Vardilos v. Reid

320 S.W.2d 419, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 1850
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1959
Docket13354
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 320 S.W.2d 419 (Vardilos v. Reid) 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
Vardilos v. Reid, 320 S.W.2d 419, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 1850 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinions

BELL, Chief Justice.

The appellee recovered judgment against appellant in the amount of $221.28. This represented the amount of damages which the jury found was done to the automobile of appellee in a collision that occurred between her car and that of appellant. Appellant by way of a cross-action had sought to recover for the damages sustained by his car in the collision. The jury, however, found appellee guilty of no act of negligence and found appellant guilty of the negligent acts hereinafter mentioned.

The collision occurred January 21, 1958, in the City of Houston, at the intersection of Yoakum Boulevard and Bartlett Street. The jury found that appellant failed to keep a proper lookout; that he drove his automobile at an excessive rate of speed under the circumstances; that he failed to timely apply the brakes on his vehicle; and, [421]*421that he failed to yield the right-of-way to appellee, whose vehicle had entered the intersection first. These negligent acts were each found to be a proximate cause of the collision.

Appellant complains here that there is error in the action of the trial court in rendering judgment for appellee in the following respects:

1. The answer of the jury to Special Issue No. 1, inquiring as to whether appellant kept a proper lookout, is unsupported by the evidence.

2. The answer of the jury to Special Issue No. 3, inquiring as to whether appellant drove his vehicle at an excessive rate of speed under the circumstances, is not supported by the evidence.

3. The answer of the jury to Special Issue No. 5, inquiring as to whether appellant timely applied his brakes, is not supported by the evidence.

4. The court erred in admitting in evidence appellee’s Exhibits 2, 3 and 4, they allegedly being pictures of appellee’s automobile in its damaged condition, the objection to such testimony being that the pictures had not been sufficiently proven to be those of appellee’s automobile.

5. The form of Special Issue No. 5 is said to be such as to constitute a comment on the weight of the evidence.

6. The instruction given in connection with Special Issue No. 8 is said to be a comment on the weight of the evidence.

7. It is asserted generally with regard to the whole case that the court erred in rendering judgment against appellant on both appellant’s cross-action and appellee’s action because the overwhelming weight and preponderance of the evidence was in favor of appellant and against appellee.

8. The court erred in admitting in evidence appellee’s Exhibit No. 1 because it was not properly proved up. This exhibit was the sheet showing cost of repairs.

9.The court erred in overruling appellant’s objection to these questions by ap-pellee’s counsel:

“You wouldn’t want this jury not to be able to see what happened? Do you?”

It is asserted the questions are argumentative.

The Point asserting that the form of Special Issue No. S constitutes a comment on the weight of the evidence is not briefed. The Issue reads:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Peter Vardilos failed to apply his brakes at a time that a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care acting under the same or similar circumstances would have applied hjs brakes ?”

The evidence showed that the brakes were apparently applied approximately 12 feet from the intersection. At least, there were 12 feet of skid marks back of the appellant’s vehicle and the front of his vehicle was 10 feet in the intersection. The Issue was not subject to the objection urged.

The Point asserting that the instruction given in connection with Special Issue No. 8 is overruled. The record fails to show that there was any such objection made to the court’s charge. Any error there might have been in the instruction was therefore waived. Rule 274, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

It is necessary for us to review the testimony in order to appraise the other Points of Error.

Miss Reid testified she was driving her automobile south on Yoakum. She had been on this street for only a block prior to the collision. She was driving about IS or 20 miles an hour. She lived in the block just beyond the point of the collision. When she reached a point about a car length and a half north of the intersection of Yoakum with Bartlett, she saw appellant’s vehicle about 4 car lengths or one"[422]*422third of a block from the intersection. It was proceeding east on Bartlett at a speed of 5 or 10 miles per hour. The streets were dry. The weather was fair. Yoakum and Bartlett are both wide enough to accommodate 3 cars abreast. There were some cars parked on Yoakum so she was driving in the center lane. There were also some cars parked on Bartlett Street about half way back west toward Mt. Vernon. The appellant, when she first saw him, seemed in no hurry. She proceeded into the intersection and was three-fourths through it when appellant’s car hit her car at the right rear fender. She definitely entered the intersection before appellant. Just before the collision she saw appellant out of the corner of her eye and he seemed to be coming pretty fast. She never put on the brakes of her vehicle. She never accelerated her car. When she was a car length and a half from the intersection she could see a block west on Bartlett. There was a thin hedge on the northwest of the intersection but it ended some distance back from the north curb of Bartlett. There is also a house, but it is set back from Bartlett.

Appellee’s Exhibits 2, 3 and 4 are pictures that look like her car. She did not take the pictures. They show damage to the right rear fender like the damage on her car.

Mr. Vardilos, the appellant, testified the collision occurred about 5 :15 in the afternoon. He was travelling east on Bartlett about 25 or 26 miles per hour. He usually drove a little slower, but he was in a hurry. He had an appointment in Pasadena. He usually went a lot slozver because he knew those streets were dangerous. Before he commenced his journey, his car had been parked on Bartlett immediately west of Mt. Vernon which is the first street west of and parallel to Yoakum. He was driving in the center lane. When he was about a car length and a half from the corner of Bartlett and Yoakum he saw appellee. Ap-pellee, from the look in her eye, seemed real excited. He put on his brakes and skidded his car wheels. His car hit the right rear of her car. The point of collision was just a little south of the center of the intersection. At the northwest corner of the intersection is a house, so from the center lane on Bartlett you could not see north of Yoakum more than two car lengths. It is a very bad corner. As he approached the intersection he looked first to his left and then to his right. He saw Miss Reid’s car and immediately applied his brakes. Her car was going a little bit faster than his. The cars entered the intersection about the same time. When he first saw her she was a car length back from the intersection.

Mr. Little, a police officer who went to the scene of the collision and investigated, testified appellant’s car hit the right rear side of appellee’s car. Appellant’s car was 10 feet into the intersection and had 12 feet of skid marks behind his car. Appel-lee’s car at the point of impact (the rear right fender) was 14 feet into the intersection. Bartlett Street is 26 feet wide and Yoakum is 25 feet wide.

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Vardilos v. Reid
320 S.W.2d 419 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1959)

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Bluebook (online)
320 S.W.2d 419, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 1850, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vardilos-v-reid-texapp-1959.