Morehouse v. Morehouse Bros. Co.

• Decision Date: 17 November 1923
• Citation: 99 Conn. 720,122 A. 791
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: MOREHOUSE v. MOREHOUSE BROS. CO.

122 A. 791

99 Conn. 720

MOREHOUSE v. MOREHOUSE BROS. CO.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

November 17, 1923

Appeal from Superior Court, New Haven County; L. P. Waldo Marvin Judge.

Action by Edna Morehouse against the Morehouse Bros. Company. Judgment for plaintiff. Upon defendant's motion, verdict was set aside. Plaintiff appeals. No error.

Action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the negligence of a servant of the defendant brought to the superior court in New Haven county, and tried to the jury. Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff to recover $12,500. Upon the defendant's motion the verdict was set aside. Appeal by the plaintiff. No error.

Where a corporation was organized to deal in building materials and to do construction work, and its president and general manager directed his son to use the company's automobile on a pleasure trip, the company was not liable for injuries caused by negligent driving by the son.

Cornelius J. Danaher, of Meriden, for appellant.

William B. Ely, of New Haven, for appellee.

CURTIS, J.

This is an action by a passenger in an automobile owned by the defendant company to recover damages for injuries caused by the negligent driving of the operator of the car alleged to be a servant or agent of the company.

After the plaintiff rested, the defendant introduced in evidence only the certificate of organization of the defendant company, which contained this article:

Article 2: " The purpose for which it is constituted is to buy, sell and deal in lumber and all kinds of building materials and supplies, to make and execute all kinds of building contracts, to build buildings and other structures of whatever materials composed, to do all kinds of carpenter and joiner work, wood work, mason work and painting, to purchase, lease, receive and convey and dispose of in any and every manner all property, real and personal, which may be necessary or convenient to be done in the management and prosecution of said business."

The evidence of the plaintiff disclosed the following facts: Andrew C. Morehouse, the father of the plaintiff and of Walter F. Morehouse, the operator of the automobile, was president and general manager of the defendant company, and resided in Meriden. On the evening of June 22, 1922, Andrew C. Morehouse, at his home, told his son Walter to take an automobile of the defendant and take his sister, the plaintiff, and several young people to Momauguin, a seaside resort on the Sound, upon a pleasure trip. His son Walter did as directed, and upon the trip drove the car off the road into a rock and tree under circumstances from which the jury reasonably found that he was negligent as alleged and thus caused the injuries received by the plaintiff. There was evidence from which the jury could reasonably have found that on June 22d Walter was in the employ of the defendant company.

It appears from this recital that in driving the automobile on the evening in question Walter was not driving it as a servant of the defendant company engaged in the prosecution of its business and acting in...