Court Opinion

ID: 9772380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:16:10.668765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:43.882051
License: Public Domain

BOYD, Justice
(dissenting).
I have reached the conclusion that there was support in the evidence for the jury’s finding that the truck driver was in the scope of his employment when the collision occurred.
It was his duty to drive the truck back to Wichita Falls after the poles were unloaded. He had no specific instructions as to what road to travel to or from Springtown, but his general instruction for all trips was to take the “closest, best route.” He therefore had discretion in the matter. The road from Jacksboro to Wichita Falls was “torn up.”
The driver was permitted to take time out for meals. It was mealtime. He intended to eat his evening meal at Azle. It was not shown that a meal could have been had at Springtown. But if it could have been, he was not required to eat at the most convenient place. He preferred to eat at Azle. He thought it was very little farther from Azle to Wichita Falls by way of Fort Worth than by way of Jacksboro. He knew the road by way of Fort Worth was in good condition. I do-not think that his going a few miles out of the most direct way— which way was “torn up” — constituted as a matter of law a complete turning away from his employer’s business, as was the-case in Southwest Dairy Products Co. v. De Frates, 132 Tex. 556, 125 S.W.2d 282, but at most raised an issue as to whether such conduct was a mere deviation, or a mingling of his own purpose with his employer’s work.
Furthermore, the driver’s daily log showed that the starting point for that day’s drive was Wichita Falls and his destination was Fort Worth, and that at the time of the collision he was “on duty.” This report went into the record for all it was worth. Rex Oil Corporation v. Crank, 183 Ark 819, 38 S.W.2d 1093.
The court holds that the evidence at certain stages of the case would support infer.-*878enees that the driver was in the scope of his employment when the collision occurred. If so, I think the jurors were entitled to draw the inferences. Bass v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 105 S.C. 487, 90 S.E. 155; 3 C.J.S. Agency § 330, p. 322.