Malone v. Wright

Defendant-appellant, Charles E. Wright, appeals from a judgment rendered against him and another by a District Judge of the Eastern District of Kentucky, sitting without a jury. This was an automobile collision case and the District Judge found that appellant, concurrently with a codefendant, Liquid Transporters, Inc.,1 had negligently injured plaintiff-appellee, Andrew L. Malone. On July 2, 1961, plaintiff Malone was riding along a two-lane asphalt highway in Kentucky as a passenger in a station wagon driven by one Black. This vehicle was following a Pontiac automobile being driven, as found by the District Judge, by defendant Wright. Following both of the aforesaid vehicles was a trailer truck of Liquid Transporters, Inc. The defendant's Pontiac led the procession, the station wagon, in which plaintiff was riding, was second and the truck was third. The station wagon and the truck were going faster than the Pontiac and both pulled to the left side of the road to pass it. As they did so, the Pontiac suddenly started to swing into the left lane, forcing the driver of the station wagon to put on his brakes and pull onto the shoulder of the road. The truck then also swung to the left and struck the station wagon, causing injury to plaintiff Malone. The Pontiac, which had swung back to its own side of the road, reversed its direction by turning into a driveway and left the scene of the accident.