Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Co. v. Sholts

501 S.W.2d 387, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2591
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 1, 1973
Docket7509
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 501 S.W.2d 387 (Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Co. v. Sholts) 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
Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Co. v. Sholts, 501 S.W.2d 387, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2591 (Tex. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinions

DIES, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff below brought suit against defendants, Donald E. Warnke and Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Company alleging Warnke purchased a wheel from Southwest, who furnished him an improper size in that a size other than he called for was furnished. That when this wheel and a tire of a different size were brought to plaintiff — a service station employee- — for airing, an explosion occurred, causing plaintiff’s personal injuries.

Defendant Southwest filed a cross action against Warnke for indemnity and/or contribution.

The case was submitted to a jury which found that Warnke purchased the wheel in question from Southwest; that at the time of purchase he ordered 14 inch wheels; that Southwest was negligent in furnishing the wheel in question (14.5 inch wheel), which was a proximate cause of the occurrence; that the wheel was purchased in the name of S & K Garage from Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Company. The jury failed to find Warnke negligent in failing to determine the size of the wheel and also failed to find Warnke negligent in not determining that the tire in question was not the correct size or configuration to fit the wheel in question. It also failed to find that the tire in question was incapable of being properly mounted and aired on a 14 inch wheel (the size Warnke says he ordered at Southwest). It also failed to find that plaintiff Sholts was negligent in failing to determine the size of the wheel. And it failed to find plaintiff Sholts negligent in finding that the tire in question was not the correct size or configuration to fit the wheel in ques[389]*389tion. It failed to find plaintiff Sholts negligent in airing the tire in question until the occurrence in question “under the circumstances and conditions when existing” and further failed to find plaintiff Sholts knew or should have known in the exercise of ordinary care the dangers to personal safety in mounting and in airing tires. To the issue whether on the occasion in question the failure of defendant Warnke to advise plaintiff Sholts that the sizes of the tire and wheel in question were different was not the sole proximate cause, they answered: “It was not the sole proximate cause.”

Judgment was later entered for plaintiff Sholts against defendant Southwest in the amount awarded by the jury; that plaintiff take nothing against defendant Warnke; and that defendant Southwest take nothing against defendant Warnke, from which judgment defendant Southwest brings this appeal. It presents sixty-four points of error. To keep this opinion as manageable as possible we will group them in the main, as has appellant Southwest.

Appellant’s first contention is that no duty can arise on the part of an innocent party to a transaction tainted by fraud. It argues that Warnke falsely represented he was ordering the wheels in question for one S & K Garage, although the wheels were for his personal use. This, says appellant, defrauded it and the State of Texas by avoiding a sales tax.

Warnke testified that shortly before Sholts’ injury he made two purchases from Southwest, first four wheels, then later two more. He said before the first purchase, “Bill Swearingen,” of S & K Garage, “called to Southwest Wheel Corporation to see if they had wheels that I wanted, and then they told me to go on over and buy them if I wanted them.” He paid cash for the wheels. In the second purchase (the two wheels) he used the same procedure.

Mr. Kenneth Page, Manager of Southwest, admitted they sold wheels to individuals and agreed if plaintiff’s attorney walked in there, he would sell him one.

Appellant cites Weatherford v. Aetna Insurance Company, 385 S.W.2d 381 (Tex.1964). There the purchasers of an auto obtained possession by fraud. Later the seller demanded its immediate return. The court held this was not a grant of permission to use the car so as to extend coverage on a policy of liability defining insured as any person using the auto by permission of the named insured. We do not believe this case supports appellant’s argument. It also cites Queen Ins. Co. v. State, 86 Tex. 250, 24 S.W. 397 (1893), that an illegal contract is void and unenforceable and will not support a remedy. It cites Restatement of Torts 2d, § 388, Comment a at 301 (1965).

“In all probability the rule stated would not apply in favor of a thief of the chattel, or one injured while the thief is using it. Nor would it apply, for example, in favor of a trespasser who entered an automobile and was injured by its condition.”

Also, it quotes Prosser, 50 Minn.Law Rev. 791 at 819:

“ ‘It is not necessary that the Plaintiff acquire any interest in the chattel, other than the right to make a lawful use of it, although it may be conjectured that, an unlawful user, such as the thief of a car, will not be protected.’ ”

We have no such situation here. Warnke’s explanation of why he went to Southwest, if not completely suitable to Southwest’s procedures, was certainly cured by its manager’s admission he sold to individuals and would do so to the attorney cross-examining him. Points one and two are overruled.

Section II of appellant’s brief contains points three, four, and five and is headed “Contributory Negligence and Vol-enti Non Fit Injuria.” It argues that Sholts was guilty of contributory negli[390]*390gence as a matter of law. A fact issue becomes established as a matter of law only when the evidence is undisputed and reasonable minds can arrive at but one conclusion. Lucas v. Burrows, 499 S.W.2d 212 (Tex.Civ.App., Beaumont, 1973).

The witness Charles M. Strader was qualified as an expert in the field of tires and wheels and testified a 14 inch tire would mount on a 14.5 inch wheel without too much difficulty. It was his opinion that the ordinary service station worker was not aware of the existence of a 14.5 inch wheel. This testimony was fortified by other witnesses. While the wheel in question had a 14.5 marking, there is evidence that ordinary workers, such as plaintiff Sholts, aired any tire that would go on the wheel. And Sholts testified the tire was already mounted on the wheel when Warnke brought it to him for airing. There is evidence to support the jury’s finding absolving plaintiff of contributory negligence. Appellant’s third and fourth points are overruled.

By its point five, appellant complains of the court’s failure to submit its requested issue on volenti, viz:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that on the occasion in question the Plaintiff, Joseph C. Sholts, knew and appreciated the danger of airing the tire in question on the wheel in question ?” a

Writing in 28 Tex.Bar Jrl. 21, 22 (Jan. 1965) our present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had this to say:

“Ultimately, the Texas Supreme Court may come to the point of deliberately wiping the slate clean and attempting to start over. It may entirely abandon the concepts of ‘no duty’, volenti non fit in-juria, and assumed risk in favor of simple negligence and contributory negligence; or it may limit the assumed risk doctrine to a very narrow band of cases. It was tempted to abandon the concept in McKee v. Patterson, but the majority of the Court felt bound by stare decisis. The same was suggested in Halepeska,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Lehmann v. Wieghat
917 S.W.2d 379 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Bellaire Kirkpatrick Joint Venture v. Loots
826 S.W.2d 205 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Zacher v. Budd Co.
396 N.W.2d 122 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1986)
Wolf v. Friedman Steel Sales, Inc.
717 S.W.2d 669 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Hargrove v. Powell
648 S.W.2d 372 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Johnson v. Owens
629 S.W.2d 873 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Chapin v. Hunt
521 S.W.2d 123 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Southwest Wheel & Manufacturing Co. v. Sholts
501 S.W.2d 387 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
501 S.W.2d 387, 1973 Tex. App. LEXIS 2591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwest-wheel-manufacturing-co-v-sholts-texapp-1973.