Farmer v. Chaney

• Decision Date: 14 April 1977
• Docket Number: No. 66,66
• Citation: 292 N.C. 451,233 S.E.2d 582
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Earl Samuel FARMER v. Earl Davis CHANEY and wife, Betty Bowlin Chaney.

Page 582

233 S.E.2d 582

292 N.C. 451

Earl Samuel FARMER v. Earl Davis CHANEY and wife, Betty Bowlin Chaney.

No. 66.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

April 14, 1977.

Allan R. Gitter and William C. Raper, Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, Winston-Salem, for defendants-appellees.

HUSKINS, Justice:

Defendants moved for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence. The motion was allowed, and plaintiff's sole assignment of error is addressed to the propriety of that ruling.

On motion by a defendant for a directed verdict at close of plaintiff's evidence in a jury case, as here, the evidence must be taken as true and considered in the light most favorable to plaintiff. When so considered, the motion should be allowed if, as a matter of law, the evidence is insufficient to justify a verdict for the plaintiff. G.S. 1A-1, Rule 50(a), Rules of Civil Procedure; Investment Properties v. Allen, 281 N.C. 174, 188 S.E.2d 441 (1972), vacated on other grounds, 283 N.C. 277, 196 S.E.2d 262 (1973); Adler v. Insurance Co., 280 N.C. 146, 185 S.E.2d 144 (1971); Kelly v. Harvester Co., 278 N.C. 153, 179 S.E.2d 396 (1971).

Examination of the complaint reveals that plaintiff alleged negligence on defendant's part in that he (1) operated the automobile at a speed greater than was reasonable and prudent under conditions then existing, (2) failed to keep a proper lookout, and (3) failed to keep the vehicle under proper control. For the reasons which follow, we hold that the evidence offered was insufficient, as a matter of law, to support any of these allegations so as to justify a verdict for the plaintiff.

Only three witnesses the plaintiff, his wife, and Patrolman R. D. Smith testified. The testimony of plaintiff and his wife deals with the nature and extent of the injuries, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other matters bearing upon the measure of damages. As to negligence on defendant's part, the case must stand or fall on the testimony of Trooper Smith.

With respect to the speed of the Chaney car, Trooper Smith testified that it was being operated at a speed of 35 to 40 miles per hour in a 55 mile-per-hour zone. The highway on which the accident occurred is a hard-surfaced four-lane road with a 20-foot wide grass median. Each travel lane is twenty-four feet wide. Although the accident occurred at night in a heavy rain, Trooper Smith testified he himself was driving at a speed of 35 to 40 miles per hour and considered that to be a safe speed for the existing conditions. There is no evidence to the contrary not even from plaintiff himself. Obviously the allegation of negligence based on excessive speed finds no support in the evidence.

Likewise, plaintiff's allegation that defendant failed to keep a proper lookout and failed to keep the vehicle under proper control is unsupported by the evidence. All the evidence tends to show that when the car hit the water flowing across the highway, it immediately skidded into the median and flipped over. Plaintiff himself testified that "(w)e was talking, and about that time we ran into water. I heard it hit under the car, and the next thing I know the car flipped over." This testimony, absent evidence to the contrary, forestalls every reasonable inference of negligent operation of the car after it began to skid.

The "mere skidding of a motor vehicle is not evidence of, and does not imply, negligence. (Citations omitted.) The skidding of a motor vehicle while in operation may or may not be due to the fault of the driver. (Citations omitted.) Skidding may be caused or accompanied by negligence on which liability may be predicated." Hardee v. York, 262 N.C. 237, 136 S.E.2d 582 (1964); accord, Webb v. Clark, 264 N.C. 474, 141 S.E.2d 880 (1965).

In Webb v. Clark, supra, the plaintiff's evidence established that the road was "wet and icy" generally but not...