G. FERLITA & SONS, INC.,
v.
C. E. BECK

Fla. | 1940-06-21
Terrell, C. J., .Whitfield and Brown, J. J., concur., Chapman and Thomas, J. J., dissent.
143 Fla. 509 Florida Supreme Court (1940) Caution
Also reported at: 197 So. 340
Cited by 58 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed a judgment for plaintiff Beck in a tort action arising from an automobile collision. Beck was injured when he swerved left to avoid a parked truck and collided with an oncoming vehicle, and the court held that Beck's contributory negligence—failing to maintain proper speed and lookout—barred his recovery as a matter of law.


Holding

Beck's contributory negligence barred his recovery as a matter of law. The undisputed evidence showed that Beck failed to maintain a speed at which he could control his vehicle, failed to keep a proper lookout despite having visibility of several hundred feet, and thereby contributed to the proximate cause of the injury.


Key Quotes

“It is well settled in this jurisdiction that it is the duty of one driving upon the highway to drive at such rate of speed as to be able to stop or control his car within the range of his vision, whether it be by night-time or daylight.”

Establishes the fundamental duty of care that Beck breached by driving at 45-50 mph without being able to see and avoid the approaching vehicle.

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Facts & Procedural History

Beck was driving south on a paved highway at 45-50 mph at night when he encountered defendant's truck parked on the right side of the road with its le…

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Opinion of the Court
Buford, J.

Buford, J.

In this case we review judgment for the plaintiff in a tort action for damages resulting from injuries received in an automobile accident.

*510The record shows that plaintiff Beck was driving south on the highway in Hillsborough County when the accident occurred. It appears that the accident happened in this way: The defendant’s truck was parked, according to a preponderance of the evidence, on the right side of the highway, the left wheels of the truck being on the highway more than one foot from the right edge of the pavement. It was in the night time and the lights on the truck were burning. The road was straight, level and paved with 22-foot concrete pavement. The truck was visible to persons 600 feet to the north of its position on the highway. Plaintiff Beck approached from the north driving an automobile, according to his statement, at the rate of 45 to 50 miles per hour. He thought the truck was moving, but it was not. When he got near the truck he observed that it was not moving and then turned to the left to avoid colliding with the truck. At the same time another automobile driven by a third party was approaching the same location from the south and that automobile was being driven on the proper side of the road, which was on Beck’s left side. Just after Beck passed the truck, and while he was still on the left side of the road to him going south, he collided with the other automobile going north.

The defendant pleaded not guilty and also pleaded contributory negligence, the plea being: “That at the time of the collision between the automobile driven by plaintiff and an automobile driven by another person in the opposite direction, as alleged in plaintiff’s declaration, and immediately prior to the time of such collision, the plaintiff so negligently and carelessly drove and operated his automobile as to proximately contribute to the cause of said collision, and to the damage alleged by plaintiff to have been sustained.”

Other questions are presented which challenge the cor*511rectness of the charges given by the court to the jury but as the infirmity complained of in these charges will probably not occur again, we deem it unnecessary to discuss the contentions of plaintiff in error in this regard.

A careful perusal of the record, in fact an analysis of the plaintiff’s testimony, shows the negligence of the complainant in the operation of his automobile contributed to the proximate cause of the injury and as the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in bringing about the injury, he is barred from recovery. A very similar state of facts was presented in the case of Dania Lumber & Supply Co. v. Senter, et al., 113 Fla. 332, 152 Sou. 2. The principal difference between the factual conditions in this case and the Senter case is shown by what was said in that opinion:

‘‘It appears that as the plaintiffs were going north on the east side of the highway, the defendant’s loaded truck was coming south on the west side of the road. Another car was parked on the west side of the road. When the plaintiffs approached the point where the parked car was, the defendant’s truck going south came around the parked car to the east side of the road and collided with the plaintiff’s car going north, causing the injury. The plaintiffs were on the right side of the road going north, and though they saw the defendant’s truck' coming south, they being on the proper side of the road, had a right to assume that the driver of the truck coming south on the west side of the road would not pass around the parked car to and upon the east side of the road so as to collide with the plaintiff’s car approaching from the south.
“Apparently the injury was proximately caused by the driver of the defendant’s truck, who, in passing around the obstructing car, drove the truck to and upon the east side of the road where the plaintiff’s car properly was, going in the opposite direction.”

