Carter v. Graves, 40424
| Decision Date | 11 March 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 40424,40424 |
| Citation | 230 Miss. 463,93 So.2d 177 |
| Parties | Wilba Glynn CARTER et al. v. G. H. GRAVES. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
E. B. Todd, Jackson, for appellant.
W. E. McIntyre, Jr., Brandon, for appellee.
This suit was instituted in a justice of the peace court in Rankin County against the appellant Wilba Glynn Carter and his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Carter, by the plaintiff G. H. Graves, to recover the sum of $136.75 as damages alleged to have been caused to the plaintiff's automobile by the negligence of the said Wilba Glynn Carter, a minor, who was over the age of seventeen years on August 4, 1955 when he is alleged to have negligently operated an automobile and caused the damage to the automobile of the plaintiff.
On August 26, 1954, the said minor applied for a license to operate an automobile in the State of Mississippi, when he was then under seventeen years of age, having been born on April 7, 1938. His said father and mother signed the application for the license. Section 8096, Code of 1942, Subsection (b) thereof reads in part as follows:
'Any negligence or wilful misconduct of a minor under the age of seventeen years when driving a motor vehicle upon a highway shall be imputed to the person who has signed the application of such minor for a permit or license, which person shall be jointly or severally liable with such minor for any damages caused by such negligence or wilful misconduct * * *'.
On December 16, 1955, the process for the defendants in the justice of the peace court reads as follows:
'The State of Mississippi,
'To Any Lawful Office of Rankin County:
'This is to command you to summon Wilba Glynn Carter, J. W. Carter, Mrs. J. M. Carter to appear before me, a Justice of the Peace of said County, at my office on Jail Street, on the 16th day of January, 1956, at ten o'clock A.M. to answer the Suit of G. H. Graves, Assignee of J. C. Murry and have there then this writ.
'Witness my land, this 16th day of December, 1955.
'/s/ H. P. Stockstill, J. P.'
The return of the sheriff thereon reads as follows: 'I have this day executed the within Writ on Wilbur Glenn Carter the within named Defendant, by leaving a true copy of the same in my County, with J. M. Carter, member of his family above the age of sixteen years, and willing to receive such copy. The said Defendant not found in my County.
'This the 16th day of December A.D., 1955
'D. P. Gayden, Jr.
by J. R. Edwards, Jr.
A separate summons was duly and personally served on each of the adult defendants, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Carter.
Section 1863, Code of 1942, reads as follows:
The judgment rendered by the justice of the peace in favor of the plaintiff and against the three defendants, based upon the verdict of the jury, was for the sum of $136.75. The judgment of the justice of the peace recited, among other things, that plaintiff 'appeared in open court and announced ready for trial', and that the defendants 'appeared in open court with their attorney and announced ready for trial'. The record further discloses without dispute that the minor defendant was unmarried, and it is also to be conceded that no copy of the summons was served upon him. He signed the appeal bond along with his parents for the appeal to the Circuit Court of Rankin County. It does not appear that the plaintiff was represented by an attorney in the justice of the peace court.
In the circuit court the minor defendant filed a plea to the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that he had not been legally served with process, and his father and mother filed an answer in their own right, denying the material allegations of the declaration of the plaintiff, and alleging that the application for the driver's license executed by Wilba Glynn Carter shows that at the time and on the date of the alleged negligent act of the said Wilba Glynn Carter he was more than seventeen years old, and that the application signed by them was prepared and furnished by the Commissioner of Public Safety under the authority and provisions of the said Section 8096, Code of 1942, hereinbefore quoted from, and that the said minor being over the age of seventeen years at the time of the said alleged negligent act, his cosigners of the application were not liable therefor under the provisions of the said statute. It is to be noted that subsection (b) of Section 8096, Code of 1942, provides that: 'Any negligence or wilful misconduct of a minor under the age of seventeen years when driving a motor vehicle upon a highway shall be imputed to the person who has signed the application of such minor for a permit or license * * *'. (Italics ours.)
In the case of Houston v. Holmes, 202 Miss. 300, 32 So.2d 138, 139, wherein it was sought to hold the father liable...
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Watkins v. Cupit
...common-law liability against the parent for the torts of his minor child. Houston v. Holmes, 202 Miss. 300, 32 So.2d 138; Carter v. Graves, 230 Miss. 463, 93 So.2d 177. Under the law of Louisiana, the contrary is true. Article 2318 of the LSA-Civil Code 'The father, or after his decease, th......
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