Mary Katherine Hughes Et Vir. v. Mobil Oil Corporation
Mary Katherine Hughes Et Vir. v. Mobil Oil Corporation
070rehearing
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING AND PETITION FOR REHEARING EN BANC
The Petition for Rehearing is denied and no member of this panel nor Judge in regular active service on the Court having requested that the Court be polled on rehearing en banc, (Rule 35 Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure; Local Fifth Circuit Rule 12) the Petition for Rehearing En Banc is Denied.
Opinion of the Court
This is the second appearance of this case in this court. In the first appearance
The intervening case of Thomas v. Travelers Insurance Company, 423 S. W.2d 359 (Tex.Civ.App., 1967, writ ref.) does not represent a change in the law. Appellant’s difficulty is not one of changing law but of unchanging facts, i. e., testimony of its own employee that he was on duty on the Sunday in question. The duty encompassed performing specific tasks as they arose. That he caused injury while between specific tasks does not take him off duty.
Thomas concerned a tool pusher who was at home subject to call but off duty and free to carry on his own business. Jurenka was a production foreman, appellant’s senior man in his line in the geographical area, in charge of 300 to 400 oil wells, and either he or his assistant, or both, were required to be on duty on Sunday. Both were described by Jurenka as being on duty on this Sunday.
Our review of a claim that the verdict is excessive is limited to instances of grave abuse of discretion where the defendant has, as it has here, urged that issue on motion for new trial and its motion has been denied. Rosiello v. Sellman, 354 F.2d 219 (5th Cir. 1955). No abuse of discretion by the trial judge appears in this case. Appellant’s related contention that appellee’s injuries and complaints were as a matter of law not causally related to the accident approaches being frivolous. Appellee testified to neck pain commencing on the day of the accident. She was examined by a doctor the next day and admitted to the hospital where for three weeks she was under treatment which included traction, injections in the neck and back, whirlpool baths and physiotherapy. The extent, if any, to which a subsequent fall contributed to her difficulties was for the jury.
The trial court found Jurenka guilty of negligence as a matter of law in failing to keep a proper lookout and submitted proximate cause to the jury. Lookout usually is a jury question, Griffith v. Hudspeth, 378 S.W.2d 153 (Tex.Civ.App. 1964), see 2 Blashfield, Automobile Law and Practice, § 104.3 (3rd ed. 1965), but the evidence may be such that there is negligence as a matter of law. Erck v. Zelios, 401 S.W.2d 867 (Tex.Civ.App. 1966) ; Hoey v. Solt, 236 S.W.2d 244 (Tex.Civ.App. 1951).
The evidence in this case was that Jurenka was traveling behind ap
The evidence was sufficient to raise an issue of excessive speed. Jurenka testified that he was approaching the scene at 25 to 30 miles per hour, that at 30 miles per hour he was traveling approximately 44 feet per second, that when, after looking away, he returned his vision to the scene in front of him he discovered he was within 30 feet of appellee’s stopped car. He applied his brakes (and laid down short skid marks) and began to turn to the right in order to avoid appellee’s car. But he was unable to prevent the impact. We cannot say that under these circumstances his speed was at that time, as a matter of law, not excessive.
The court did not err in refusing to let Jurenka testify that if appellee had given a signal to stop at the time the signal to turn was given he (Jurenka) could have stopped prior to the accident. Accepting that practical experience may prima facie qualify one not an expert to express an opinion as to the distance within which an automobile could have stopped, if he knows the relevant conditions, 11 Blashfield, op. cit. supra, § 430.1, El Paso Electric Co. v. Whitenack, 297 S.W. 258 (Tex.Civ.App. 1927), aff'd Com.App., 1 S.W.2d 594
Affirmed.
. Socony Mobil Oil Company v. Taylor, 388 F.2d 586 (5th Cir. 1967).
. Burt v. Anderson, 408 S.W.2d 572 (Tex.Civ.App. 1966) is not applicable. It concerned a freeway accident, in which rush hour high speed traffic stopped suddenly when a vehicle stalled, and a driver back in the line of traffic, faced with the chain reaction situation in front of him, sought to go into the right lane.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.