Howard v. Triangle Freight Lines

BARNARD, P. J. The plaintiffs were injured in a collision between an automobile in which they were riding and a truck and trailer owned by Triangle Freight Lines, a partnership, and driven by Walker, an employee of the firm. The accident occurred on the night of May 20, 1949, on Highway 99, a few miles north of Bakersfield. At that point there were two northbound lanes and two southbound, separated by a barrier 20 feet wide. Just prior to the accident both vehicles were traveling north in the easterly or outer lane, the truck at 30 to 35 miles an hour and the Howard car at 40 to 45 miles. A copper air line on the truck, which ran to the trailer, suddenly broke and the loss of air locked the brakes on the trailer but not those on the truck. Walker immediately turned his equipment toward the right-hand or east shoulder. While the equipment was partly on the shoulder and partly on the highway the Howard car crashed into the left rear corner of the trailer.

The complaint in this action alleged that Walker, without warning, operated the truck in such a negligent and reckless manner as to cause it to suddenly stop on the highway, thereby causing the plaintiffs to run into it. The next paragraph alleged that the braking and signaling equipment on the truck was so defective and unsafe as to render it “possible and probable that . . . the braking system would suddenly lock and stop said. motor truck without warning or signal to vehicles behind”; and that each of the defendants knew, or should have known, of this defective condition.

There is little, if any, conflict with respect to the facts of the case. Mr. Howard testified that as he was driving north he saw this equipment in front, in the easterly lane, with clearance lights burning at the rear; that he had it in mind to pass the truck when he got close enough; that “just about that time” he noticed he was rapidly gaining on the truck; [622]that he decided that the truck had stopped and whirled his ear to the left to miss it, hitting his brakes at the same time; that he did not know whether or not the truck was stopped when the impact occurred; that “I had made up my mind that the truck equipment had stopped when I was three or four car-lengths behind it”; that the passing lane to his left was clear; that the lights on the rear of the truck did not change; and that there was no other vehicle between his car and the truck at any time after he saw the truck a quarter of a mile ahead.

The driver of the truck testified that he had driven trucks for many years, and had never known an air line to break suddenly before; that he made a routine check of the equipment at Bakersfield and everything was normal and the air gauge and brakes were working perfectly; that the air line suddenly broke, locking the brakes on the trailer which slowed the equipment down fast; that this happened two or three seconds before the impact; that he pulled over toward the shoulder, figuring with the power of the motor and the momentum he could get the truck off the highway; that from the time the air line broke he got to a stop in about 55 feet; that he got the truck partly on the shoulder when the impact occurred; that there was no other vehicle near except the Howard car; and that the passing lane to the left was entirely clear. He further testified that the break occurred where the copper tubing is joined to the air gauge on the dash by a fitting; that the break occurred in this fitting, and was “right inside” of the nut and behind the instrument panel; that in repairing the break he cut off an inch at the end of the tube and just dropped the part he cut off; that he then flared the end of the tube and fastened it back into the gauge by tightening the nut which holds it tight; that this fitting which he used was the flare type and was a part of the air gauge on the instrument panel; that there was also a ferrule type fitting in the tool box but he did not use this except as a temporary plug in releasing the brake, so he could get the equipment completely onto the shoulder; that this particular air line is a standard fitting; and that a GMC has its own instrument panel and the instruments are a part of the truck.