A. D. Mclaney v. Granville R. Turner

STAKELY, Justice. Granville R. Turner, by next friend (appellee) brought this action for damages for personal injuries against
A. D. McLaney (appellant). The action arose from an intersectional auto-truck collision. The complaint contained a count alleging
simple negligence and a count alleging wantonness. The trial of the case resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff
on the count alleging wantonness, in the sum of $50,000. This appeal is from that judgment. Tendencies of the evidence showed the following. On the morning of November 15, 1955, Granville R. Turner, a minor, twenty
years of age, was driving an automobile in a southerly direction in the western lane of Alabama Highway No. 55 between Florala,
Alabama, and Andalusia, Alabama, and near the intersection of the Wing-Lockhart Road (Covington County No. 4). It was early
in the morning, approximately 6:30 A.M., and due to fog, visibility was very poor. Turner, an enlisted man in the United States
Air Force, was en route to Florala to pick up a friend and thence to return to Eglin Field, his place of duty. The defendant,
A. D. McLaney, a man of 46 years of age and a Covington County road employee for 27 years, was driving a county owned flat-bed
truck in a northerly direction on Alabama Highway No. 55 toward Andalusia. He was engaged in delivering county road hands
to their designated place of work. Defendant attempted to make a left-hand turn into Covington County Road No. 4 toward Wing.
In so doing he angled across the western lane, designed for southbound traffic, into the path of the oncoming automobile driven
by the plaintiff, resulting in a collision between the two vehicles. The point of contact between the two vehicles was the
right front side of each vehicle, the major damage occurring when the auto came in contact with the protruding portion of
the right front corner of the bed of the truck. The road was straight and flat at the intersection and there were no physical
obstructions to hinder vision other than the foggy weather.