Helms v. Leonard

• Decision Date: 23 January 1959
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 593.
• Citation: 170 F. Supp. 143
• Parties: Leonard HELMS, Plaintiff, v. Tianada LEONARD, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

170 F. Supp. 143

Leonard HELMS, Plaintiff, v. Tianada LEONARD, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 593.

United States District Court W. D. Virginia, Abingdon Division.

January 23, 1959.

Dick B. Rouse and Widener & Widener, Bristol, Va., for plaintiff.

Donald Stant, Bristol, Va., for defendant.

THOMPSON, Chief Judge.

This is an action by Leonard Helms, a citizen of Bristol, Virginia, against Tianada Leonard, a citizen of Bristol, Tennessee, for damages in the amount of $75,000 for injuries he suffered in an automobile accident.

By agreement of counsel, this action was heard and tried by the Court without a jury. At the conclusion of the evidence the defendant moved for a dismissal under Rule 41 F.R.Civ.P., 28 U.S. C.A. and assigned grounds therefor as fully appear in the transcript of the record, which motion the Court took under advisement. Now having maturely considered said motion, for the reasons hereinafter set forth, the Court is of the opinion to deny the same and enter judgment for the plaintiff.

Issues to be Decided

At the time of the accident, the plaintiff, Helms, was riding in his own car which was being driven by Miss Leonard, the defendant. Miss Leonard was Helms' girl friend; she requested that he let her drive his Cadillac, which he did.

Issues

1. Did the plaintiff who was the owner of the car in which he was riding and which was being driven by the defendant at her request and with plaintiff's consent, become the guest of the defendant driver?

2. If the plaintiff was a guest of the defendant, was the defendant guilty of such gross negligence as is required before a guest can recover from a host under the Virginia Guest Statute?

3. If the defendant was not guilty of gross negligence, was she guilty of such ordinary negligence as would entitle the plaintiff to recover?

4. Was the plaintiff guilty of negligence which proximately contributed to the accident and his resulting injuries?

Findings of Fact

Both plaintiff and defendant were 37 years of age and unmarried. The plaintiff had been employed for approximately seven years as a mechanic for Associated Transport in Bristol, earning, at the time of the accident, $97 per week. The defendant was employed in a beauty shop in Bristol. They had known each other for a considerable time, and had been dating with some frequency. On these social occasions, it was their custom to drive about the city of Bristol and environs and talk, Miss Leonard normally doing most of the driving, as she enjoyed driving Helms' '49 Cadillac car.

The plaintiff had made an engagement with the defendant for 5 p. m. on March 30, 1957, the afternoon before the accident. Accordingly, that afternoon, he drove to her home on Ester Street in Bristol, Tennessee. When he arrived to pick up Miss Leonard, she suggested, as she often had done in the past, that he allow her to drive his Cadillac. Helms acquiesced, and she took the wheel and began to drive around town, as was their wont on such occasions. Her driving, on this occasion, as on all like occasions in the past, was careful, at least until the time of the accident.

Helms had confidence in her ability to operate the Cadillac in a safe manner, since she had driven it many times in the past without incident. Turning over the complete control and operation of the car to Miss Leonard created no hazard, and Helms' inattention to her driving was not a factor which contributed to the accident.

They decided to go to a dance at the V. F. W. Post on West State Street, and drove first to Helms' rooming house where they invited his landlady, Mrs. Carty, to accompany them to the dance. Helms and Miss Leonard had been taking dancing lessons together, and Mrs. Carty, who did not herself dance, liked to watch them. The plaintiff and defendant, accompanied by Mrs. Carty, set out for the dance, Miss Leonard still driving. All the driving on the night of this accident was done by Miss Leonard, at her request and with the consent of the plaintiff. They arrived at the dance about 9:00 p. m.

The three attended the dance, where Helms drank two bottles of beer, and bought six more in a carrier to take out. Neither Miss Leonard nor Mrs. Carty had anything to drink at the dance. At 12:00 or 1:00 a. m. when the dance was over, they left and took Mrs. Carty to her home on Oak Street. Then, Miss Leonard still driving, the plaintiff and defendant set out for a drive-in-restaurant nearby. When they reached it, it was closed, and they continued to ride around and talk. (It had been agreed between Helms and Miss Leonard that she would drop him off at his home, and then take his car to her residence, as she had frequently done in the past, returning it to him the following day.)