*512In that case the defendant’s truck was operated just as. the plaintiff’s car was in this case, in this: The defendant’s truck attempted to pass an automobile parked on the highway and as it was in that act it collided with the plaintiff's automobile proceeding, as it had' a right to proceed, along the road. While, in the instant case, plaintiff’s automobile was driven by the plaintiff so as to pass the truck parked on the highway and collided with the automobile driven by a third party. In the Senter case we held that the injury was proximately caused by the driver of defendant’s truck who, in passing around the obstructing car, drove the truck to and upon the east side of the road where plaintiff’s car was properly going in the opposite direction. In this case a contributing proximate cause of the injury was the plaintiff’s action in passing around the obstructing truck and driving his car to and upon the east side of the road and colliding with the oncoming car of the third party who was then using the road in a lawful manner and who then had a right to assume that others would do likewise.

It is well settled in this jurisdiction that it is the duty of one driving upon the highway to drive at such rate of speed as to be able to stop or control his car within the range of his vision, whether it be by night-time or daylight. It was the duty of plaintiff when he saw the tail lights of the truck ahead of him to so control the speed of his automobile as not to injure himself or others. It was also his duty to have kept a lookout ahead and, had he done so, he would necessarily have seen the approaching automobile and would have realized that (if he passed the truck) he must pass the truck which was headed in the same direction in which he was. headed and the automobile which was headed in the opposite direction at about one and the same place. His testimony shows that he did not observe the approaching car until he had turned to the left to pass the truck and yet *513all the evidence shows that that approaching automobile was on the open, straight and unobstructed highway where the plaintiff could have seen it approaching when the two automobiles were several hundred feet apart.

We were not unmindful of the fact that whether or not the plaintiff is guilty of contributory negligence, is, in most cases, a jury question, but it is a jury question only when the evidence is conflicting. In cases where the undisputed evidence shows that the plaintiff is guilty of negligence which contributed to the proximate cause of the injury then, as a matter of law, he cannot recover. See J. C. Christopher Co. v. Russell, 63 Fla. 191, 58 Sou. 45.

For the reasons stated, the judgment should be, and is, reversed.

So ordered.

Terrell, C. J., .Whitfield and Brown, J. J., concur.

Chapman and Thomas, J. J., dissent.


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Citator

Cited By (21 total)

  • Hart v. Held, 149 Fla. 33 (Fla. 1941)
    …guilty of negligence which contributed to the proximate cause of the injury. See: Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. McCormick, 59 Fla. 121, 52 So. 712; Christopher v. Russell, 63 Fla. 191, 58 So. 45, Ann. Cas. 1913C 564; G. Ferlita & Sons, Inc. v. Beck, 143 Fla. 509, 197 So. 340. [*43] Does the evidence here adduced disclose a dispute or conflict on the question of contributory negligence to the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries on the part of the plaintiff to be settled by a jury under appropriate instructions…
  • Goldin v. Lipkind, 49 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 1950)
    …e defense and should be specially pleaded. It is a question of fact to be submitted to the jury under appropriate instructions. Hart v. Held, 149 Fla. 33, 5 So. 2d 878; Dunn Bus Service v. McKinley, 130 Fla. 778, 178 So. 865; Ferlita & Sons v. Beck, 143 Fla. 509, 197 So. 340. It is our conclusion that the amended complaint states a cause of action and accordingly the judgment below is reversed with directions to enter an order fixing the time for the defendant-appellee to answer the complaint. ADAMS, C.J.…
  • Brandt v. Dodd, 150 Fla. 635 (Fla. 1942)
    …rs or risks in attempting to cross the street were the proximate cause of the injury were questions of fact to be settled by the jury under appropriate instructions. See Hart v. Held, 149 Fla. 33, 5 So. (2nd) 878; Ferlita & Sons [*640] Inc. v. Beck, 143 Fla. 509, 197 So. 340; Christopher Co. v. Russell, 63 Fla. 191, 58 So. 45, Ann Cas. 1913C 564; Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. McCormick, 59 Fla. 121, 52 So. 712. In the case of Mathers v. Botsford, 86 Fla. 40, 97 So. 282, 32 A.L.R. 881, the facts show that t…

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