Young v. Cameron
| Decision Date | 16 October 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 44520,44520 |
| Citation | 203 So.2d 315 |
| Parties | Robert Lynn YOUNG v. Prince Albert CAMERON. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Smallwood, Darden & Sumners, New Albany, for appellant.
Baxter N. Knox, Jr., New Albany, for appellee.
This is an appeal by Robert Lynn Young from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Union County wherein that court entered a judgment in favor of appellee, Prince Albert Cameron, in the amount of $5,000 for personal injuries and property damage. We affirm.
Appellee is a 42 year old Negro who suffered serious and permanent injuries when his 1953 Plymouth automobile was struck by a truck owned and operated by appellant. The collision occurred at approximately 8:00 A.M. on November 24, 1964, in front of Ledbetter's Store about two miles north of New Albany on Highway 15. Appellee was driving north on the highway on his way to the store to get gasoline. When he reached a point in front of the store he pulled off the highway to the right and stopped to let out a passenger. After he let the passenger out, appellee noticed the truck driven by appellant approaching from the north approximately one-fourth mile away. He then waited for another truck which was 'right close behind me' to pass, and then turned left and drove across the highway into the driveway of Ledbetter's Store. According to his testimony he had completely crossed the highway and had stopped his car approximately ten feet from the edge of the pavement when it was struck on the right side by the struck driven by appellant. The force of the collision skidded the car sideways into the side of a bank; the truck stopped on top of the bank against a tree.
According to appellant's version of the collision he was driving his truck, loaded with about 32,000 pounds of metal, south on the highway. As he came over the crest of a hill, about one-fourth mile north of the store, he had his truck in eighth gear. He shifted into ninth gear and when his truck reached a speed of 50 miles per hour, he shifted into tenth, or high gear. He stated that he then pressed down on the gas but that his truck did not exceed 50 miles per hour, although it was loaded and going downhill at the time. When he was about one-half way down the hill, he saw appellee's car stopped on the side of the highway. He met a truck just before he got to the store and as that truck passed, he looked in his mirror. When he looked back appellee had started across the road but was not going very fast. Appellant then applied his brakes and tried to go around the car on the right but appellee did not stop and he was unable to avoid striking the car which he said was on the edge of the pavement on the west side of the highway.
Appellant's first contention is that the trial court was in error in overruling his motion for a new trial for the reason that the verdict of the jury was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. He argues that the testimony shows that appellee negligently drove his car across the highway in the face of the oncoming truck, thus confronting appellant with a sudden emergency which he made a reasonable effort to avoid. The trial court correctly submitted this issue to the jury, instructing them if they believed that appellant was confronted with a sudden emergency, not of his own making, and that he applied his brakes and turned to the right to avoid the collision and that such action was a reasonable effor to avoid collision, then they should find for appellant, even though they might believe that if appellant had turned to the left he would have avoided the collision. They were also instructed that appellee was guilty of negligence in driving his vehicle across the highway in the face of oncoming traffic and that if this negligence was the sole proximate...
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