Leonard v. Helms, 7868.
| Decision Date | 05 August 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 7868.,7868. |
| Citation | 269 F.2d 48 |
| Parties | Tianada LEONARD, Appellant, v. Leonard HELMS, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Donald T. Stant, Bristol, Va. (Bradley Roberts, and Stant & Roberts, Bristol, Va., on the brief), for appellant.
H. E. Widener, Jr., Bristol, Va. (Widener & Widener, and Dick B. Rouse, Bristol, Va., on the brief), for appellee.
Before SOPER and HAYNSWORTH, Circuit Judges, and BARKSDALE, District Judge.
This is an appeal by Tianada Leonard, defendant below, from a judgment of the District Court awarding Leonard Helms, the plaintiff below, damages in the sum of $13,000 for serious injuries suffered by him in an automobile accident which occurred in Bristol, Virginia, when Miss Leonard was driving Helms's Cadillac automobile, with Helms seated beside her, and drove the car into a stone wall at a street intersection.
The parties resided in Bristol on the borderline between Virginia and Tennessee. Both unmarried and in their thirties, they had known one another for several years and frequently went out together. Customarily they drove about in the evening in the area of Bristol in Helms's car with the lady at the wheel, as she liked to drive the Cadillac.
About 5:00 p. m. on the afternoon of March 30, 1957, Helms drove to Miss Leonard's house to keep an engagement they had previously made. At her suggestion Helms allowed her to drive and they drove around the city of Bristol, as was their usual custom, prior to attending a dance at a V.F.W. Post in the city. Before going to the dance they drove to Helms's rooming house where they invited his landlady to accompany them. She accepted; and they arrived at the dance about 9:00 p. m. While there Helms drank two beers but neither of the ladies had anything to drink. After midnight they left the dance and, with Miss Leonard still driving, took the landlady home. From there they proceeded to a restaurant on the road to Abingdon, Virginia. Finding the restaurant closed they continued to drive around and talk until after 2:00 a. m., when they decided to return home.
It was early Sunday morning and following a past practice they planned to drop Helms at his rooming house, after which Miss Leonard was to drive the automobile to her house and return it later in the day. Sometime after 2:30 a. m., when Helms had fallen asleep, Miss Leonard, in driving the car, failed to obey a stop sign at a street intersection near the rooming house, mistakenly placing her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake, so that the car crashed into a stone wall on the other side of the street whereby both occupants were badly injured.
Helms instituted the pending suit against Miss Leonard to recover damages on account of his injuries, and by agreement of counsel the case was submitted to the District Judge who rendered a verdict for the plaintiff. He found as a fact that Miss Leonard did not operate the car with such heedless and reckless disregard of the rights of others as to constitute gross negligence but that she was guilty of ordinary negligence, which was the sole proximate cause of the accident, when she failed to stop the car at the street crossing in the manner above described. See Helms v. Leonard, D.C., 170 F.Supp. 143. The pending appeal is taken from the judgment based on this finding since it is contended that under the facts of the case there can be no recovery in Virginia against the driver of a car for injuries resulting from its operation unless they were caused by the gross negligence of the operator.
This contention is based on § 8-646.1 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, which is as follows:
"No person transported by the owner or operator of any motor vehicle as a guest without payment for such transportation and no personal representative of any such guest so transported shall be entitled to recover damages against such owner or operator for death or injuries to the person...
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