Ausich v. Frank

• Decision Date: 03 October 1950
• Docket Number: No. 7652,7652
• Parties: AUSICH v. FRANK.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 1073

222 P.2d 1073

70 Idaho 494

AUSICH v. FRANK.

No. 7652.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Oct. 3, 1950.

Richards, Haga & Eberle, and Dale Morgan, all of Boise, for appellant.

A. T. Fredricks, Boise, for respondent.

KOELSCH, District Judge.

On the evening of February 23, 1948, the plaintiff, Ann Ausich, a woman then thirty years of age, in the company of, and in an automobile driven by, Marjorie Malkweitz, came from Mackay, Idaho, to Arco Idaho, to attend a basket ball tournament being played in the last named village. The two women left the tournament after the first game had been played and walked to the Sawtooth Club, a place where liquors are sold. They were followed by the defendant, Phares Frank, and Dean Solberg, who had come from Mackay in Frank's automobile to attend the basket ball tournament, and who had sat close behind the two women during the game. At the bar of the Sawtooth Club, each member of this party was served with high-ball drinks, being mixed whiskey and carbonated water. There is some dispute in the evidence as to the number of drinks imbibed by each of them.

They remained at the Sawtooth Club for about an hour, when Dean Solberg and Mrs. Malkweitz left in the latter's automobile on the return trip to Mackay. There is some conflict in the evidence whether Miss Ausich, in not returning to Mackay with her friend Mrs. Malkweitz did so at the solicitation of appellant Frank, on his promise to take her home, or whether she asked him for the ride back to Mackay. At any rate, she and appellant left on the return trip shortly after the other two had gone. When they arrived at Darlington, a village about half way between Arco and Mackay, appellant left the paved highway and turned his car onto a county road, referred to as McAfee Lane, running directly east from Darlington. He testified that he did so at the request of Miss Ausich 'to stop and more or less detain our travel to find out what was holding up the other party behind us.'

McAfee Lane is a narrow country road, uneven and rough in places, and paralleled at one place on its northern side by a borrow pit about 22 inches deep. In looking for a convenient place to turn back to the highway, Frank drove about three-quarters of a mile along this Lane. He testified that his rate of travel on this Lane was from 25 to 30 miles per hour, and that when about to turn, he was confronted by a cow; that to avoid striking the cow, he first swerved his automobile a few inches to the right, and, having passed the animal, turned sharply to his left; that in so doing he ran into the borrow pit on the north side of the road and to its opposite side where the bumper of his car struck the north wall or bank of this pit, causing the damage to the car and the injuries to Miss Ausich, who was rendered unconscious and thrown out of the car by the impact.

As her cause of action the plaintiff alleges in her complaint that 'the defendant, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor did, with reckless disregard of the rights of others, including this plaintiff, and while said automobile was traveling at a high and dangerous rate of speed, suddenly swerved his aforesaid automobile to the right, driving it completely off the aforesaid county road and into a borrow pit on the left-hand or northerly side thereof.'

The case was tried before a jury on November 28, 29 and 30, 1949, at Arco, Butte County, and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff, respondent here, for $17,100.

From an order denying the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; from the order denying defendant's motion for a new trial, and from the judgment entered pursuant to the verdict, the defendant, Phares Frank, prosecutes this appeal.

Appellant assigns as one of his specifications of error, the submission by the trial judge to the jury of the question whether Miss Ausich was or was not a guest in the automobile of appellant on the return trip from Arco.

Appellant takes no exception to the correctness of Instruction No. 12 given by the Court, but contends that because there was no dispute in the evidence on the subject, the question whether respondent was a guest was one of law to be decided by the Court.

With this contention we agree. It is true that, as hereinbefore stated, the appellant testified that Miss Ausich asked him to take her to Mackay, and that respondent testified appellant insisted that they remain and let the other two go ahead. This conflict is of no moment, for whether we take his testimony that she asked him to remain and let the others go ahead, or her testimony that he insisted she remain while the other two left, there is no evidence whatever that she paid for her transportation, or rendered any consideration therefor, and the circumstances and the occasion make the conclusion inescapable that their relationship was a social one, and that respondent's ride with appellant was for her pleasure and their mutual entertainment. Parrett v. Carothers, 11 Cal.App.2d 222, 53 P.2d 1023; Dorn v. Village of North Olmsted, 133 Ohio St. 375, 14 N.E.2d 11. In fact, it appears from respondent's complaint that she impliedly recognized the relationship between her and respondent Frank from the beginning of their return trip from Arco was that of guest and host. Her cause of action is not based upon ordinary negligence, but alleges facts made necessary by the statute, Sec. 49-1001, I.C., to entitle a guest to maintain an action for damages against a host. It is not likely that she would have assumed this additional burden had she not believed she was a gratuitous guest in appellant's automobile at the time of the accident.

The Court, therefore, erred in submitting to the jury the right to determine the possible status of the respondent as a passenger. Melcher v. Adams, 174 Or. 75, 146 P.2d 354.

That it was prejudicial error to give this instruction becomes quite obvious upon a consideration of all the instructions given. Nowhere was the jury told, that in order to determine whether the respondent was a passenger or a mere guest in appellant's automobile, at least nine of their number must agree upon that finding; and if nine of them agreed she was a guest, then they could not render a verdict for the respondent, unless at least nine of their number further agreed appellant was intoxicated at the time, or that he drove his automobile in reckless disregard of the rights of the respondent. The jury's verdict is general, and there is nothing to negative the possibility that though less than nine may have concluded the respondent was a guest, the remaining jurors holding the opinion she was a passenger, may have joined in the verdict on the ground the evidence showed appellant guilty of ordinary...