Livingston v. Schreckengost

• Decision Date: 10 December 1963
• Docket Number: No. 51124,51124
• Citation: 255 Iowa 1102,125 N.W.2d 126
• Parties: Ralph W. LIVINGSTON, Administrator of the Estate of Opal M. Livingston, Appellee, v. Cleo SCHRECKENGOST, Administrator of the Estate of Rachel Irene Schreckengost, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 126

125 N.W.2d 126

255 Iowa 1102

Ralph W. LIVINGSTON, Administrator of the Estate of Opal M. Livingston, Appellee, v. Cleo SCHRECKENGOST, Administrator of the Estate of Rachel Irene Schreckengost, Appellant.

No. 51124.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 10, 1963.

Brown, Dresser, Kinsey & Jolas, and Earl Smith, Mason City, for appellant.

Breese & Cornwell, and Stanley L. Haynes, Mason City, for appellee.

STUART, Justice.

I. Plaintiff's decedent died from injuries sustained in an accident which occurred while she was riding in an automobile owned and driven by defendant's decedent, who was also killed. For convenience, Mrs. Livingston, the passenger will be referred to as plaintiff and Miss Schreckengost, the driver will be referred to as defendant. The details of the accident are not pertinent to the disposition of the case as the only evidentiary question presented on appeal is the application of the Iowa guest statute, section 321.494, Code of Iowa, I.C.A., which reads:

'The owner or operator of a motor vehicle shall not be liable for any damages to any passenger or person riding in said motor vehicle as a guest or by invitation and not for hire unless damage is caused as a result of the driver of said motor vehicle being under the influence of intoxicating liquor or because of the reckless operation by him of such motor vehicle.'

The trial court submitted the question of plaintiff's status to the jury which returned a verdict for plaintiff. Defendant contends the evidence establishes plaintiff was a guest as a matter of law.

As is often the case, the dispute is not over the principles of law, but their application to the facts. 'One who rides in an automobile 'for the definite and tangible benefit of the owner or operator' or 'for the mutual, definite, and tangible benefit of the owner or operator on the one hand, and of himself on the other' is not a guest within the meaning of section 321.494 and he may recover for negligence of the driver. One who claims this statute is not applicable has the burden to prove his status was other than a guest.' Winter v. Moore, Iowa, 121 N.W.2d 82, 86 and Knutson v. Lurie, 217 Iowa 192, 195, 251 N.W. 147, 149.

'Ordinarily where the only benefits conferred upon the person extending the invitation are those incidental to hospitality, companionship or society, the passenger is held to be a guest. Where the passenger is a social guest or casual invitee he is usually regarded as a guest even though he may contribute something toward the expenses of the journey and may be expected to operate the car on part of the trip. McCornack v. Pickerell, 225 Iowa 1076, 283 N.W. 899; Sullivan v. Harris, 224 Iowa 345, 276 N.W. 88; Vance v. Grohe, 223 Iowa 1109, 274 N.W. 902 ; Clendenning v. Simerman, 220 Iowa 739, 263 N.W. 248.' Doherty v. Edwards, 227 Iowa 1264, 1268, 290 N.W. 672.

'[E]ach case must be decided in the light of its own facts; and we think it is always important to ascertain, if possible, what it was that primarily motivated the undertaking.' Nielsen v. Kohlstedt, Iowa, 117 N.W.2d 900, 904. In determining the motivation and intention of the parties, their relationship and all circumstances surrounding the transaction are material. Nielsen v. Kohlstedt, Iowa, 117 N.W.2d 900, 904; Knutson v. Lurie, 217 Iowa 192, 198, 251 N.W. 147; Brand v. Rorke, 225 Ark. 309, 280 S.W.2d 906; Ritter v. Dexter, 250 Iowa 830, 95 N.W.2d 280.

In considering whether a verdict should have been directed for defendant, the evidence is to be viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff. Plaintiff and defendant, both in their forties, had been friends since childhood. Their families had visited in each other's homes and attended the same church. These parties still worked together in church activities. Defendant had never married and lived with her brother and sister on a farm near Mason City. Plaintiff, her husband and three children lived in Mason City. Both were school teachers and both needed summer school to renew their certificates. Both planned to attend State College of Iowa during the summer of 1961.

