Medley v. Carter, 45754

• Citation: 234 So.2d 334
• Decision Date: 20 April 1970
• Docket Number: No. 45754,45754
• Parties: Archie Gene MEDLEY v. Velmon CARTER.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 334

234 So.2d 334

Archie Gene MEDLEY v. Velmon CARTER.

No. 45754.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 20, 1970.

Rehearing Denied May 11, 1970.

Pogue & Jonas, Aberdeen, for appellant.

Houston & Chamberlin, Aberdeen, for appellee.

ETHRIDGE, Chief Justice:

This action arises from a three-car traffic accident which occurred at dawn, in inclement weather, on January 21, 1968, on U.S. Highway 278 near Gattman, Mississippi. Velmon Carter and two co-workers were proceeding west on Highway 278 enroute to their jobs at Cramco, Inc., in Amory, Mississippi, when they collided with a vehicle driven by T. L. Webb of Gattman, who had been travelling east on 278 and was at the instant of the collision in the process of executing a left turn, i. e., a turn to the north across the westbound traffic lane occupied by Carter. The crash left Carter unconscious and his disabled pickup truck in the center of the highway, blocking both lanes of traffic, where shortly thereafter it was struck by a car driven by Archie Gene Medley of Nettleton, Mississippi, who was heading east to Birmingham on 278. All parties sustained personal injuries and property damages.

Carter instituted this suit in the Circuit Court of Monroe County against boty Webb and Medley, charging each with a failure to exercise ordinary care in the operation of his vehicle, to keep his vehicle under proper and easy control, and to keep a proper lookout. Additionally, Carter accused Webb of negligently failing to yield the right-of-way and turning across a lane of approaching traffic without signalling; he charged Medley with speeding, following Webb's vehicle too closely, and negligently failing to stop when he observed or should have observed that the highway was blocked. Both Webb and Medley denied Carter's allegations, and both counterclaimed. Webb charged that Carter was speeding and that he failed to maintain a proper lookout and to keep his vehicle under reasonable control. Medley charged that Carter's negligence set in motion all of the collisions, in that Carter negligently failed to keep a proper lookout, to keep his car under control, and was driving at a high and dangerous rate of speed under the circumstances. The accidents occurred around 6:15 A.M., in February, daylight was just breaking, it was raining and snowing.

The positions of the parties established thus, the case went to trial at the March 1969 term of court. At the conclusion of all evidence, Webb settled Carter's claim against him on undisclosed terms. Hence the Carter-Medley claim and counterclaim went to the jury, which returned a $4,222 verdict for Medley on his counterclaim. Carter moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and the trial court sustained that motion and set aside the verdict for Medley, awarding Carter judgment on Medley's counterclaim, and entering judgment for Medley on Carter's original claim.

Medley took a direct appeal, asserting that the circuit court erred in setting aside the verdict in his favor and in granting Carter a judgment notwithstanding that verdict. Carter cross-appealed, arguing that the jury erred in not finding for him on his declaration against Medley, that the trial court erroneously refused certain instructions, that the verdict of the jury was against the great weight of the evidence, and that instructions granted Medley on his counterclaim were inadequate.

After careful consideration of the record, we conclude that under the comparative negligence statute the respective liabilities of the parties were issues for the jury, and not the court. With reference to Carter, the jury could find, as it apparently did, that Carter was driving at a negligently high rate of speed with the weather, visibility, and road conditions then existing, that he failed to keep a proper lookout...