Montgomery v. Whitfield
| Decision Date | 30 April 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 6208.,6208. |
| Citation | 188 F.2d 757 |
| Parties | MONTGOMERY v. WHITFIELD et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Ashby Allen and Wilbur C. Allen, Richmond, Va. (Geo. E. Allen and Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, all of Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellant.
H. Armistead Boyd, Richmond, Va. and B. S. Royster, Jr., Oxford, N. C. (Jack N. Herod and Bowles, Anderson & Boyd, all of Richmond, Va., and Royster & Royster, Oxford, N. C., on brief), for appellees.
Before PARKER, Chief Judge and SOPER and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.
A truck-trailer, loaded with lumber, collided with the rear end of a passenger automobile, and the wife of the driver of the automobile, seated beside him, was injured. This action was brought by her against the driver of the truck and certain persons alleged to be the owners of the vehicle. A verdict in favor of the latter was directed by the District Judge on the ground that the evidence clearly showed that they had no title to the truck or control over it at the time of the accident, and the case was submitted to the jury to determine whether the accident was caused by the negligence of one or both of the drivers, and whether negligence on the part of the plaintiff contributed thereto. The jury found a verdict for the defendant driver of the truck and the plaintiff appealed, complaining of errors in the instructions of the court.
The accident occurred shortly after mid-night on August 12, 1948 as the vehicles were proceeding westerly on a two lane public highway about 22 feet wide, two miles west of Clarksville, Virginia, in the immediate vicinity of an accident which had occurred shortly before. The scene of the earlier accident was about 700 feet westerly from the brow of a hill which the truck and the automobile had just ascended. A few moments before reaching the summit of the hill the automobile overtook and passed the truck and then descended the hill on its right hand side of the road, the truck following at a distance of about 60 feet. The road was clear for a long distance in front of them, but to the right of the paved surface were situated a farm tractor pulling an automobile out of a ditch, a police car from Clarksville, and the car of a state trooper with a blinking red light which was visible to the occupants of the approaching vehicles. They also observed signals from a flashlight in the hands of a policeman who was standing near the other vehicles at the edge of the road.
When the oncoming automobile reached a point 400 feet from the policeman, it diverged to the left and slowed down, so that as it passed the policeman, it was to the left of the center line of the road. At this point it was overtaken and struck by the truck, both vehicles continuing for about 200 feet before they came to a stop. No one was injured except the plaintiff who suffered a severe sprain of the neck and lumbar spine.
Three different explanations of the accident find support in the evidence: (1), that J. S. Montgomery, the husband of the plaintiff and driver of the automobile, having good reason to know that the truck which he had passed near the top of the hill had also swerved to the left and was following close behind, checked the speed of his car so suddenly and unexpectedly that A. J. Newcomb, the truck driver, could not avoid the collision; (2), that Newcomb, without keeping a careful lookout, followed the automobile down the hill more closely than was reasonable and prudent, and negligently drove his truck into the back of the automobile when the latter slowed down in response to the policeman's signal; and (3), the testimony of the policeman with the flashlight, that he signalled the cars to pass by but Montgomery apparently misunderstood the signal and put on his brakes and pulled to the left just as the truck attempted to pass him on the left, and that if Montgomery had not taken this action there would have been ample room for the truck to pass by in safety. There was also evidence that Newcomb blew the horn of the truck before the collision occurred.
In view of this testimony, it would have been error if the District Judge had granted the instruction requested by the plaintiff that Newcomb was guilty of negligence which was the proximate cause of the collision. Furthermore, it was incumbent upon the District Judge, contrary to the plaintiff's contention, to instruct the jury under the Virginia law as to the duty of the driver of an overtaking automobile to keep a careful lookout and drive in such a manner as not to endanger life or property, and to give warning before passing a vehicle proceeding in the same direction; and also to describe the duty...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Krizak v. WC Brooks & Sons, Incorporated
...Railway and Power Co. v. Gorsuch, 120 Va. 655, 91 S.E. 632 (1917). This case is factually distinguishable from Montgomery v. Whitfield, 188 F.2d 757 (4 Cir. 1951). There the passenger and her husband were driving around midnight when they approached the scene of a wreck where there was plai......
-
Lyerly v. Griffin
...298; Stallard v. Atlantic Greyhound Lines, 169 Va. 223, 192 S.E. 800; Spence v. Rasmussen, 190 Or. 662, 226 P.2d 819; Montgomery v. Whitfield, 4 Cir., 188 F.2d 757. In Sandoz v. Beridon, La.App., 150 S0. 25, 31, where the facts were similar to those in the case at bar, the court said: 'It s......
-
Eureka-Security Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Maxwell
...to the buyer. In its opinion overruling Eureka's motion for summary judgment, the District Court stated that the case of Montgomery v. Whitfield, 188 F.2d 757, decided by this court in 1951, held that competent evidence may establish true ownership of a motor vehicle, the Virginia registrat......
-
Smith v. Gay
...186 S.E. 108; Remine & Meade v. Whited, 180 Va. 1, 21 S.E.2d 743; Yellow Cab Co. v. Eden, 178 Va. 325, 16 S.E.2d 625; Montgomery v. Whitfield, 4 Cir., 188 F.2d 757; Campbell v. Roanoke Coca-Cola Bottling Works, 4 Cir., 189 F.2d It is, however, equally obvious that the jury might have found ......