Styles v. Dennard, 37048

• Decision Date: 29 April 1958
• Docket Number: 2,No. 37048,Nos. 1,37048,s. 1
• Citation: 97 Ga.App. 635,104 S.E.2d 258
• Parties: C. B. STYLES v. J. L. DENNARD et al
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 258

104 S.E.2d 258

97 Ga.App. 635

C. B. STYLES v. J. L. DENNARD et al.

No. 37048.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division Nos. 1, 2.

April 29, 1958.

Rehearing Denied May 20, 1958.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where a number of individuals, each licensed to own and operate a taxicab individually or by an employee, jointly make use of the same trade name but each conducts his separate business and pays a fixed sum for the use of a cab stand, telephone facilities, and employee in charge of the same, nothing more appearing, such persons are not joint venturers or partners so as to charge one with the torts of another.

2. One who, through the use of such a trade name, operates his individual taxicab business, employing a driver to drive the taxicab for him on a commission basis, is liable for injuries tortiously inflicted by such driver upon a passenger, although the driver, after he had accepted the plaintiff as a passenger and before he actually set out to take him to his destination, transferred such passenger from the owner's vehicle to a substitute automobile not in fact licensed as a taxicab, the passenger having no knowledge that the substitution of vehicles was in any way irregular.

Charlie Styles filed an action for damages for personal injuries in the Superior Court of Fulton County, alleging that the defendants James Dennard and Thomas L. Griggs owned and operated a fleet of taxicabs under the trade name of Quick Service Trips; that Robert Thomas, driver of the taxicab in which the plaintiff was injured, was the agent of the defendants; that the defendants, in response to a telephone call from the plaintiff, sent the taxicab to a used car lot where the plaintiff was waiting; that the plaintiff informed the driver, Thomas, he desired to go to Buford, Georgia; that Thomas agreed; that it was necessary to go by the defendants' office and obtain another taxicab as the cab Thomas was the driving had a bad tire; that Thomas went to the office, obtained another taxicab, and instructed the plaintiff to transfer to this cab; that they proceeded toward Buford, and Thomas lost control of the car and cut sharply into the left-hand traffic land directly in front of an oncoming motor truck, causing a collision from which the plaintiff received serious and permanent injuries. The answers of Dennard and Griggs admitted that they each operated a taxicab but each denied that he operated any taxicabs in conjunction with any other person, denied that the driver of the car was his agent and denied that he had any interest in or control over the car in which the plaintiff was injured. On the trial the jury returned a verdict for the defendants. The plaintiff filed a motion for new trial on the general grounds which was amended by the addition of 19 special grounds, and the denial of this motion is assigned as error.

Walter B. Fincher, Glyndon C. Pruitt, Atlanta, J. Ray Merritt, Buford, for plaintiff in error.

Reuben A. Garland, Atlanta, for defendant in error.

TOWNSEND, Judge.

1. Thomas Griggs testified in part: 'I am a cab driver. My cab is operated under the name of Quick Service Trips. There were around 15 or 16 cars working from this Quick Service Trips at 929 Simpson Street. I know James L. Dennard. He operated a taxicab under the name of Quick Service Trips, the same organization I operated under. I know Robert Thomas, a cab driver. Whether Robert Thomas had been driving for Dennard about 4 or 5 years I really don't know. I operated one automobile myself, didn't have but one car. It is true that Robert Thomas did work out of there during the time I have spoken of. There was a girl there answering the phone and she is here today as a witness. Her name is Lydia [Lillian?] Griggs. I have a charter under the name of Quick Service Trips. It is registered in my name, Quick Service Trips, and this document you show me is the trade name certificate that I filed here at the courthouse which bears my name. I paid Lillian Griggs $10 a week. And Dennard didn't pay her anything. Dennard paid me $4.25 per week for operating under my name and I was to furnish the girl to answer the telephone. I guess Lillian Griggs was my agent out there, I don't know just exactly what that means; but I guess so. Dennard paid me a fee in order for her to also be his agent; I furnished her Dennard and she took phone calls for me and Dennard and worked for both of us. I am a member of the Atlanta Car for Hire Association. That is an association of taxicab drivers who operate as a unit in driving cabs in this town. I pay dues to that corporation. They authorized me and I do operate this stand which is known as the Quick Service Trips stand. I work under the auspices and under the supervision of the Atlanta Car for Hire Association. I do not hire or employ or pay the person you point out anything for driving a taxicab. I had from 14 to around 17 men who were drivers of the Atlanta Car for Hire who assembled at this stand where I had a $10 a week telephone woman. I did not own any of the cars they drove, I just own one car, myself. I don't make any money out of that car unless I drive it myself. Robert Thomas never did work for me, nor did he ever drive my car. I myself, have never directed him to go pick up passengers anywhere for me, for I was looking for passengers myself. I did not ever get any percentage out of any money that he took for operating the cab. No car was ever operated from that station that was not registered by the Atlanta Car for Hire Association. Nobody could operate from that company without having a car registered. You couldn't drive without being registered. I know James L. Dennard, and he only has one car that is registered and authorized to be operated as a taxicab. He and I are not partners. I am only a member of the Atlanta Car for Hire Association. I did not furnish any money or have any interest in the '49 Plymouth automobile owned by Robert Thomas. He never had been at any time my servant or agent to drive my cab, nor have I authorized him to drive any vehicles for me at any time. He merely used the telephone and the telephone service that he contributed for.' This testimony is undisputed, and is supported by like testimony on the part of Dennard and Harris, President of the Atlanta Car for Hire Association. When taken in connection with other undisputed facts to the effect that the plaintiff was injured in a car which did not belong to Griggs and in which he had no interest, which was driven by Robert Thomas, a man employed by Dennard but not Griggs to drive Dennard's taxicab, and in the absence of any testimony showing either that Griggs and Dennard were jointly engaged in the operation of a common business, or that either Dennard or Thomas was under the direction of or shared any agency relation with Griggs, a verdict was demanded in favor of the latter. The motion for a new trial was properly denied as to Thomas Griggs.

2. As to the defendant Dennard, the above testimony plus other undisputed evidence demands a finding that he was one of the several taxicab owners and operators, members of Atlanta Car for Hire Association, operating out of the stand and under the name of Quick Service Trips; that his automobile had received from municipal authorities a car for hire permit which allowed it to be used as a taxicab; that Robert Thomas had a taxi permit which licensed him to drive Dennard's taxicab; that he had been for a considerable time employed by Dennard to drive Dennard's taxicab, and that he owned an automobile which was not licensed as a taxicab. The evidence is undisputed that on the day in question the plaintiff requested that a taxicab be summoned for him by telephone and shortly thereafter one arrived and he entered the taxicab owned by Dennard and driven by Thomas, with the words 'Quick Service Trips' or at least 'Quick something' written ten on it, and that the plaintiff desired this transportation for the purpose of being taken by the Union Station to collect his baggage and then on to Buford, Georgia; that this taxicab was such a taxi as could be legally driven to Buford, Georgia, and that Thomas was authorized by Dennard to take passengers to Buford. Thomas was unauthorized to take passengers anywhere except as agent and driver for Dennard. Thomas first drove to the stand of Quick Service Trips, and Styles testified without objection or contradiction: 'In arriving there Robert Thomas sort of pulled up to the side [and] went into the place with me. I had a conversation with Lillian Griggs. I did discuss with her the price of the trip going to Buford. The driver said $20 and Lillian Griggs said around $15 and there was a discussion between her and the driver and they finally reconciled their differences as to what they were going to charge me and later came to an agreement to charge $12. There was a discussion about changing the taxicab. I stood around for a few minutes, the driver told me to wait...