Walker v. Ferris, 41816

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Citation: 128 So.2d 865,241 Miss. 63
• Docket Number: No. 41816,41816
• Parties: Mrs. Lurlene WALKER v. Mrs. Lucian M. FERRIS.
• Decision Date: 24 April 1961

Page 865

128 So.2d 865 241 Miss. 63 Mrs. Lurlene WALKER
v.
Mrs. Lucian M. FERRIS. No. 41816. Supreme Court of Mississippi. April 24, 1961.

Page 866

[241 MISS 64] Prewitt & Bullard, Vicksburg, for appellant.

Vollor & Thames, Vicksburg, for appellee.

KYLE, Justice.

The appellant, Mrs. Lurlene Walker, plaintiff in the court below, recovered a judgment in the Circuit Court of Warren County against the appellee, Mrs. Lucian M. Ferris, defendant in the court below, in the sum of $1,800, for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by the appellant as a result of an automobile accident. The appellant filed a motion for a new trial on the measure of damages only. The motion was overruled, and the appellant has prosecuted an appeal to this Court. The appellee has filed no cross assignment of errors.

The appellant's attorneys have assigned and argued three points as grounds for reversal of the judgment of the lower court: (1) That the trial court erred in refusing to grant one instruction requested by the appellant which will be referred to later; (2) that the verdict of the jury was inadequate to compensate the appellant for the personal injuries sustained by the appellant as a result of the defendant's negligence, and that the verdict was so inadequate as to evince bias, passion or prejudice on the part of the jury; and (3) that the amount of the verdict was so grossly and shockingly inadequate as to require a new trial on the measure of damages.

The record shows that the accident occurred on June 17, 1958, about 5:30 o'clock p. m., when the appellant was riding home from work with Mrs. Elise Robertson in Mrs. Robertson's automobile. The appellant lived at 1104 Monroe Street, in the City of Vicksburg. Monroe Street at the time of the accident was a boulevard street running north and south, with a wide grass plot or median strip between two one-way traffic lanes. The automobile in which the appellant was riding as a passenger was traveling northwardly on Monroe Street, in the East traffic lane. The appellant's home was in an apartment [241 MISS 67] house situated on the West side of Monroe Street; and when the vehicle in which the appellant was riding reached the point on Monroe Street immediately east of the apartment house, the driver of the car stopped the car on the left side of the northbound traffic lane near the edge of the grass plot, so that the appellant could get out of the car and cross over the boulevard section of the street and enter her apartment through the Monroe Street entrance. The appellee was proceeding northwardly in the same traffic lane just behind the Robertson car; and when the Robertson car came to a stop the appellee's car collided with the rear end of the Robertson car. The appellant testified that when the Robertson car was brought to a complete stop, she reached for the door handle in an effort to get out, and as she did so she was thrown forward as a result of the car in which she was riding being struck from behind by the appellee's car.

Page 867

The appellant testified that she did not remember whether she struck her body against anything inside the Robertson vehicle or not, but she remembered being dazed and weak. The appellant alighted from the Robertson car, and, after remaining at the scene of the accident a few minutes, made her way across the southbound traffic lane of Monroe Street to her apartment.

The appellant testified that her neck started to swelling and hurting almost immediately, and that on June 18 she went to see Dr. Cecil Knox at the Vicksburg Clinic. Dr. Knox referred her to Dr. Joseph M. Moore, an orthopedic surgeon of the Vicksburg Clinic and Vicksburg Hospital Staff. The appellant stated that she was x-rayed, examined and treated by Dr. Moore on June 18 and again on July 29, and that she took some physical therapy treatments at the Vicksburg Hospital. She stated that she later saw Dr. W. H. Parsons, and remained under treatment of Dr. Parsons seven weeks. Dr. Parsons performed a surgical operation on her neck, and she remained at the hospital about five days and then spent [241 MISS 68] about two weeks at home convalescing. She stated that after the surgery the pain did not recur. Her doctor and hospital expenses amounted to $600. One cross-examination the appellant stated that Dr. Moore treated her only twice, and that after she saw Dr. Moore the second time she went to see Dr. Donald Hall, who treated her for a glandular trouble.

Mrs. Elise Robertson, the driver of the automobile in which the appellant was riding on June 17, testified that she stopped her car at the stop sign at the China Street intersection, and then proceeded up hill along Monroe Street at a rate of speed of 15 or 20 miles an hour, until she came to the point on Monroe Street where Mrs. Walker was accustomed to get off; that after she passed the Marie Apartments she gave a hand signal with her left hand out of the window of her car; and that she had come to a complete stop when Mrs. Ferris' car collided with her car. She stated that she was aware of the fact that there was traffic behind her when she applied her brakes and came to a stop. She stated that Mrs. Ferris told her that she just did not see her and that it was her fault.

Dr. J. M. Moore, who was called to testify as a witness for the plaintiff, testified that Mrs. Walker came to see him on June 18, 1958, and complained of pain and swelling in the neck. Most of the pain and swelling was on the right side. She described an accident she had been in as a passenger in an automobile the day before. The doctor stated that from a medical standpoint such injury was called a whiplash injury to the neck. He obtained x-ray pictures. He found no dislocated or...