Messer v. Reid

• Decision Date: 16 January 1948
• Parties: MESSER v. REID et al.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

208 S.W.2d 528

186 Tenn. 94

MESSER v. REID et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

January 16, 1948

Rehearing Denied Feb. 28, 1948.

Error to Circuit Court, Shelby County; John W. Wilson, Judge.

Two actions by Purvis M. Masser against Mrs Wallace Reid and another, respectively for personal injuries to plaintiff and property damage sustained in automobile collision, and for wrongful death of plaintiff's wife killed in the same collision. From orders sustaining demurrers of named defendant to the declarations after the taking of nonsuits as to minor defendant, plaintiff appeals in error.

Affirmed.

On Petition to Rehear.

A master who intrusts servant with an instrumentality is subject to liability for harm caused by its negligent management by one to whom servant intrusts its custody to serve purposes of master, if servant should realize there is undue risk that such person will harm others by its management. Albert G. Riley, of Memphis, for defendant in error.

Robt. M. Nelson, W. Wright Mitchell and Don G Owens, all of Memphis, for plaintiff in error.

Albert G. Riley, of Memphis, for defendant in error.

John W Harris, of Memphis, for Donald Reid and Mrs. Wallace Reid.

GAILOR Justice.

These are actions for damages flowing from an automobile collision which occurred on the night of March 25, 1946, on Highway 70 outside the Memphis City Limits. In one suit Messer sued Mrs Reid and her minor son, Donald Reid, for his own personal injuries and property damage, and in the second suit he sought damages from the same Defendants for the wrongful death of his wife who was killed in the collision. So explained, the two suits may be considered and decided together, as the principles of law involved are identical.

Demurrers to the declaration by Mrs. Wallace Reid were filed and sustained by the Trial Judge and Plaintiff, after taking nonsuits as to Donald Reid, has perfected appeal from the orders sustaining demurrers.

We take the facts which we deem pertinent from the allegations in the declaration. Mrs. Wallace Reid, as a widow and head of the family, owned an automobile which she permitted her minor son, Donald Reid, to use for his convenience and pleasure. On the night of the accident, he had driven the car to the Palms, a night club on Highway 70, east of Memphis in Shelby County, and during the evening he loaned the car to one Robert Charles Kaisi, so that Kaisi might drive the car into Memphis alone and come back later to join Donald and his party at the Palms. At the time the loan was made, Kaisi was intoxicated and had no driver's license. A short while after Kaisi drove the car from the Palms the accident occurred on Highway 70, between the Palms and the city limits, and the accident was the direct and proximate result of the negligent operation of the automobile by Kaisi.

It appears from the declarations that the liability of Mrs. Wallace Reid is based on two theories: (1) The family purpose doctrine. (2) The legal liability of a parent for the torts of a minor son. To support the second theory the charge is made that Donald Reid was negligent in lending the car to Kaisi when the latter was drunk, unfit to drive and had no driver's license.

We consider the first theory. Bearing in mind that Donald Reid was not in the car at the time of the collision, the determining factor is the purpose of the loan of the car to Kaisi, and the latter's mission in the car at the time of the collision. The cases are uniform in holding that to state a cause of action under the circumstances against Mrs. Wallace Reid as head of the family under the family purpose doctrine, it was necessary to allege that Kaisi was not on a private mission in his own interest, but was on a mission for the business, convenience or pleasure of the head of the family, Mrs. Reid, or while the son was a passenger in the car. On this essential point the following is the only pertinent statement, which is identical in the two declarations: 'The defendant, Donald Reid, loaned and entrusted the said automobile to the said Robert Charles Kaisi, at the Palms, a nightclub on U.S. Highway 70 in Shelby County, Tennessee, in order that the said Robert Charles Kaisi might drive into Memphis and come back later that same night to the Palms and join the defendant, Donald Reid, and the rest of the party.'

Obviously, this allegation under the family purpose doctrine was insufficient and rendered the declarations fatally defective on demurrer.

The head of the family, under the family purpose doctrine, is liable only under the doctrine of respondeat superior. Raines v. Mercer, 165 Tenn. 415, 418, 55 S.W.2d 263; King v. Smythe, 140 Tenn. 217, 221, 204 S.W. 296, L.R.A., 1918F, 293; Keller v. Federal Bob Brannon Truck Co., 151 Tenn. 427, 437, 269 S.W. 914; Knoxville Ice & Cold Storage Co. v. City of Knoxville, 153 Tenn. 536, 561, 284 S.W. 866; States v. Sandefer, 163 Tenn. 558, 561, 44 S.W.2d 310.

Since Donald Reid was not in the car at the time of the collision, the rule made in Potter v. Golden Rule Grocery Co., 169 Tenn. 240, 84 S.W.2d 364; Tennessee Coach Co. v. Reece, 178 Tenn. 126, 156 S.W.2d 404, is not applicable here, though these cases are cited in briefs and were argued at the bar.

Clearly, since the quoted allegation from the declarations is the only statement of the mission of Kaisi, the grounds of the demurrer of Mrs. Reid which assert that she is not liable under the family purpose doctrine, were properly sustained.

We consider next the second theory of the declaration that because Donald Reid was negligent in lending the car to Kaisi when the latter was drunk, that Mrs. Reid as a parent, is liable for this tort (negligence) of her minor son. This theory is unsound because under the facts as they are alleged here, the minor is not liable for the careful selection of his servants and agents, and, therefore, the parent is not liable on that account, since the parent is only liable when the minor is liable. This principle stems also from universally recognized rules of the doctrine of respondeat superior: 'The tort must be the infant's own personal act. He is not liable upon the doctrine of respondeat superior. Upon the ground that an infant's appointment of an agent or servant is not binding upon him, it is uniformly held that an infant is not liable for torts committed by his agent or servant.' 27 Am.Jur., Infants, sec. 90, p. 813.

A minor who was permitted by his father to use the latter's automobile, loaned the car to a third person and that third person, when the minor was not a passenger in the car, had a wreck. It was held that the minor...