Jacobs v. Deaton, Inc., 81-7062

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Before TJOFLAT, VANCE and THOMAS A. CLARK; VANCE
• Citation: Jacobs v. Deaton, Inc., 654 F.2d 385 (5th Cir. 1981)
• Decision Date: 28 August 1981
• Docket Number: No. 81-7062,81-7062
• Parties: James JACOBS, Susan Jacobs, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DEATON, INC., Johnny W. Childress, Defendants-Appellees. Summary Calendar. . Unit B

Page 385

654 F.2d 385

James JACOBS, Susan Jacobs, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DEATON, INC., Johnny W. Childress, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 81-7062

Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Unit B

Aug. 28, 1981.

Ernest De Pascale, Jr., Athens, Ga., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Smith, Cohen, Ringel, Kohler & Martin, Warren C. Fortson, Bruce H. Beerman, Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Before TJOFLAT, VANCE and THOMAS A. CLARK, Circuit Judges.

VANCE, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal from a judgment entered on a directed verdict for defendants in a diversity case arising out of a motor vehicle collision. Concluding that the case should have been submitted to the jury we reverse.

Shortly before midnight on September 29, 1977 plaintiff James Jacobs was the driver and his wife, plaintiff Susan Jacobs, a passenger in an automobile proceeding north on U.S. Highway 441 at the point where it crosses Interstate 20 near Madison, Georgia. Defendant Johnny Childress was operating a tractor trailer truck for his employer, defendant Deaton, Inc. He had driven the tractor trailer on the interstate, then had proceeded over an exit ramp and was making a left turn onto Highway 441 when the collision occurred. Both plaintiffs sustained severe personal injuries.

The only witnesses who testified concerning the accident were Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, Mr. Childress and the Georgia State Trooper who arrived at the scene within a few minutes after the collision and conducted an investigation. At the conclusion of this evidence the district judge concluded that defendants were entitled to a directed verdict.

Application of the rule of Boeing Company v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir. 1969) is well understood. In both the trial court and on appeal the standard is the same. On motions for directed verdict we must examine the evidence in light and with all reasonable inferences most favorable to the party opposing the motion. So viewed, if there is substantial evidence supporting their claims a directed verdict should have been denied. Williams v. United Insurance Company of America, 634 F.2d 813, 815 (5th Cir. 1981). Our task, therefore, is to examine the record to determine whether, viewed as required, the evidence supporting the plaintiffs' claims is of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair minded jurors in exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions. Palmer v. Fuqua, 641 F.2d 1146, 1153 (5th Cir. 1981).

The evidence presented at trial established that the weather was bad; it was raining, visibility was poor. U.S. Highway 441 is a two lane asphalt highway twenty-three feet five inches in width. A bridge over Interstate 20 results in a rise at least fifteen or twenty feet higher than the point where the vehicles collided. The crest is 300 to 400 feet south of the point of the collision. The speed limit was fifty-five miles per hour.

The Jacobs' car was a current model in good mechanical condition. It approached the point of collision from over the bridge at a speed of forty-five to fifty miles per hour. The driver was looking straight ahead and driving in a normal manner. When the tractor trailer first came into his view, it was 150-175 feet from him. The trailer was completely across both lanes of the highway and extended off the right side. Neither the driver nor the passenger saw any lights on the tractor trailer. As soon as he saw the tractor trailer Jacobs applied his brakes but the brakes did not immediately take hold because of the wet pavement. The front of the car crashed into the front of the trailer's rear tandem wheels. The left turn movement of the tractor trailer continued and dragged the automobile around backward for a distance of twenty-two feet from the point of impact.

The trailer was a flat bed loaded with coil steel. Its loaded weight was approximately 70,000 pounds and its total length about fifty-one feet. Childress said that he came off the interstate highway onto the exit ramp, stopped at the stop sign fifty feet from Highway 441, pulled to the edge of that highway, looked right, left, right and left again, pulled out to go to the nearby truck stop and as he did the automobile came over the bridge and hit him. He also said that with his load it would have taken at least a minute to move from his starting place to the point where he was struck. During that time he said that he had shifted gears one time and that the maximum speed of his truck was nine, ten or twelve miles per hour. He stated that he first saw the automobile when it came over the crest about 400 feet away; at that time he was already out in the highway. He said that the collision occurred one or two seconds later.

The State of Georgia imposes on each motorist the common law duty of reasonable or ordinary care under the...