Kitchens v. Duffield

• Citation: 149 Ohio St. 500,79 N.E.2d 906
• Decision Date: 19 May 1948
• Docket Number: 31239.,31238
• Parties: KITCHENS v. DUFFIELD (two cases).
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Ohio

79 N.E.2d 906

149 Ohio St. 500

KITCHENS v. DUFFIELD (two cases).

Nos. 31238, 31239.

Supreme Court of Ohio

May 19, 1948

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Section 6308-6, General Code, commonly called the 'guest statute,' relieves the owner or operator of a motor vehicle from all liability for the injury or death of a gratuitous guest being transported in such motor vehicle resulting from the operation thereof, unless the injury or death is caused by wilful or wanton misconduct in the operation of the vehicle.

2. Section 6308-6, General Code, applies to the operation of motor vehicles over both public and private ways or avenues of travel.

Appeals from Court of Appeals, Franklin County.

On April 8, 1943, Mary Eleanor Kitchens was a guest-passenger in a private automobile being driven over a thoroughfare within the limits of the Lockbourne Army Air Base (near the city of Columbus, Ohio), which air base was wholly owned by the United States. A collision occurred between the vehicle in which Mrs. Kitchens was riding and a United States Army motor truck, and Mrs. Kitchens was injured.

Two actions for damages predicated upon carelessness and negligence were filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin county against Geraldine K. Duffield, the driver of the automobile in which Mrs. Kitchens was a guest-passenger--one by Mrs. Kitchens to recover for the injuries she sustained and the other by her husband, William F. Kitchens, to recover for expenses already incurred and those to be incurred on account of the injuries to his wife.

Demurrers were filed to the second amended petitions of the Kitchens on the ground that such petitions did not state causes of action for the reason that they failed to allege wilful or wanton misconduct on the part of the defendant within the terms of Section 6308-6, General Code.

Both demurrers were sustained by the trial court and, the plaintiffs not wishing to plead further, the amended petitions were dismissed.

Separate appeals to the Court of Appeals resulted in affirmances of the judgments below.

The cases are now in this court for determination pursuant to the allowance of motions to require the Court of Appeals to certify its records.

McGhee Rowe, Evans and F. J. Collopy, all of Columbus, for appellants.

Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease and George E. Frater, all of Columbus, for appellee.

ZIMMERMAN Judge.

There appears to be no dispute among the parties that these actions are governed by the laws of Ohio. Title 16, Section 457, United States Code Annotated.

Section 6308-6, General Code, effective in 1933 and commonly called the 'guest statute,' reads as follows:

'The owner, operator or person responsible for the operation of a motor vehicle shall not be liable for loss or damage arising from injuries to or death of a guest while being transported without payment therefor in or upon said motor vehicle, resulting from the operation thereof, unless such injuries or death are caused by the wilful or wanton misconduct of such operator, owner or person responsible for the operation of said motor vehicle.'

Subdivision 14 of Section 6290, General Code, defines 'operator' as including any person who drives or operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways.

Plaintiffs contend that Section 6308-6, General Code, has reference only to injuries or death of guest-passengers on public roads or highways. In making this point they argue that the place where Mrs. Kitchens was injured was subject to permissive use by the army authorities and was a private driveway on private property; and that Sections 6308-6 and 6290, General Code, are in pari materia, and, read together in the light of Section 6307-8, General Code, which allows the owner of real property used by the public for the purpose of vehicular traffic to regulate travel thereon, Section 6308-6, General Code, is without application or relevancy to the instant cases.

Assuming that plaintiffs are correct in their claim that Mrs. Kitchens was injured on a private thoroughfare, we cannot subscribe to the rest of their argument.

'Clearly, the purpose of the Ohio statute [Section 6308-6, General Code] is to relieve a motorist from all liability for injury to or death of his 'guest' resulting from the operation of the motor vehicle, unless such injury or death results from the motorist's wilful or wanton misconduct in such operation.' Duncan v. Hutchinson, 139 Ohio St. 185, 188, 39 N.E.2d 140, 142; Vecchio v. Vecchio, 131 Ohio St. 59, 1 N.E.2d 624.

It is also commonly recognized that 'guest statutes' generally are designed and intended to discourage fraud and collusion between gratuitous guests in motor vehicles and the owners or...