Smith v. Laflar
| Decision Date | 28 July 1931 |
| Citation | 2 P.2d 18,137 Or. 230 |
| Parties | SMITH v. LAFLAR. |
| Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
Department 1.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Marion County; Percy R. Kelly, Judge.
Action by George Smith against G. W. Laflar. Judgment for plaintiff and defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
E. L McDougal, of Portland (Robin D. Day, of Salem, on the brief) for appellant.
Guy O Smith, of Salem (P. H. D'Arcy, of Salem, on the brief), for respondent.
Plaintiff owns certain real property in Salem which he was desirous of selling or exchanging for other property. He applied to defendant, a real estate broker of Salem, who informed him that he had a client who owned property in Harrisburg and who might make an exchange of the properties, and it was then arranged that plaintiff and defendant would go to Harrisburg to examine the property owned by defendant's client; later, it was decided that they should go together and use defendant's automobile for that purpose. While on the trip an accident happened and plaintiff sustained personal injuries for which he is now seeking to recover from defendant in this action.
There is no allegation in the complaint that defendant at the time of the accident intentionally caused said accident to happen, or that the accident was caused by the gross negligence or intoxication of defendant, or through his reckless disregard of the rights of others. The only allegation is that the defendant was negligent and such negligence caused the injury. Section 55-1209, Oregon Code 1930, provides: "No person transported by the owner or operator of a motor vehicle as his guest without payment for such transportation shall have a cause of action for damages against such owner or operator for injury, death or loss, in case of accident, unless such accident shall have been intentional on the part of said owner or operator or caused by his gross negligence or intoxication or his reckless disregard of the rights of others."
This statute makes payment, or the creation of an obligation to pay, for the transportation furnished the test of liability except in cases of gross negligence, intentional injury, the intoxication of the driver, or his reckless disregard of the rights of others. "Payment" is the transfer of money or property or some other thing of value in discharge of an existing obligation. Ordinarily it means the discharge in money of a sum due. And the test of whether there was any sum due for the transportation being furnished plaintiff by defendant at the time of the accident is whether the defendant could have recovered in an action at law for the reasonable or agreed value of the transportation furnished. The exemption from liability for an injury resulting to a guest while being transported in an automobile by its owner is a part of the substantive law of this state, and a person injured while being so transported as a guest must prove that he comes within one of the exceptions named in the statute before he can recover for the injury, and the burden of proving that he was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Holden v. Pioneer Broadcasting Co.
...Or.L.Rev. 70, 77 (1956). Cf. Oregon Liquor Control Comm. v. Anderson Food Markets, Inc., 1939, 160 Or. 646, 87 P.2d 206; Smith v. Laflar, 1931, 137 Or. 230, 2 P.2d 18; Annotation, 130 A.L.R. 440 (1941). We also construe the statute to be applicable to actions brought against the individual ......
-
Fountain v. Tidwell
...to pay for transportation or part of expenses is one that can be enforced in a court of law: Kerstetter v. Elfman, supra; Smith v. Laflar, 1931, 137 Or. 230, 2 P.2d 18; Hasbrook v. Wingate, supra; Hale v. Hale, 219 N.C. 191, 13 S.E.2d 221, 10 Automobile Cases 442; Bushouse v. Brom, 297 Mich......
-
Riggs v. Roberts
...anent custom were properly refused, since there was no pleading to justify them. Singh v. McKee, 38 Idaho 656, 225 P. 400; Smith v. Laflar, 137 Or. 230, 2 P.2d 18. At the conclusion of the case, evidence having been introduced by both respondent and appellant, the court granted a nonsuit, f......
-
Schwager v. Anderson
... ... therefor. Kastel v. Stieber, 8 P.2d 474; ... Sullivan v. Richardson, 6 P.2d 576; Smith v ... Fall River Joint School Dist. 5 P.2d 930; Brookhart ... v. Greenlease-Lied Motor Co. 244 N.W. 721; Puckett ... v. Pailthorpe, 223 N.W ... ...