Medina v. All American Bus Lines, No. 11462.
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | HUTCHESON, WALLER, and LEE, Circuit |
| Citation | 152 F.2d 61 |
| Parties | MEDINA v. ALL AMERICAN BUS LINES, Inc. |
| Docket Number | No. 11462. |
| Decision Date | 29 November 1945 |
152 F.2d 61 (1945)
MEDINA
v.
ALL AMERICAN BUS LINES, Inc.
No. 11462.
Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
November 29, 1945.
E. B. Elfers, of El Paso, Tex., for appellant.
J. F. Hulse, of El Paso, Tex., for appellee.
Before HUTCHESON, WALLER, and LEE, Circuit Judges.
HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge.
The suit was for damages for injuries resulting in death. The claim was that plaintiff's decedent had come to his death as a result of the negligent operation of defendant's bus. At the conclusion of plaintiff's evidence, a motion for directed verdict was made and granted. Plaintiff is here insisting that, though the evidence was entirely circumstantial, it was sufficient to make an issue for the jury. Appellee insists that the evidence shows no more than that there was an accident, and that under settled law the proof that an accident occurred is not proof that it was negligently caused.1 It insists further that while negligence may be proved by circumstantial evidence, the authorities2 settle it that the circumstances must be such that an inference of negligence is not purely speculative in its nature.
We agree with appellee's statement of the law, and a page by page search of the record leaves in no doubt that the evidence showed no more than that a collision occurred, its causes completely unexplained. In this state of the record, a directed verdict for defendant was demanded. The judgment was right. It is affirmed.
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Notes:
1 Texas & P. R. v. Shoemaker, 98 Tex. 451, 84 S.W. 1049; Webster v. Henwood, Tex.Civ.App., 134 S.W.2d 333; Lipscomb v. Houston Elec. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 149 S.W.2d 1042.
2 Texas & N. O. R. v. Warden, 125 Tex. 193, 78 S.W.2d 164; Doggett v. Peck, 5 Cir., 116 F.2d 273; Interstate Circuit v. Le Normand, 5 Cir., 100 F.2d 160; Nash v. Raun, 3 Cir., 149 F.2d 885.
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Secanti v. Jones
...Cir., 1945, 149 F.2d 885, certiorari denied 326 U.S. 758, 66 S.Ct. 99, 90 L.Ed. 455; Medina v. All American Bus Lines, Inc., 5 Cir., 1945, 152 F.2d 61; Thompson v. Allen, 10 Cir., 1956, 240 F.2d 266, 268; Comet Motor Freight Lines v. Holmes, Tex.Civ.App., 203 S.W.2d 233; Southwestern Greyho......
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Meadows & Walker Drilling Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., No. 25949.
...Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Midkiff, supra. Appellant's only cited case on this point, Medina v. All American Bus Lines, 5 Cir. 1945, 152 F.2d 61, appears inapplicable since the court there held that a page by page search of the record showed that the causes of the collision had been left co......
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Dill v. Scuka, Civ. A. No. 20539.
...1945, 149 F.2d 885, 888, certiorari denied 326 U.S. 758, 66 S.Ct. 99, 90 L.Ed. 455; Medina v. All American Bus Lines, Inc., 5 Cir., 1945, 152 F.2d 61; Warren v. Haines, 3 Cir., 1942, 126 F.2d 160. Compare Ebersole v. Beistline, 1951, 368 Pa. 12, 82 A.2d We believe that there is no clash bet......
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DE JEAN v. Great American Indemnity Company, No. 3977.
...fell as a result of getting her foot in the crevice, and that the opinion of Judge Hutcheson in Medina v. All American Bus Lines, 5 Cir., 152 F.2d 61, is applicable. We quote from the opinion as "* * * Plaintiff is here insisting that, though the evidence was entirely circumstantial, it was......
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Secanti v. Jones
...Cir., 1945, 149 F.2d 885, certiorari denied 326 U.S. 758, 66 S.Ct. 99, 90 L.Ed. 455; Medina v. All American Bus Lines, Inc., 5 Cir., 1945, 152 F.2d 61; Thompson v. Allen, 10 Cir., 1956, 240 F.2d 266, 268; Comet Motor Freight Lines v. Holmes, Tex.Civ.App., 203 S.W.2d 233; Southwestern Greyho......
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Meadows & Walker Drilling Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., No. 25949.
...Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Midkiff, supra. Appellant's only cited case on this point, Medina v. All American Bus Lines, 5 Cir. 1945, 152 F.2d 61, appears inapplicable since the court there held that a page by page search of the record showed that the causes of the collision had been left co......
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Dill v. Scuka, Civ. A. No. 20539.
...1945, 149 F.2d 885, 888, certiorari denied 326 U.S. 758, 66 S.Ct. 99, 90 L.Ed. 455; Medina v. All American Bus Lines, Inc., 5 Cir., 1945, 152 F.2d 61; Warren v. Haines, 3 Cir., 1942, 126 F.2d 160. Compare Ebersole v. Beistline, 1951, 368 Pa. 12, 82 A.2d We believe that there is no clash bet......
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DE JEAN v. Great American Indemnity Company, No. 3977.
...fell as a result of getting her foot in the crevice, and that the opinion of Judge Hutcheson in Medina v. All American Bus Lines, 5 Cir., 152 F.2d 61, is applicable. We quote from the opinion as "* * * Plaintiff is here insisting that, though the evidence was entirely circumstantial, it was......