the time I looked around I heard a racket and by the time I looked back around they were just hitting together. Now, I didn’t see Mr. Ball until the bus was done hitting him.
‘.‘Q. Now, you-have driven for a number of years and you are familiar with the speed of vehicles. A. Yes sir.
“Q. Do you think you can say approximately how fast that bus was coming over the hill? A. Well, just to guess—
“The Court: Wait a minute.
“By Judge Williams:
“Q. Your judgment; not your guess.
[592]*592“The Court: Wait one second. We are not going to have any guessing. If from your experience and what you saw you can give us your best judgment as to the speed,- — ■
“Well, I would say it was making 40 or 45 miles an hour.
“Q. Is this about the position of both the bus and the car immediately after the accident (indicating on blackboard)? A. Well, the car was knocked around and it was headed back toward Nashville and it was knocked over against the curb.
“Q. How close was it to the curb? A.

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Bluebook (online)
250 S.W.2d 104, 35 Tenn. App. 587, 1952 Tenn. App. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-coach-lines-inc-v-ball-tennctapp-1952.