Matsumato v. Arizona Sand & Rock Co.
| Decision Date | 03 April 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 6029,6029 |
| Citation | 56 A.L.R.2d 1385,80 Ariz. 232,295 P.2d 850 |
| Parties | , 56 A.L.R.2d 1385 G. MATSUMATO and Smizuyo Matsumato, Appellants, v. ARIZONA SAND AND ROCK COMPANY, a corporation, Appellees. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
Johnson & Shelley, Mesa, for appellant.
Snell & Wilmer, by James H. O'Connor, Phoenix, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment entered upon an instructed verdict in favor of defendant in an action brought by the Matsumatos to recover damages for an injury sustained by Shizuyo Matsumato which was alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant.
Plaintiffs' complaint alleged that on or about June 30, 1952, defendant was causing several large trucks operated by agents or employees of defendant to haul gravel and rocks past Merrill's Store which plaintiffs were then operating on North Country Club Drive located north of the city of Mesa. It is further alleged that defendant, through its agents and employees acting within the scope of their employment, caused said trucks to be loaded in such a negligent, careless, wanton and reckless manner that the said gravel and rocks spilled and fell from said trucks on to the roadway of said North Country Club Drive and particularly in front of Merrill's Store operated by plaintiffs; that plaintiff Shizuyo Matsumato was working therein when a truck ran over a stone which was thrown from the road into the store striking her on her leg with great force and violence, severely and permanently injuring the same.
On appeal from a judgment on a directed verdict for defendant conflicting evidence must be viewed in a light most favorable to plaintiff. Nichols v. City of Phoenix, 68 Ariz. 124, 202 P.2d 201. The evidence showed that prior to the month of June, 1952, North Country Club Drive in front of plaintiffs' store, and from a point north of the bed of the Salt River to the city limits of Mesa, had been recently theretofore widened and improved, and at the time of the accident was a wide, smooth pavement.
A short distance north of the plaintiffs' store, located in the bed of the Salt River, are large deposits of sand, river rock and gravel which constituted the source from which material for road improvement work near Chandler, being conducted by defendant, was taken. On the 17th day of June, 1952, and thereafter defendant secured from said river bed what is known as 'river run gravel' in large quantities for use on said road construction job. By 'river run gravel' is meant material as found in the river bed, including sand, gravel and river rock or boulders. It was this kind of material that defendant was causing to be hauled to the road construction site during the time here involved, to provide the first or bottom layer of the road bed. The James A. Bond Trucking Company had contracted with defendant to haul this material from the river bed to the site of the road construction work and, according to evidence given by defendant's witnesses, was operating as an independent contractor in doing so.
The trucks were all loaded by defendant. The equipment it was using in the river for the purpose of loading the trucks was owned by it and operated entirely by its employees. The truckers themselves had nothing to do with the loading except that, according to the testimony of defendant's witnesses, the truck drivers indicated the amount they desired to have loaded on their trucks. Defendant had employed on this job men whose duty it was to brush off excess rocks from loaded trucks. The evidence indicates that for some time prior to the time defendant began its operations the roadway along North Country Club Drive had been free and clear of rocks and gravel. According to the evidence, soon after the commencement of this operation considerable amounts of rock were scattered along the road creating a hazardous condition.
On the morning of June 30, 1952, an unidentified truck hit a rock about the size of a large orange lying on the road in front of the Merrill Store and hurled it a distance of approximately 40 feet into the front door of the store where the plaintiff, Mrs. Matsumato, was working, striking her on the leg and causing the injury complained of. She was hospitalized shortly after the accident and again early in the summer of 1954 when an operation was performed upon the injured area. It could be inferred from the evidence that the presence of the rocks which were scattered along the road including the area in front of plaintiffs' store, could be due only to overloading the trucks in the pits.
The evidence further indicates that although other companies, a few Indians, and other individuals occasionally hauled rocks, sand and gravel from the river bed along the highway, the Arizona Sand and Rock Company was the only company that was hauling or causing this type of material to be hauled over the road at that time. It further appears from the evidence that after the Arizona Sand and Rock Company ceased its hauling operations from the river bed the road was gradually cleared of the objectionable material which had been dropped thereon during this period. It was indicated that the situation had become sufficiently hazardous during the period involved that the defendant was causing said material to be hauled for its road construction work that a sheriff's deputy had been sent to warn those engaged in hauling rock and gravel on said road, against the overloading of trucks which would create a dangerous condition on the highway.
At the close of plaintiffs' case, defendant moved for a directed verdict on the grounds that plaintiffs had introduced no evidence to support the allegations of their complaint to the effect that defendant had hauled rocks and gravel past the Merrill Store or caused its trucks to be loaded in a careless, negligent, wanton or reckless manner, or that said rock and gravel had fallen from said trucks on the roadway in front of the Merrill Store; and upon the further ground that 'there is no evidence that the rock which was thrown or hurled into the plaintiff's store was caused by a truck operated by defendant.' Specifically defendant contends that there is no evidence that defendant negligently loaded the trucks or that they operated them negligently or at all. The court granted defendant contends that there is no evidence evidence was too remote and speculative to establish liability.
There is no evidence in the record sustaining the allegation that defendant owned or operated the trucks engaged in hauling the material from the river bed to the site of road construction work. Nor is there any evidence to support the allegation that it was defendant's truck which...
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