Torres v. Velázquez
Torres v. Velázquez
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Rafael Yelázqnez has appealed from a judgment directing him to pay a certain sum of money to Vicente Torres, as damages.
On February 20, 1928, the appellant owned two motor-busses (guaguas) respectively designated as “Genoveva” and “Adelina” and which he operated for the transportation of passengers between Humacao and Yabucoa. In the afternoon of the same day, the “Genoveva,” traveling from Ya-bucoa to Humacao, and the “Adelina,” going in the opposite direction, both keeping to their right on the road, the “Ade-lina ’ ’ driven by the owner of both vehicles, Rafael Velázquez, an the other by his employee, Ramón Vázquez, met on a curve known as Aguas Largas, distant a few kilometers from Ya-bucoa, and- at that moment appellee Vicente Torres suffered the fracture of the ulna and radius of his left arm. How this accident ocóurred will be described further on in this opinion.
The appellant urges as a first ground for his appeal that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. It was alleged therein that when the two-vehicles met, the “Genoveva” in order to allow the “Ade-lina” to pass attempted to go over a heap of sand that was there and the ‘ ‘ Genoveva ’ ’ tilted so much that the plaintiff thought that it was going to turn over, at which moment the vehicle fell back by reverse action of the motor, shaking the plaintiff in his seat who, unconsciously obeying the
The second ground of appeal urged is without importance, as the appellant himself admits. The setting of the case for trial in the lower court before the filing of an answer to the complaint did not prejudice the defendant in any way, since the answer had already been filed when the trial was held, and the defendant introduced all his evidence at the trial.
The fourth error assigned is that judgment was rendered by the trial court without making formal findings of fact in support thereof. Apart from the fact that the error thus assigned is not of an essential character justifying a reversal, as held by us in France and N. Y. Medicine Co. v. Reily et al., 31 P.R.R. 617, it is declared in the statement of the case and opinion on which the judgment rests that the evidence was conflicting; but that in view of the testimony of Dr. Presly the court reached the conclusion that the injury received by the plaintiff was caused by a crush, as shown by the evidence for plaintiff; and therefore we can not reverse the judgment on such ground.
The remaining errors assigned relate to the evidence and hence may be considered together.
The evidence shows that the place on the curve at which the two motorbusses met is a narrow one. The evidence for the plaintiff tended to show that on reaching that place the “Genoveva” attempted to climb over a heap of sand that was there, in order to make room for the “Adelina,” and in
The evidence for the appellant tended to show that the motorbuses in question neither touched nor collided on that occasion and was material in the sense that at the time of the accident and shortly after the injured person had been carried to the police station in Yabucoa, the appellant stated that the accident was due to his having put his arm and head out of the window in order to expectorate. A similar statement was made on the following day by a sister of the appel-lee, who was traveling in the motorbus, to the attorney of the insurance company. She did not deny it at the trial but tried to explain it.
It may be seen from the foregoing'that the evidence was greatly conflicting as to how the facts occurred, but we do not think that the lower court committed a manifest error in adjusting the conflict in favor of the appellee, the more so
The appellee is a painter who earned from $5 to $6 a day when working on special contracts, and from $3.50 to $4 if on a daily-wage basis. Therefore, the sum of $3,000 awarded him as damages does not seem to us excessive.
The judgment appealed from should be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.