Opinion
36164, 36165.
DECIDED APRIL 30, 1956. REHEARING DENIED JUNE 11, 1956.
Tort; automobile collision. Before Judge Brooke. Fannin Superior Court. January 27, 1956.
William Butt, Herman J. Spence, R. E. Lee Field, Smith, Field, Doremus Ringel, for plaintiff in error.
Thomas H. Crawford, J. Hugh Rogers, contra.
The evidence authorized the finding that the defendant was grossly negligent under the circumstances; therefore, the court did not err in denying the amended motions for new trial.
DECIDED APRIL 30, 1956 — REHEARING DENIED JUNE 11, 1956.
Barbara Anne Collis, by next friend, and Jessie Ashe, in separate actions, sued Lena Collis for damages for injuries growing out of an automobile collision allegedly caused by the defendant's negligence. By consent the cases were tried together. The jury found for the plaintiffs. The defendant's amended motions for new trial were denied and she excepts.
The evidence concerning the collision is as follows: Barbara Anne Collis, plaintiff, testified: "We started back from there to McCaysville on Saturday morning about 6:30 o'clock, I think. It was daylight; the sun was coming up. My aunt, Mrs. Lena Collis, was driving back from there. That is the lady in the courtroom. Her husband Hobart Collis was sitting on the front seat with her. I was sitting in the car on the rear right, just behind him. Jessie Ashe was to the left of me, on the rear seat, which would put her behind Mrs. Lena Collis. I remained in that position on up to the time of this collision, near Buford. I remember coming over a slight hill before we got to this intersection of the Buford Highway; there was a hill. We had come through Lawrenceville some few minutes previously. I did not know the intersection down ahead of me before we got there; I hadn't noticed it. I was able to drive a car at the time of this collision; and I was able then to estimate the speed of an automobile some. I expect that as we approached this Atlanta-Buford-Gainesville Highway Mrs. Collis was driving at about 35 or 40, maybe 45 miles an hour, something like that. I did not see a stop sign down there against the road on which we were riding. I had my head laid back on the seat; just a few minutes before we got to the intersection I had my head on the back. As we went into the intersection I did not see any vehicles on the other highway, the Atlanta-Buford-Gainesville Highway. As to what happened when we got to the intersection and proceeded into it — Well, I had been looking around in the car, and I glanced around to my right and I noticed a highway there, and I didn't see a car coming, and the first thing I knew this awful crash and glass breaking and just began coming around all over the car. . . On the day this accident happened this car that I was riding in was in good condition before the accident. So far as I know the tires were okay and the brakes were okay. We folks were just riding along talking as people usually do who are out riding; we had been talking backwards and forth; there wasn't anything unusual at all. As we approached this crossing where this accident later occurred as to whether or not I noticed if my aunt stopped at the intersection — Well, I didn't notice it if she did; but very best I can remember I don't believe that she did. I don't know whether my recollection would be any better now than when you took my testimony before; it has been a year and a half since this happened, and of course I don't remember everything that happened about it. I do not now remember if you asked me the particular question `Did you notice whether your aunt stopped before you went into this intersection'; I don't deny that you asked me that question; you could have asked it and I just not remember it. As to whether or not I recall if my answer to that question was — `It seems like she did, but of course I am not sure about that' — Well, I could have answered that, but I don't remember it really. She could have stopped. I don't know whether she did or not. In regard to my being asked if she slowed up, and my saying I am not sure whether she slowed up or not — Well, it seems like she did reduce her speed some; I don't know whether she stopped or not. As to whether it seems to me now that she stopped — No, just thinking back to what happened it doesn't seem like she did stop completely, and I don't think she did. I wouldn't say categorically that she didn't stop. She could have stopped. I wasn't paying any attention to her driving, not that much, I don't think I was. As to whether or not actually it was just an instant before this collision that I saw this truck that hit us — Well, I didn't see the truck. I don't know where we were, I don't believe; I first realized where we were when it happened. I knew we were going into the intersection when the truck struck the car. Just about the time I looked around to my right and saw the highway that the truck was traveling on, but I didn't see the truck. I don't know any reason why I didn't see the truck. I don't know whether my aunt saw the truck or not. . . The best I can testify is that we were out in the intersection and I didn't see the truck, but the truck hit the car on my right side. That is correct."
