Fawley v. Bobo
| Decision Date | 30 November 1949 |
| Docket Number | 597 |
| Citation | 56 S.E.2d 419,231 N.C. 203 |
| Parties | FAWLEY v. BOBO et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Civil action to recover property damage sustained in motor vehicle collision allegedly resulting from actionable negligence of defendants.
The collision in question is alleged to have occurred at 2 o'clock A.M., on August 19, 1948, on U. S. Highway No. 1 immediately south of the town of Rockingham, Richmond County North Carolina. At the time, the International tractor and trailer owned by defendant Brasington, and operated by defendant Earl Bobo, and loaded with hogsheads of tobacco was traveling in a northeasterly direction along said highway; and the autocar tractor and trailer, owned by the plaintiff and operated by one James F. Vann, was also traveling in a northeasterly direction along said Highway, and following the said tractor and trailer of defendant Brasington.
Plaintiff alleges in pertinent part in his complaint:
And plaintiff alleges as acts of negligence on the part of defendant proximately causing the damage of which he complains, briefly stated: (1) That the defendant Earl Bobo carelessly and negligently brought his tractor and trailer from a reasonable running speed to an immediate stop on U. S Highway No. 1 in the night-time without giving any hand signal of any type what-soever to warn the driver of the plaintiff's tractor and trailer, and without employing any electrical warning signal on the rear of his trailer to warn the vehicles traveling behind him and in the same direction; and (2)
Defendants, in answer thereto, deny the allegations of negligence on their part, and also deny that 'the tractor and trailer of the plaintiff was being driven at a reasonable rate of speed and at a lawful distance behind or to the rear of the tractor and trailer of the defendant, H. W. Brasington.'
And, in further answer to the complaint, 'and as a complete bar to plaintiff's alleged cause of action, and asking for damages against the plaintiff', the defendants aver: That as defendant Earl Bobo approached the suburbs of the town of Rockingham, N. C., it became necessary to cross a much traveled highway, running from Rockingham by the home of J D. Chalk, at a filling station; that as Bobo came to the intersection a car was approaching him, and said Bobo slackened his speed to possibly five miles per hour in order to avoid colliding with said car; that the tractor and trailer of Brasington carried electric lights on the rear as required by the Motor Vehicle Laws of the different States, and, as Bobo slackened his speed and applied his brakes, he gave proper warning of his slowing down for the intersection both by the lights on the rear and body of the cab of the tractor and trailer; that the driver of plaintiff's tractor and trailer negligently and carelessly drove the tractor of plaintiff into the tractor of defendant Brasington with great force,--damaging it to the extent alleged; and 'that the driver of plaintiff's tractor was not driving said tractor within the speed limits provided by the Motor Vehicle Laws of the State of North Carolina, and the lights on the tractor of the plaintiff were defective and if the lights on the plaintiff's tractor had been in proper shape and the driver of the plaintiff's tractor had been observing the road and other motor vehicles thereon, he could have and should have slowed down the tractor of the plaintiff, or, if necessary, have stopped the same without driving into the rear of the trailer of the said Brasington, and, because of said negligence of the driver of the plaintiff's tractor, the trailer of the defendant Brasington was...
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