Yellow Cab Co. v. Underwood

144 S.W.2d 291, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 764
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 11, 1940
DocketNo. 11007
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 144 S.W.2d 291 (Yellow Cab Co. v. Underwood) 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
Yellow Cab Co. v. Underwood, 144 S.W.2d 291, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 764 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

CODY, Justice.

Appellee sued appellant for damages in the sum of some $40,000, alleged to have been sustained by him when a passenger in one of appellant’s taxicabs which collided with an ice truck at the intersection of Caroline Street and Polk Avenue in Houston, on March 7, 1937. The ice truck was driven by John Mellar.

The details of appellee’s pleadings are not relevant on this appeal. In addition to suing appellant, Yellow Cab Company, appel-lee also sued John Mellar, who was driving the ice truck with which the taxicab collided : he also sued one John A. Darby, doing business upder the trade name of Dixie Ice Company, on the theory that John Mellar was an employee of Darby; but as Darby was, at the conclusion of the trial, by a peremptory instruction of the court discharged from the case, and no objection is made to such discharge, it is unnecessary here to take further notice of him.

Appellant answered by a general demurrer ; a special exception, the details of which are not here relevant; a general denial; and by way of special answer admitted the ordinance, pled by appellee, relating to the green, amber and red signal traffic lights, which function at certain street intersections in the City of Houston; inclusive of the intersection of Caroline Street and Polk Avenue; appellant further pled that the collision was caused-by the negligence of John Mellar, the driver of the ice truck; appellant also pled that appellee was guilty of contributory negligence.

As John Mellar was exonerated by the judgment of the court, based upon the findings of the jury, and no objection is here urged against such action, his pleadings will not be given.

In answer to special issues, the jury found:

1. That immediately prior to the collision the operator of the Yellow cab was driving at a rate of speed in excess of 20 miles per hour.

2. That such driving was a proximate cause of the collision.

3. That immediately prior to the collision the operator of the Yellow cab was driving without keeping a proper lookout.

4. That such failure to keep a proper lookout was negligence, as that term was. defined.

5. That such negligence was a proximate-cause of the collision.

6. That John Mellar, the driver of the ice truck, was not driving in excess of 20-miles per hour at the time of the collision.

8. That John Mellar did not fail to keep a proper lookout.

13. That the driver of the .Yellow cab drove the cab into the intersection of Caroline Street and Polk Avenue while the traffic light facing him was showing red.

14. That the same was a proximate cause of the collision.

14A. That the operator of the truck, John Mellar, did not drive into the intersection against the red light.

16. Appellee did fail to warn the driver of the Yellow cab to drive slower.

17. But such failure was not negligence.

22. Appellee did fail to warn the driver of the Yellow cab that the traffic light was showing red.

23. But such failure was not negligence.

25. Appellee did fail to warn the driver of the Yellow cab that the ice truck was proceeding into the intersection.

26. Such failure was not negligence.

28. Immediately prior to the collision appellee did fail to warn the driver of the Yellow cab that the ice truck was proceeding at the rate of speed at which appellee believed said truck to be proceeding.

29. But such failure was not negligence.

31. That the act of the driver of the ice truck, immediately prior to the collision, in proceeding at the rate of speed at which he was then proceeding, with respect to the Yellow Cab Company, did not constitute a new and independent cause of the collision.

32. That the act of the driver of the ice truck immediately prior to the collision in question in proceeding into said intersection of Polk Avenue and Caroline Street at the time when he proceeded into said intersection, with respect to the defendant Yellow Cab Company, did not constitute a new and independent cause of the collision.

33. That the act of the truck driver in attempting to drive across the intersection in the manner in which he was driving the [293]*293truck, with respect to the Yellow Cab Company, did not constitute a new and independent cause of the collision.

35. The red signal lights at the intersection were operating correctly.

38. The driver of the truck drove into .the intersection at a time when the green traffic light was facing him.

41. The collision was not the result of an unavoidable accident.

(The two remaining issues deal with the amount of damages.)

Appellee’s evidence showed that on January 23, preceding March 7, 1937 (the date of the collision in connection with which appellee brought this suit for dam'ages), he had been involved in another automobile collision, when he drove into a concrete pillar, and fractured his left knee cap, which caused him severe pain, and to be confined in a hospital, and required his leg to be kept in a cast until March 5th, two days before the collision which is the subject matter of this suit. And at the time of the collision, March 7, 1937, appellee had not yet returned to work, and was still on crutches. Qn the occasion in question ap-ipellee' was going out to dine with friends. ,He told the cab driver that he was a little nervous and would appreciate it if he would take it easy. The collision is, we believe, sufficiently described by the jury’s findings given above. As a result of the collision, ■appellee was thrown against the front of the back seat and due to his crippled knee he fell backward, striking the back of his head against the back of the seat. He became semi-conscious. The pain in his left leg, head and back was severe. He was taken -to the hospital, where he remained seven days; his leg swelled again for several \veeks. After leaving the hospital he was confined in bed at home for ten days or two weeks. Headaches continued while at home; the headaches left in July (1937). The pain in the back continued until some time in September (1937). And at the time of the trial (May, 1939), he did not suffer, ifrom pain in his back or from pain in his iknee. His hospital bill was $57.50. He was unable to work until the first-part of May. His salary was $184 per month. There was evidence as to his nervousness and insomnia. His doctor bill was $75.

Appellant’s first assignment is that the court erred in refusing to require the jury, ’in answering special issue No. 42, to award only such damages which, in the usual course of events' and general experience, were likely to ensue, and which, therefore, might reasonably have been foreseen and anticipated by the appellant (defendant) at the time the acts in question were committed by the appellant. Special issue No. 42 is, quoting it: “What sum of money, if any, if paid now in cash,- do you find from a preponderance of the evidence will fairly and reasonably compensate the plaintiff, N. H. Underwood, for his injuries, if any, directly resulting from the collision in question, taking into consideration the following elements of damage and none other:

“(1) Physical pain suffered therefrom by N. H. Underwood, if any.

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Bluebook (online)
144 S.W.2d 291, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yellow-cab-co-v-underwood-texapp-1940.