Giblin v. Dudley Hardware Co.

• Decision Date: 27 June 1922
• Docket Number: No. 5568.,5568.
• Citation: 117 A. 418
• Parties: GIBLIN v. DUDLEY HARDWARE CO.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

117 A. 418

GIBLIN

v. DUDLEY HARDWARE CO.

No. 5568.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 27, 1922.

Exceptions from Superior Court, Providence and Bristol Counties; George T. Brown, Judge.

Trespass on the case by John M. Giblin against the Dudley Hardware Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant excepts. Exceptions overruled, and judgment directed.

Alfred G. Chaffee and John A. Bennett, both of Providence, for plaintiff.

Green, Hinckley & Allen, Abbott Phillips, and Clifford A. Kingsley, all of Providence, for defendant.

SWEENEY, J. This is an action of trespass on the case for negligence. The declaration alleges that while the plaintiff was operating a taxicab a servant of the defendant corporation so negligently operated its motor delivery truck that it ran into the taxicab the plaintiff was operating and severely injured him.

At the close of the plaintiff's testimony, the defendant rested its case without introducing any testimony, and moved for a direction of a verdict in its favor. After argument the court denied this motion, and the defendant's exception was noted. The case was then submitted to the jury after argument by the attorneys for the defendant and the plaintiff and the charge of the court, and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff. The defendant then duly brought the case to this court by its bill of exceptions without making a motion for a new trial. Several exceptions are stated in the bill, but the only one now claimed is to the denial of the defendant's motion for a direction of a verdict.

The plaintiff proved that the motor truck was registered and owned by the defendant corporation. Defendant's motion for a direction of a verdict was based upon the claim that the plaintiff had not shown by competent evidence that the driver of the truck, at the time of the accident, was the servant of the defendant, and that the plaintiff should have introduced testimony tending to show that the driver of the truck, at the time of the accident, was the servant of the defendant and acting within the scope of his "employment.

The trial justice charged the jury that—

If they were satisfied that the auto truck "was the property of the defendant, then that fact would warrant the further presumption that at the time of the accident it was being operated on the highway by the servant of the defendant corporation, and that that servant was in the discharge of his duties as such servant, and acting within the scope of his authority. All of these things you would be warranted in assuming to be facts from the testimony as it appears before you at the present time."

Chapter 454, Public Laws 1909, requires every owner of a motor vehicle, before using it upon the public highways, to file with the State Board of Public Roads a statement under oath of his name, with a brief description of the motor vehicle owned by him, and, upon the payment of the proper fee for registration, the board will register such motor vehicle and assign to it a distinguishing number, and issue to the owner a certificate of registration for such motor vehicle. This distinguishing number must be placed upon the vehicle so that it can be seen, and said certificate must be carried upon such motor vehicle when the vehicle is operated upon the public highways. Said chapter also provides that if the owner of a motor vehicle so registered shall transfer his interest therein to some other person such registration shall expire immediately upon the transfer of such ownership, and that when he transfers his interest in such motor vehicle to some other person he shall also file with the said board a written notice, containing the name and place of residence of the new owner and the date of such transfer. The law also provides that no person shall operate a motor vehicle upon the public highways of the state unless it shall be duly registered.

An important reason for requiring motor vehicles to be registered and the distinguishing number assigned to the vehicle displayed upon it is to give a person injured by the operation of such vehicle an opportunity of identifying the owner thereof. Under the law above referred to a motor vehicle cannot be lawfully operated upon the public highways unless duly registered by the...