Lemire

The appeal is by defendant Louie Queirolo from a judgment following a jury verdict for plaintiff Jerome LeMire in the sum of $12,000 against said Queirolo as an individual and against defendants Walter Everett Lyman and Caruso Produce Express for injuries incurred in a multivehicle accident on January 3,1965.

The principal question on appeal is sufficiency of the evidence to support a judgment against Queirolo as an individual.

We disallow Queirolo’s contention that he was not individually liable. Our holding of liability is based upon (1) Queirolo’s estoppel (under circumstances we will discuss below) to assert corporate ownership and operation of the truck involved in the accident; also (2) independent substantial evidence supporting the jury’s implied finding of Queirolo’s individual ownership, operation and liability.

No argument is made that the driver of the Queirolo truck was not negligent proximately contributing to the accident.

On the day of the accident James Brown, its driver, had left unattended the northbound Queirolo truck and semitrailer on a snow-covered, winding two-lane highway in Siskiyou County. California Highway Patrolman Donald Lack arrived and started…