Court Opinion

ID: 9772829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:31:02.351255+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:48.722873
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, dissenting. This case involves a summary judgment which requires us to determine whether the appellant’s proof showed a genuine issue of material fact existed to support the appellant’s claim that Susan Short’s accident was proximately caused by a defect in the car she purchasd from the appellee. As the majority notes, proof revealed a defect and stalling problem. Johnny Burnett, Susan’s friend, testified that Susan’s car had previously stalled when he was in it, and Susan was unable to steer the car because of the loss of power steering. He said that he grabbed hold of the steering wheel, pulled the shift lever down into neutral, started the car and then went on. Burnett further related that Susan had trouble steering the car on the occasions when her car died because she did not have a lot of strength. If this cause was on appeal to review the correctness of the trial court’s ruling in directing a verdict, I could certainly agree the evidence was insufficient to support the appellant’s claim. I do, however, believe the proof was sufficient to show that Susan’s car stalled numerous times as a result of a defect in the car and that she could not control the car when it stalled. This is enough, I think, to present a genuine issue of fact to indicate Susan’s car could have stalled when driving on a hilly and winding road on the night of the accident and if it did, she was unable to bring the car under control because of its loss of the power steering.