Jessie Ashe, plaintiff, testified: "I went down to Eatonton with Mr. and Mrs. Hobart Collis and Barbara to visit Mr. Hobart's brother. We went down there on Sunday, and we were coming back the following Saturday. I was sitting, as Barbara has said, on the left rear side, on the rear seat directly behind Mrs. Lena Collis. I do not remember a hill that we started down just before we got to the Atlanta and Gainesville highway; I didn't notice that. I do not know how to drive. I do not know how to estimate the speed of a car. I remember, just as we entered the intersection there, whether I looked to the right or left — I was looking out of the window, and I did look to the right, and that was towards Gainesville on that other highway. I saw the truck. I don't remember how far away it was then, but the best I can recall it was not too far away. I don't remember whether it was as far away as I am from you now or not. But the truck and the car ran together there; as we were coming on down I remember seeing that road on my right, and I didn't see the truck hit us. I do remember the noise from the collision. The right side of the car we were riding in was hit by this truck, and what happened to our car was it knocked us off down the road, towards Atlanta. . . I don't know anything in the world, of my own personal knowledge, about how this accident happened. I just know that we were driving along at a careful rate of speed, and I looked up to my right, and saw the truck. I did not then watch the truck. The next thing I realized there was a wreck and I was in it."
Mrs. Lena Collis, defendant, testified on cross-examination: "Miss Jessie and Barbara testify about this trip we went down to Eatonton on to see my brother-in-law, and that is correct. We went down there on Sunday, and we were coming back the following Saturday. When we left Eatonton and my brother-in-law's home we came through Lawrenceville on our way back. I was driving. I started to driving away from Eatonton, and I had driven all the way up to the scene of the accident. Hobart, my husband, was sitting on the front seat with me. Jessie Ashe was sitting directly behind me in the car. That is the young lady over there. Barbara was in the rear right seat. That is the young lady right there. As to whether or not I remember a considerable hill there for 400 or 500 feet as we came down into that Buford-Gainesville highway — I remember coming down a hill, crossing this bridge and going up over a hill. I had been driving a car for about 30 years. I don't know whether I would be able to estimate the speed of an automobile accurately or not. But I would say that back up the road and until we got down to this intersection I had been driving about forty or forty-five miles an hour. I did not know actually where we were. We had been over that particular road once before, several years before this, six or eight years ago, in 1947 or 1948, somewhere along there. I did not see a stop sign down there against traffic on the road; I was driving to the right as we approached the intersection on the Buford highway. As to whether or not I observed that and stopped my car there — When I seen the intersection I applied the brakes and that is all I remember; it just seemed like the whole world caved in. I said as I seen the intersection I applied the brakes and that is about all I remember; it just seemed like the whole world caved in and crushed. As to whether or not I was struck by any other vehicle — That is what I don't know; I did not see the truck. I was struck from the right side of the car. I don't know whether I was knocked down the road or up the road. I was knocked unconscious. When I came to myself Doctor Hutchinson was standing by the bed. . . As to this intersection there, and whether or not I saw this Atlanta and Gainesville highway as I was approaching it there, and whether I saw there was a highway crossing with the one I was on — Yes, sir, when I got down to it I seen the intersection and that is when I applied my brakes. I did not see a stop sign on the side I was on. As to whether or not I was going to stop or whether or not I saw any reason to stop — Well, if I had seen the stop sign I guess I would have stopped, but I didn't see the stop sign, as far as that goes. I did not see the truck. I did not see any traffic on that road from Atlanta to Gainesville."
The defense offered no evidence.
The evidence authorized the jury to find that the defendant was guilty of gross negligence under the circumstances. While there is no direct evidence as to whether the defendant did or did not stop at the intersection before proceeding through it, the facts certainly authorized the finding that she did not stop. The defendant testified that upon seeing the intersection she applied her brakes and that then the collision occurred. There is evidence to authorize the finding that the collision occurred in the intersection. There is no evidence that the defendant came to a stop and then proceeded into the intersection. A finding was authorized that after the defendant applied her brakes she, without stopping, continued, possibly with her brakes still applied, into the intersection where the collision occurred.
As to the finding that the defendant was grossly negligent, the jury had before them detailed photographs of the intersection showing the intersection as it appeared upon approaching it as the defendant approached it. There were two such photographs, one showing the intersection as it appeared from some distance away and one showing it as it appeared at a lesser distance. The collision occurred during daylight hours. The jury were authorized to find from such evidence that if the defendant did not see the stop sign, did not see the intersection in time to bring her car to a stop, and did not stop before entering the intersection, she was so inattentive to her driving as would amount to gross negligence. Jordan v. Lee, 51 Ga. App. 99 (3) ( 179 S.E. 739); Smith v. Hodges, 44 Ga. App. 318, 321 ( 161 S.E. 284).
The special grounds of the amended motions for new trial are without merit.
The court did not err in denying the amended motions for a new trial.
Judgment affirmed. Quillian and Nichols, JJ., concur.