Wentzel v. Neurenberg

314 S.W.2d 855, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2101
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 24, 1958
Docket3550
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 314 S.W.2d 855 (Wentzel v. Neurenberg) 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
Wentzel v. Neurenberg, 314 S.W.2d 855, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2101 (Tex. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a collision case. The jury in its verdict found substantially that defendant’s truck was parked on Pauline Street in Pasadena by defendant’s driver, while acting in the scope of his employment, and that it was left there at night without any visible tail lights or reflectors and no flares were set at the front of it or at the rear, and that such was negligence and a proximate cause of the collision; that plaintiff, who was the driver of his car, failed to keep a proper lookout, and that such failure was a proximate cause of the collision; that plaintiff was not operating his car at the time of the collision at a greater rate of speed than that at which he could stop it within the range of his vision, but found that plaintiff failed to turn his automobile sufficiently toward the left at such time as a person of ordinary prudence would have so turned in the exercise of ordinary care under the same or similar circumstances, but found that such failure was not a proximate cause of the collision, and further found that plaintiff did not operate his car without adequate and sufficient light from his headlights; that Wentzel failed to apply his brakes at such time as they would have been applied by a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care, and that such failure was a proximate cause of the collision; that Wentzel failed to keep his car under such control as would have been kept by a person of ordinary prudence in the exercise of ordinary care, and that such failure was a proximate cause of the collision, but found that Mrs. Wentzel, wife of plaintiff, did not fail to keep a proper lookout and that she did not fail to warn her husband of the presence of the truck on the street at such time as a person of ordinary prudence, in the exercise of ordinary care, would have warned him under the same or similar circumstances; Special Issue No. 22 was: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the light on the occasion in question from a west bound car constituted the sole proximate cause of the collision in question, to which the jury answered “We do not.” The court further instructed the jury that if it had answered Issues 5, 7, 10, 12, 14 and 16, or any one or more of them, “We do” and only in that event, that they answered Issue 23, which was: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the acts or omissions, if any so found by you therein, constituted the sole proximate cause of the collision in question?”, to which the jury answered “We do not.” The court also instructed the jury to the effect that if it answered Issue No. 22 “We do not,” and have answered Issues 5, 7, 10, 12, 14 and 16, or any one or more of them “We do,” and only in that event, then answer Issue 24, which was: “Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the acts or omissions, if any, so found by you in such last above mentioned special issues, combined with the light of the west bound car on the occasion in question to constitute the sole proximate cause of the collision?”, to which the jury answered “We do not.” The jury further found that the collision was not the result of an unavoidable accident.

The jury awarded plaintiff Fred F. Went-zel the sum of $670 for his damages; to minor, John Lee $250; to minor, Linda Fay, the sum of $350; to minor Martha Ann the sum of $1,000, and for the loss sustained by the plaintiff and his minor children as a direct and proximate result of the death of Mrs. Elzie Wentzel, wife and mother, the jury awarded to plaintiff Fred F. Wentzel *858 the sum of $2,000; to the minor John Lee $4,000; to the minor Linda Fay $6,000; and to the minor Martha Ann $8,000.

Defendant seasonably filed motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, which was overruled, and in the alternative he filed motion for judgment on the verdict and submitted prepared form, which was adopted by the court, and in the judgment we find substantially this recital: The court decreed that plaintiff Fred F. Wentzel take nothing, and awarded to the minor John Lee the sum of $250; $350 to the minor Linda Fay, and $1,000 to the minor Martha Ann, and decreed that the money he paid into the registry of the court to be held by the Clerk of the Court and his successors in office, as a trust fund for the use and benefit of said minors pending further orders of the court, and taxed the costs against defendant. The plaintiff seasonably filed his motion for new trial, which was overruled, and perfected his appeal to the Houston Court of Civil Appeals, and the case is here on transfer order of our Supreme Court.

The judgment is assailed on what appellants designate as four points. They are substantially to the effect that the court erred (1, 2 and 3) in failing to sustain plaintiffs’ motion to disregard the answer of the jury to Issue No. 5, because there was no evidence tendered to show that plaintiff Wentzel failed to keep a proper lookout while driving on Pauline Street, and therefore the finding of the jury is not supported by any evidence, and because the finding of the jury to Issue No. 5 was against the overwhelming preponderance of the evidence, and because the jury did not “make any specific finding that Fred F. Wentzel was guilty of negligence in failing to keep a proper lookout on the night in question while on his way from church to his home, since the truck parked on the street at night time without blinkers, tail lights and without flares set the required distance from the rear and front of it, constituted it a concealed object, not exposed to the view of the traveling public as required by law” and (4) because the court failed to sustain appellants’ objection to Issue No. 5 on the ground that it was on the weight of the evidence, “since it singled out the presumption that Fred F. Wentzel could have seen the dirty, muddy truck without blinkers, tail lights or flares set to the rear and front of the truck in time to have avoided the collision with the truck, although he could not have seen it by keeping a proper lookout until he was right on it, as testified to by Policeman Warren. Thus it will be noted that this was singling out the presumption that by a proper lookout he could have seen the truck in time to have avoided the collision with it. This was definitely a charge on the weight of the evidence by limiting and confining the jury in its finding as to whether Fred F. Wentzel kept a proper lookout, regardless of whether he could have seen the truck by keeping a proper lookout. It is quite obvious that this was a limitation of plaintiffs’ rights and was a charge on the weight of the evidence, since it singles out a presumption in the issue and specifically directs the jury to that presumption alone and limits and confines the jury to the presumption in their deliberations. This presumption was included in the issue.”

Appellee’s counter points are substantially as follows: The judgment should be affirmed (1) because the jury’s finding that Wentzel negligently failed to keep a proper lookout, and that such failure was a proximate cause of the collision, was supported by the evidence and the issues were correctly submitted; (2) because the jury properly found that Fred F. Wentzel was negligent in failing to apply timely the brakes of his vehicle; (3) because the ap-pellee plead and proved, and the jury found, that Wentzel failed to keep his automobile under proper control; and (4) because the trial court correctly refused to award damages to appellants for the wrongful death of Mrs. Wentzel, since, had she lived, she would have been barred from recovery because of the contributory negligence of her husband.

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Bluebook (online)
314 S.W.2d 855, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wentzel-v-neurenberg-texapp-1958.