Greenwood v. Bridgeways, Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 October 1951
• Docket Number: No. 28126,28126
• Citation: Greenwood v. Bridgeways, Inc., 243 S.W.2d 111 (Mo. App. 1951)
• Parties: GREENWOOD v. BRIDGEWAYS, Inc., et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 111

243 S.W.2d 111

GREENWOOD v. BRIDGEWAYS, Inc., et al.

No. 28126.

St. Louis Court of Appeals, Missouri.

Oct. 16, 1951.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 15, 1951.

Walther, Hecker, Walther & Barnard, Harold F. Hecker, and George W. Cloyd, all of St. Louis, for appellants.

Henry C. Stoll, St. Louis, for respondent.

WOLFE, Commissioner.

This is an action for damages arising out of personal injuries that plaintiff sustained when the automobile in which she was a passenger was struck by a tractor driven by defendant Gus B. Johnson and belonging to defendant Bridgeways, Inc. There was a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of $2,750, from which the defendants prosecute this appeal.

David Greenwood, the plaintiff's husband, was driving a Nash sedan eastwardly on Gratiot Street and his wife and three children were riding with him. He had been driving toward the intersection of Sixth Street and intended to go eastwardly to Broadway to an army surplus store located there. His wife wanted a box in which to keep their baby's toys and for this purpose Greenwood had decided to buy a foot locker that he had seen advertised by the store to which they were going. Gratiot Street in this vicinity is a one-way street for eastbound travel. As he approached the intersection he reduced his speed from about 20 miles per hour to 10 or 15 miles per hour at the intersection, where he shifted into second gear, and started to cross Sixth Street. Before entering Sixth Street he sounded his horn but heard no other horn sounded. As he went into the intersection he could see 25 or 30 feet to the south and saw nothing approaching within that distance. He was almost to the center of Sixth Street when he first saw the defendant's tractor about 25 feet south of the south curb line of Gratiot Street, according to the testimony he gave upon trial, but he had previously testified by deposition that when he first saw the tractor it was only 5 feet away. There was a truck parked at the intersection that prevented a clear view to the south.

After Greenwood's car had proceeded almost to the center line of Sixth Street and he had observed the tractor 25 feet to the south he applied his brakes. He said that he stopped within 6 to 8 feet, but the tractor came on striking his car. Both vehicles came to rest facing to the northeast. Immediately after the collision Greenwood stated that he saw the tractor too late to get out of its way.

The plaintiff testified that as the car got into the intersection she saw the tractor 30 or 40 feet to the south headed toward them, and screamed. Her husband applied the brakes bringing the car to a stop before the tractor collided with it. The plaintiff was caused to fall or was thrown from the Nash automobile by the collision and as a result suffered bruises, aggravated arthritis, and a nervous condition that has persisted since that time.

Defendant Johnson said that the Nash car came into his line of travel at the rate of about 20 miles per hour directly in front of the tractor which he was driving for Bridgeways, Inc. At the time the tractor was traveling at the rate of 18 miles per hour and could have been stopped at that speed in 10 to 12 feet. Johnson stated that he did not see the car approach or enter the intersection, but saw it for the first time when it was about 10 feet from him.

Dr. Robert E. Britt, who specialized in nervous and mental diseases, was called as a witness and testified that he had treated the plaintiff, who was afflicted with a psychosis of the depressive type which caused her to suffer from despondency. After the doctor had related the nature and extent of his examination and treatment of the plaintiff, plaintiff's counsel asked a hypothetical question in which he sought to set out events preceding the nervous condition described and to inquire of the doctor his expert opinion as to the cause of the plaintiff's condition. Counsel for the defendants interposed an objection to the question and was asked by the court to supply any facts that he considered lacking in the presented hypothesis. In compliance with this request, he added to the question that which he considered necessary, and the doctor being asked to base his answer upon all of the facts thus hypothesized by both attorneys stated that in his opinion the neurosis resulted from the accident.

It is contended by the defendants that the court erred in permitting the question to be answered, but it appears from the record that the accepted procedure was followed by the court. When there is an objection to a question such as the one asked, the nature of the objection should be specifically stated so that the court and opposing counsel are informed of the omissions complained of. Edmondson v. Hotel Statler Co., 306 Mo. 216, 267 S.W. 612; Morton v. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co., 323 Mo. 929, 20 S.W.2d 34. After the omissions had been supplied by defendants' counsel and had been made a part of the question by the court, it did not matter how valid the original objection might have been, for the question had been corrected to meet the objection, and the doctor was properly permitted to answer. Plater v. W. C. Mullins Const. Co., 223 Mo.App. 650, 17 S.W.2d 658; Streeter v. Washington Fidelity Nat. Ins. Co., 229 Mo.App. 33, 68 S.W.2d 889.

The other assignments of error have to do with instructions given and refused by the court. The first instruction complained of is designated plaintiff's instruction No. 1, and is as follows: 'The court instructs the jury that if you find and believe from the evidence, that on the occasion in question the Nash automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger was being operated eastwardly on Gratiot Street into and in the intersection with Sixth Street and that defendant Johnson then and there failed to exercise the highest degree of care in the control and operation of the tractor he was driving in that he negligently and carelessly failed to keep and maintain a reasonably careful and vigilant lookout ahead and laterally for eastbound vehicles as he approached said intersection, if you find he did so fail, and that he drove the tractor into said intersection toward the path of the Nash automobile and into collision with said automobile, without slackening the speed or deviating the course of said tractor or giving warning of his approach, if you find such to be the fact, and if you find that it was negligence on his part to operate said tractor in the manner aforesaid and that as a direct result of said negligence, if any, plaintiff was injured, if you find she was, and that on said occasion plaintiff was in the exercise of due care for her own safety, and that Johnson was then and there the agent and servant of defendant Bridgeways, Inc....