Transcontinental Bus System, Inc. v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 25 April 1959
• Docket Number: No. 6015.,6015.
• Citation: 265 F.2d 913
• Parties: TRANSCONTINENTAL BUS SYSTEM, INC., a corporation, Appellant, v. Teddie Mae TAYLOR, and Johnnie Lynn Taylor, a minor, by John Clifford Taylor, her father and next friend, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

265 F.2d 913 (1959)

TRANSCONTINENTAL BUS SYSTEM, INC., a corporation, Appellant, v. Teddie Mae TAYLOR, and Johnnie Lynn Taylor, a minor, by John Clifford Taylor, her father and next friend, Appellees.

No. 6015.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

April 25, 1959.

Robert D. Hudson, Tulsa, Okl., for appellant.

Robert R. Cress, Tulsa, Okl., and J. A. Evans, Booneville, Ark., for appellees.

Before BRATTON, Chief Judge, PICKETT, Circuit Judge, and KNOUS, District Judge.

BRATTON, Chief Judge.

John Clifford Taylor, Teddie Mae Taylor, and Johnnie Lynn Taylor, a minor, by John Clifford Taylor, her father and next friend, instituted this action against Transcontinental Bus System, a corporation. The action was to recover damages arising out of a traffic accident which occurred on a highway in Kansas. The complaint was in three counts. In the first count, John Clifford Taylor, sometimes hereinafter referred to as Taylor, sought damages for personal injury, for injury to an automobile and house trailer, and for reimbursement for medical and hospital expenses. In the second count, Johnnie Lynn Taylor sought damages for personal injury. And in the third count, Teddie Mae Taylor sought damages for personal injury. The issues joined on the face of the pleadings were primary negligence on the part of the defendant in the operation of a bus, primary negligence on the part of the plaintiff Taylor in the operation of an automobile to which a house trailer was attached, and contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff Taylor in the operation of the automobile. The cause was tried to a jury. By its verdict, the jury found for the defendant and against the plaintiff Taylor, but found for the plaintiffs Teddie Mae Taylor and Johnnie Lynn Taylor in specified amounts, respectively. Judgment was entered upon the verdict, and the defendant appealed.

The single contention urged for reversal of the judgment is that the court erred in denying the defendant's motion for a directed verdict made at the close of plaintiffs' evidence and renewed at the conclusion of all the evidence. The ground of the motion was that plaintiffs failed to produce sufficient evidence to make a prima facie case of negligence on the part of the defendant. While sometimes difficult of application, the general rule for the guidance of the trial court in determining whether a motion for a directed verdict on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence has been clearly blueprinted. The general rule firmly imbedded in procedural jurisprudence in the Federal courts is that on motion for a directed verdict upon the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence to take the case to the jury on the crucial issue or issues of fact, the evidence and the inferences fairly to be drawn from the evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is directed. And if the evidence and the inferences fairly drawn therefrom — viewed in that manner — are such that reasonable minded persons in the exercise of fair and impartial judgment may reach different conclusions upon the crucial issue or issues of fact, the motion should be denied and the question submitted to the jury. Consolidated Gas & Equipment Co. of America v. Carver, 10 Cir., 257 F.2d 111; Kippen v. Jewkes, 10 Cir., 258 F.2d 869; Commercial Standard Insurance Co. v. Feaster, 10 Cir., 259 F.2d 210. But if the facts are free from conflict and the inferences fairly to be drawn from them are plain, it is the province and duty of the court to determine the question as a matter of law. Dunn v. Kansas Gas & Electric Co., 10 Cir., 227 F.2d 939.

Keeping in mind the general rule of guidance to which reference has been made, we come to the crucial question whether the evidence was sufficient to warrant the submission to the jury of the issue of negligence on the part of the defendant in the operation of the bus as the proximate or a proximate cause of the accident. Since the motion for a directed verdict was directed against the plaintiffs, the evidence considered in its entirety must be viewed in the manner most favorable to them. The evidence as a whole presented conflicts and inconsistencies. But viewed in the manner most favorable to plaintiffs, evidence was adduced which tended to establish these facts and circumstances. Taylor, his wife, Teddie Mae Taylor, and their minor daughter, Johnnie Lynn Taylor, were traveling south on a highway...