George M. Round v. Edward S. Pike

• Decision Date: 09 January 1930
• Parties: GEORGE M. ROUND v. EDWARD S. PIKE
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

148 A. 283

102 Vt. 324

GEORGE M. ROUND v. EDWARD S. PIKE

Supreme Court of Vermont

January 9, 1930

November Term, 1929.

Negligence---Joint Enterprise---Automobiles---Duties of Guest---Contributory Negilgence---Proximate Cause---Acts 1925, No. 70, 38 44---Imputed Negligence.

1. In ACTION OF TORT against driver of automobile to recover for injuries received in automobile accident through his alleged negligence, where occupants of automobile at time of accident consisted of six boys, including plaintiff and defendant, all of whom were members of a high school orchestra, and those other than defendant were, at his invitation, riding in automobile driven by him and owned by his grandfather, with owner's permission, held that parties were not engaged in joint enterprise, it not appearing that they had an equal right to direct and govern movements and conduct of each other with respect to the objects and purposes of undertaking.

2. An invited guest, riding in an automobile driven by another must take reasonable precautions for his own protection and act as a prudent man would act in same situation, but is not held to same degree of watchfulness as is driver, to keep speed within proper limits, whether riding in front or rear seat of automobile.

3. An invited guest, riding in an automobile driven by another, is not bound to anticipate that driver will omit exercise of proper care.

4. In action of tort for negligence, where plaintiff, riding in automobile driven by defendant, an unlicensed driver, a boy not quite sixteen years old, as his guest, knowing that they were approaching a dangerous curve ahead, informed defendant thereof, and of necessity of slowing down, and latter understood him and indicated his assent, and plaintiff knew that defendant had complied with a similar warning not long before, and that another licensed operator was seated next to driver, held that question whether plaintiff was guilty of con- tributory negligence in dismissing matter from his mind and turning to talk with those on back seat was for jury.

5. In such action, where plaintiff riding in automobile as guest of unlicensed driver, a boy not quite sixteen years old, warned him that they were approaching a dangerous curve and of necessity of slowing down, and then dismissed matter from his mind and turned to talk with those on back seat, fact that another licensed operator sitting next to driver subsequently warned defendant at a point nearer scene of accident, even though plaintiff did not hear it so that his conduct could not have been affected thereby, was a circumstance from which inference might be drawn that another warning by plaintiff had it been given, would have been ineffective, and that plaintiff's negligence, if any, in saying nothing further, was not contributory in a legal sense, because not part of proximate cause of accident.

6. In action of tort against driver of automobile to recover for injuries received in automobile accident through his alleged negligence, where driver was boy under sixteen years of age who could not be licensed under Acts 1925, No. 70, 38, his negligence was not as matter of law imputable to licensed driver riding on front seat with him, by which means, under Acts 1925, No. 70, 44, operation of automobile by unlicensed driver was made lawful.

ACTION OF TORT against driver of automobile to recover for injuries received in automobile accident through his alleged negligence. Plea, general issue. Trial by jury at the March Term, 1929, Rutland County, Sherman, J., presiding. Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant excepted.

Judgment affirmed.

Fenton, Wing & Morse for the defendant.

Marvelle C. Webber for the plaintiff.

Present: WATSON, C. J., POWERS, SLACK, MOULTON, ^[1] and WILLCOX, JJ.

OPINION

MOULTON

This is an action in tort to recover for injuries sustained in an automobile accident, caused, as alleged, by the negligence of the defendant. Trial was by jury, and the verdict was for the plaintiff. The defendant excepted. The only exception briefed is to the refusal of the trial court to direct a verdict for the defendant. The evidence taken, as it must be, in the light most favorable for the plaintiff tended to show the following facts: The plaintiff and the defendant were members of the Rutland high school orchestra, composed of six boys. The plaintiff was something over nineteen; the defendant was fifteen. On the evening of June 24, 1927, the orchestra furnished music at a dance at Middletown Springs. All the members of the orchestra went there from Rutland at the invitation of the defendant, in an automobile driven by him and owned by his grandfather, who had given him permission to drive it provided either the plaintiff, or another member of the orchestra named Robert Mangan, each of whom held a license to drive a car, should sit upon the front seat with him. The defendant had no license to drive and could not obtain one under the statute, because he was not yet sixteen years of age. No. 70, Acts 1925, § 38. The requirement that either the plaintiff or Mangan should sit on the same seat with him was to satisfy the provisions of section 44, of the Act above mentioned, and so enable the defendant lawfully to operate the automobile.

After the dance, the orchestra started on the return trip to Rutland. The defendant drove; Mangan sat next him; the plaintiff sat on the other side of Mangan; the other three boys sat on the rear seat. At about 1.30 A.M., on June 25 they reached a sharp curve in the road and here the accident took place. For two or three miles before reaching the curve the defendant had been driving at the rate of forty miles an hour. About 250 to 300 feet before reaching it the plaintiff said to the defendant: "There is a bad curve ahead. You will have to slow down before you hit it." The defendant nodded his head in assent. The plaintiff knew that he was understood, and so he dismissed the matter from his mind and turned to talk with the boys on the back seat, supposing that the defendant would pay attention to his warning. When about 150 feet from the scene of the accident Mangan warned the defendant and told him "to take it easy, a bad curve." Again the defendant nodded his head. The plaintiff did not hear Mangan speak. As the car entered the sharp part of the curve, without slackening speed, the defendant suddenly applied his brakes, the car skidded, went out of the road, struck a tree and the plaintiff sustained his injuries.

A quarter or half a mile before reaching the scene of the accident, one of the boys upon the back seat told the defendant to slow down, and the defendant did so. This was known to the plaintiff. The defendant had driven over the road four or five times before both by day and night. The plaintiff did not understand that it was necessary for both him and Mangan to sit on the seat with the driver, he testified: "Just one of us had to sit there."

The first two grounds of the motion for a directed verdict amount to the same thing, that the evidence, taken in the light most favorable for the plaintiff, showed that his own negligence contributed to the accident. No question is made as to the defendant's negligence. It is not claimed that the parties were engaged in a joint enterprise, and, indeed, it cannot be said as a matter of law upon the evidence that the parties had an equal right to direct and govern the movements and conduct of each other with respect to the objects and purposes of the undertaking; Robinson v Leonard, 100 Vt. 1, 8, 134 A. 706; Landry v. Hubert, 100 Vt. 268, 274, 137 A. 97...