Tri-State Transit Co. of Louisiana v. Grier
| Decision Date | 15 May 1942 |
| Docket Number | No. 10083.,10083. |
| Citation | 127 F.2d 719 |
| Parties | TRI-STATE TRANSIT CO. OF LOUISIANA, Inc., v. GRIER et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
E. Wayles Browne and Pike Hall, both of Shreveport, La., for appellant.
Douglas W. McGregor, of Houston, Tex., and Leonard L. Lockard, of Shreveport, La., for appellees.
Before FOSTER, HOLMES, and McCORD, Circuit Judges.
Mrs. Annabel W. Grier was severely injured when the bus on which she was riding as a passenger collided with an automobile and ran off the road and overturned. She and her husband brought an action for damages against the bus company, Tri-State Transit Company of Louisiana, Inc. The case was tried to a jury which returned a verdict for the plaintiffs. Final judgment was entered, and the bus company has appealed contending that the verdict and judgment are unsupported by substantial evidence; the chief ground of appeal being that the court erred in overruling its motion for a directed verdict.
It is without dispute that Mrs. Grier was a passenger on the appellant's bus on December 17, 1939, and that she sustained serious injuries when the bus struck an automobile and overturned. The nature and extent of her injuries were fully proved at the trial. The plaintiffs established a prima facie case by proving that Mrs. Grier was injured while riding as a passenger on the defendant's bus. Owens v. Monzingo, La.App., 191 So. 581; Fernandez v. Tri-State Transit Co. of Louisiana, La.App., 194 So. 84. The plaintiffs went further in their proof, however, and introduced evidence to sustain their allegation that the bus was being operated in a negligent manner just prior to and at the time of the accident.
On the day of the accident the large thirty-seven passenger bus was loaded to capacity with passengers and baggage when it left Monroe, Louisiana, for its next scheduled stop, Rayville, Louisiana. After dark, as the bus was traveling along Highway 80, east of the Boeuf River Bridge and near the town of Rayville, it collided with a Chevrolet automobile which was traveling along the highway in the opposite direction. After the impact of the collision, the bus continued down the road for approximately two hundred feet and then ran off the pavement and traveled sixty feet more and into the ditch on the left side of the road where it overturned. Evidence for the plaintiffs was to the effect that when the collision occurred, the bus was being operated in excess of the lawful speed limit, and that it was running partially on the wrong side of the road.
The three negro occupants of the Chevrolet automobile testified as witnesses for the plaintiffs. Daniel Jones, the driver of the Chevrolet, testified that he saw the bus coming toward him about a mile away; that the bright lights blinded him; that he drove his car onto the dirt shoulder of the road; that he reduced his speed and dimmed his lights; that he could then see in front of his car; that he watched the center stripe in the road and then came back onto the road, "just barely pulling to the left to get back onto the road"; that his car was more than one foot on his right side of the center black line when the bus struck the car, "I am positive it was over a foot."
Daniel's wife, ...
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...the parties. We find no reversible error in the record and the judgments of the trial Court are affirmed. 1 Tri-State Transit Co. of Louisiana v. Grier, 5 Cir., 127 F.2d 719; American Employers' Ins. Co. v. McLean, 5 Cir., 127 F.2d 275; Cf. Atlantic Greyhound Corp. v. Crowe, 5 Cir., 177 F.2......
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