Sometime after 2:30 a. m., March 31, 1957, they started back toward the plaintiff's residence on Oak Street, the plaintiff drowsing in the seat beside Miss Leonard, who was driving. The defendant drove the car in a westerly direction along Sycamore Street until she reached the corner of Sycamore and Solar Street, and turned left on Solar Street, intending to drive down Solar to Cumberland Street, a distance of 388 feet, and then turn right on Cumberland, go around the block, and arrive on Oak Street on the side of the plaintiff's residence heading toward her own residence. Solar and Cumberland Street form a "T" with Solar ending where Cumberland crosses it. The view from Solar Street to Cumberland, other than the segment of Cumberland Street immediately in front of Solar, is obscured by a stone wall, as is the view from Cumberland back onto Solar. Miss Leonard was familiar with the street intersection and knew that there was a dead end and a stop sign on Solar to stop traffic entering Cumberland. She had driven the plaintiff home by this route several times prior to this occasion. As she came down Solar Street toward Cumberland, Miss Leonard, in obedience to the stop sign at the intersection, intended to stop and attempted to do so. However, her foot either glanced off the brake and struck the accelerator or she stepped on the accelerator by mistake; at all events, she failed to stop at the intersection, but instead accelerated across Cumberland Street, and smashed head-on into the stone wall immediately across from the debouchment of Solar into Cumberland Street. There were no tire marks on Solar Street. She did not stop at Cumberland Street, she lost control of the car, failed to make the proper turn, and drove the car into the block wall.

Just as the Cadillac driven by the defendant sped across Cumberland Street, Officer Charles Cross of the Bristol, Virginia Police Department, and Carl Honaker of the Bristol, Virginia Life Saving Crew were approaching the intersection of Solar and Cumberland Streets, on Cumberland Street, headed east. They saw the lights of the Cadillac shining from Solar Street into Cumberland, but could not see the Cadillac until it actually came out of Solar onto Cumberland Street, due to the fact that the view from Cumberland into Solar is obscured by a stone wall. They could only see the Cadillac during the brief instant it took it to traverse the 40 foot width of Cumberland Street, and observing it only from the side, they estimated that the Cadillac was going at a high rate of speed of approximately 55 miles per hour, and that no apparent attempt to stop it was being made by the driver.

The speedometer needle on the Cadillac was pointing to 55 miles after the car smashed into the wall, which fact could well have been the result of the needle being jarred to this point by the severe impact of the car with the wall, and this fact alone does not establish that the car was being driven at 55 miles per hour before the impact. In view of the fact that the officers only saw the Cadillac for a distance of 40 feet as it crossed in front of them in the nighttime, it is improbable that they could accurately have fixed the speed of the car; and they may have been influenced in their estimate of the speed by the position of the speedometer needle. There was no evidence that Miss Leonard had driven the car at an excessive rate of speed until she left Sycamore Street and was traveling Solar Street to Cumberland, the point of the accident.

The officer removed the parties from the wreckage; Miss Leonard had not been drinking, but there was an odor of liquor on Helms. There was a carton with six unopened bottles of beer in the wrecked car, and also one empty vodka bottle and one full one.

The plaintiff was taken immediately to the hospital, where he was given emergency treatment. The injuries from which the plaintiff was suffering at this time were a badly cut face, chipped teeth, possible fractured jaw, a crushed chest, broken ribs, a broken femur, a ruptured liver, bile in the peritoneum, and shock. The ruptured liver resulted in bowel peritonitis and jaundice. The broken femur resulted in a permanent two-inch shortening on the left leg, causing a slight limp. The shock of these massive injuries has resulted in a general neurasthenic condition in the plaintiff.

The plaintiff has made a remarkable recovery, and although some of his injuries are of a permanent character, it is not shown as a fact that his future earning capacity will be diminished by any known permanent injuries. The plaintiff was hospitalized for 192 days; he returned to work on January 27, 1958 at his old job and at the same wage. His total loss of wages was approximately $4,000, and his hospital, medical and nursing expenses also amounted to approximately $4,000.

The Court specifically finds the facts in this case to be as above stated.

Conclusions of Law

1. Did the plaintiff who was the owner of the car in which he was riding and which was being driven by the defendant at her request and with plaintiff's consent, become the guest of the defendant driver?

The resolution of this question is dependent upon the Virginia Guest Statute and the cases construing the same. The Virginia Guest S...