Court Opinion

ID: 9615769
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:40:30.704989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:51.884142
License: Public Domain

Felton, J.,
dissenting. I think the court erred in charging the jury that they could return a verdict against all of the defendants except Pitts and Spivey, and that the verdict in favor of Pitts and Spivey and against the owner of the truck and his insurance carrier is inconsistent and contradictory. The only two acts of negligence alleged which it is contended by the defendant in error charge the owner of the truck with negligence, otherwise than under the principle of respondeat superior, are that he did not have the truck equipped with rear reflectors and failed to have a lamp mounted on the rear of the truck capable of displaying a red light visible for a distance of at least 100 feet behind said vehicle. The gravamen of the negligence charged against the owner and drivers of the truck is that it was parked on the highway at night without the reflectors and light. It would not have been negligent for either party to own or operate the truck in the daytime or off of a highway without the reflectors and lights. If the owner of the truck was guilty of either act of negligence charged, the drivers were necessarily also guilty and therefore the verdict is contradictory and inconsistent. To amplify, if the jury found that the truck was equipped with reflectors and a rear light, the owner could not be liable when the jury had also absolved the drivers from negligently parking the truck within less than eight feet of the center line of the highway. If there were lights and reflectors on the truck as to one party, there had to be lights and reflectors on it as to all parties. The defendant in error in his brief also contends that there was an independent act of negligence on the part of the owner which became a part of the pleadings by the introduction of evidence unobjected to, and that this independent negligence authorized a verdict against the owner and in favor of the drivers. This negligence, it is contended, was that the owner knew of the defective condition of the lights and took no remedial *868action for two and one-half hours after he knew of the situation his truck was in. Assuming for the sake of argument that such evidence was subject to objection and that the petition was in effect amended to include the new act of negligence, it is not alleged or proved that the owner knew at the time that the lights were not in working order. Furthermore, even if the owner knew that the truck had no reflectors or lights, his further acts in not remedying the situation earlier, even if he had known that the truck was illegally parked on the highway, his acts, even if negligent, were coincident with the acts of the drivers, because they would have been guilty of negligence in leaving the truck on the highway and leaving it there without reflectors and a rear light. There is no act of negligence alleged in this case, whether involving the owner under the rule of respondeat superior, or whether charging the owner and drivers with identical and coincidental acts of negligence, of which the owner could be found guilty by the jury without their also being required to find identical or similar negligence on the part of the drivers. Southern Ry. Co. v. Garland, supra, is not in point because in that case the railroad was found guilty of not having a watchman or warning signal. That was' an act separate and apart from an employee’s negligence because he had to operate the train whether there was a warning or watchman present or not. He had no control over that situation. But if he was negligent in operating a train over an unprotected crossing, the conclusion reached in the case in my opinion was wrong. Reliable Trans. Co. v. Gabriel, supra, violates the principle of older cases from this court and the Supreme Court because in that case the jury found the defendant master liable because of negligence which under, the jury’s finding could not have been the proximate cause of the injuries. The evidence in this case did not demand a finding that the truck did not have reflectors and a rear light. In such a case the inconsistency of the verdict would have been immaterial if the plaintiff so elected. I think the judgment should be reversed.