Originally defendant had intended to stay in Cedar Falls during the week, returning home only on the weekends. Before the summer school started, however, plaintiff and defendant had arranged to take turns driving and to commute daily between Mason City and Cedar Falls. Others attending the state college were asked to join them but did not do so. The first week of school plaintiff drove the first three days because her husband needed the car on Thursday and Friday. They had extra passengers to Cedar Falls on Monday and back to Mason City on Friday. With one exception the passengers paid one dollar apiece to the driver of the car. One of the passengers testified that when she asked plaintiff for a ride, she stated she would have to get defendant's permission. On the next Monday, two extra persons rode to Cedar Falls with those parties in plaintiff's car. The accident happened on Tuesday, June 27, 1961 as plaintiff and defendant were driving to Cedar Falls in defendant's automobile. One of the passengers testified without objection:

'I am quite positive that Mrs. Livingston and Rachel had an agreement they would be taking turns, one would drive one day and one would drive the other, off setting the cost that each would have. I mean they would just share in the expenses. Those of us other than Miss Schreckengost and Mrs. Livingston were to pay the one who drove the day we rode, and the standard payment that had been set up by students from Mason City to Cedar Falls and vice versa was a dollar.'

The same witness testified that the defendant in response to an inquiry as to how they could drive back and forth every day, 'commented that they took turns driving, which gave one of them a rest every other day, and that they seemed to be getting along fine doing it.'

This set of facts leads us into the 'share the ride cases' identified in the annotation in 146 A.L.R. 640 as those cases 'where there was a standing agreement between several persons to share a ride in an automobile owned by one or more of them for a period of some length of time. It does not include those cases where there was only an agreement to share expenses, etc., of a single trip.' There was a rash of these cases during World War II when we were asked to share rides to further the war effort.

We have not heretofore determined if such an arrangement takes the passenger out of the guest statute. Haas v. Owens, 248 Iowa 781, 81 N.W.2d 654 involved a cash payment of a share of the expenses for a single trip only. Nielsen v. Kohlstedt, supra, involved transportation of one employee by another to the job, but there was no evidence of a sharing of the expenses or an agreement to exchange rides. The Minnesota Supreme Court considered the Iowa guest statute in the case of Burt v. Richardson, 251 Minn. 335, 87 N.W.2d 833, and held that the sharing of expenses on a long vacation trip took the case out of the guest statute as a matter of law because the driver received a substantial and tangible benefit when he received $46.85 more than his share of the expense.

A great majority of the cases from other jurisdictions which have passed upon this problem have held either that such an arrangement takes the passenger out of the guest statute as a matter of law, Bond v. Sharp, 325 Mich. 460, 39 N.W.2d 37; Kinney v. Kraml Dairy, Inc., 20 Ill.App.2d 531, 156 N.E.2d 623; Huebotter v. Follett, 27 Cal.2d 765, 167 P.2d 193; Dennis v. Wood, 357 Mo. 886, 211 S.W.2d 470; Ott v. Perrin, 116 Ind.App. 315, 63 N.E.2d 163; Coerver v. Haab, 23 Wash.2d 481, 161 P.2d 194, 161 A.L.R. 909; or creates a factual issue for jury determination. Kempin v. Mardis, 123 Ind.App. 546, 111 N.E.2d 77; Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Stitzle, 220 Ind. 180, 41 N.E.2d 133; Brand v. Rorke, 225 Ark. 309, 280 S.W.2d 906; Ehrsam v. Borgen, 185 Kan. 776, 347 P.2d 260. Petitions alleging a share the ride agreement have been held to state a cause of action on negligence. Sparks v. Getz, 170 Kan. 287, 225 P.2d 106; Lisner v. Faust, 168 Ohio St. 346, 155 N.E.2d 59. See annotations in 146 A.L.R. 640 and 161 A.L.R. 917.

The only case we have found which holds clearly to the contrary is the case of Everett v. Burg, 301 Mich. 734, 4 N.W.2d 63, 146 A.L.R. 639. The Michigan court subsequently in Bond v. Sharp, 325 Mich. 460, 39 N.W.2d 37, held a similar agreement created a passenger for hire relationship as a matter of law. The latter case made no attempt to make a factual distinction, but pointed out that each case must be decided upon its own facts and called attention to the importance of ascertaining the motivation for the arrangement.

The evidence in this case created a factual question as to the relationship between the parties. It was for the jury to determine whether the business arrangement to save expenses or the companionship of close friends was the primary motive. The close relationship between the parties and the fact that plaintiff might have had stronger reasons for wishing to commute would support a finding that defendant's purpose was primarily social and the saving of the expenses only incidental. On the other hand, the obvious advantage both enjoyed in only driving half the time, together with the additional savings on the cost of meals and room which would have been incurred if they stayed during the week, would support a finding the relationship was primarily one of business and was to the tangible mutual benefit of both parties, thus removing the passenger from the guest statute. We cannot say under this record the arrangement was purely social and the sharing of the expenses incidental, as a matter of law, which we would be required to do to sustain defendant's position.

II. Defendant takes strong and detailed exception to the trial court's 7th Instruction which reads:

'Your second duty in this case is to find whether or not Rachel Irene Schreckengost and...