Dupree v. Goodrum
| Decision Date | 05 September 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. A91A0781,A91A0781 |
| Citation | 410 S.E.2d 332,201 Ga.App. 114 |
| Parties | , 70 Ed. Law Rep. 1281 DUPREE, et al. v. GOODRUM. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Fortson & White, Michael J. Rust, Matthew G. Moffett, Garland & Milam, Byrd Garland, for appellants.
Craig N. Cowart, Johnny B. Mostiler, for appellee.
A.C. Goodrum, in his capacities as father and next friend of Crystal Goodrum, brought suit against Sandra Dupree, the Butts County School District, and John Spillers seeking to recover damages for injuries Crystal incurred after she exited a Butts County school bus driven by Dupree and was involved in an accident with a truck driven by Spillers. The trial court denied the motion for summary judgment filed by Dupree and the school district, and we granted their application for interlocutory appeal.
We reverse. The record reveals that pursuant to the instructions of appellee's wife, Crystal's mother, appellant Dupree allowed six-year-old Crystal and her nine-year-old stepbrother to disembark from the school bus at a location across the highway from the home of Crystal's grandmother. Although the evidence conflicted on whether this was a regular bus stop, it was uncontroverted that appellant school district had received no complaints as to the safety or location of the stop; there had been no accidents or other incidents of pedestrians being struck at or around the stop; that one half mile from the stop was a traffic sign alerting oncoming vehicles to the school bus stop ahead; and that the driver of a properly maintained vehicle would have no difficulty stopping at the point where Crystal disembarked.
It is uncontroverted that Dupree was a licensed and trained school bus driver, that the school bus she was operating was properly maintained, and that all the warning lights and flags on the bus were operating properly at the time of the accident. The record reveals that Crystal's stepbrother and a cousin got off the bus before Crystal and waited for her at the side of the road in front of a safety flag that swings out from the bumper of the bus to ensure that the bus driver can see children as they pass in front of the bus. At this approximate time, Spillers, driving a truck carrying pulpwood, discovered as he crested the hill on the approach to the bus stop that his brakes were no longer functioning. He also had no operative horn on his truck. Spillers' truck accelerated as it approached the bus stop.
The record reveals that Crystal got off the bus, walked quickly past her stepbrother and cousin into the space in front of the bus, looked in one direction but never in the direction of Spillers' oncoming truck, then either stepped into or was struck by the truck, sustaining serious injuries. Although there was some conflict regarding what actions Dupree took as these events were occurring, the evidence is uncontroverted that Crystal did not notice the attempts of Dupree or her own stepbrother and cousin to warn or save her from the danger.
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Hackel v. Bartell
...of law that plain, palpable and undisputed evidence establishes that plaintiff assumed the risk of her injury. Dupree v. Goodrum, 201 Ga.App. 114, 115, 410 S.E.2d 332 (1991). We are satisfied that the intervening negligence of Bartell was the sole proximate cause of her own injury. Where, a......