Syverson v. Berg, 26893.
| Decision Date | 14 March 1938 |
| Docket Number | 26893. |
| Citation | 77 P.2d 382,194 Wash. 86 |
| Parties | SYVERSON et ux. v. BERG. |
| Court | Washington Supreme Court |
Department 2.
Appeal from Superior Court, Pierce County; F. G. Remann, Judge.
Action by R. Syverson and wife against Rodney Berg for injuries received by plaintiff wife in automobile accident. Judgment for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded, with directions.
Shank Belt, Rode & Cook, of Seattle, for appellant.
Hayden Metzger & Blair, of Tacoma, for respondents.
Plaintiffs a marital community, instituted this action to recover for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff wife as a result of the wreck of an automobile in which she was riding and which was operated by the defendant. From the judgment entered on the verdict in favor of the plaintiffs motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial having been overruled, the defendant appealed.
The sole question in whether the trial court should have held, as a matter of law, under the facts concededly as follows, that respondent wife was within the status of 'invited guest * * * without payment for * * * transportation.' Chapter 18, p. 145, § 1, Laws 1933; Rem.Riv.Stat. § 6297-1.
The minor daughter of respondents, who have resident in Tacoma several years, and appellant had been friends for more than a year at the time of the accident out of which this action arose. About a year prior to the accident appellant, who is an alumnus of Washington State College, invited respondents' daughter to accompany him on an automobile trip to Pullman for the purpose of attending a college dance. As the trip necessarily involved an overnight absence by the two young people, the girl's mother would not permit acceptance of the invitation. Approximately a year subsequently, appellant again invited the daughter to accompany him to Pullman to attend a formal military ball to be given at the college in March, 1936. For the same reason that obtained a year previously the mother refused to permit her daughter to make the trip.
The mother refused to be a member of the party when appellant inquired whether she would permit the trip to be made if she accompanied the young people as chaperon. However, about a week prior to the date of the military ball the mother yielded to the persuasion of her daughter and the appellant and granted permission to them to make the trip, on which journey the mother would accompany them as chaperon, her only purpose being to make the trip possible for her daughter and her daughter's friend.
On the Sunday preceding the accident, which occurred Friday afternoon March 20, 1936, the final plans made between the parties were that the mother, the daughter, and appellant, would partake of luncheon at respondents' home Friday afternoon March 20, 1936, and on the conclusion of that meal depart immediately in appellant's automobile. It was agreed that they would drive to Grandview to the home of respondent wife's mother, where the three would have dinner or supper, remaining overnight, and have breakfast with Mrs. Syverson's mother the next morning. Appellant and respondents' daughter were to drive to Pullman from Grandview the morning of March 21, attend the ball at the college in the evening, and when that was concluded return to the grandmother's home at Grandview for rest and refreshment prior to their departure with the girl's mother for Tacoma. The testimony was to the effect that the agreement to have dinner at respondents' home in Tacoma and to eat and lodge at the grandmother's home in Grandview was for the purpose of reducing the expenses of the trip.
On Friday, March 20, 1936, the mother, the daughter, and appellant had luncheon in respondents' home in Tacoma, from which point they departed for Grandview about 5 o'clock that afternoon. While operated by appellant at a high rate of speed, the automobile, near the town of Easton, hit a chuckhole in the highway, got out of control, ran into a ditch on the side of the road, and as a result the young lady's mother was seriously injured.
Section 1, c. 18, p. 145, Laws 1933, provides ...
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Scholz v. Leuer, 27836.
...driver of the car and the injured rider were fellow servants (or master's vice-principal and servant, respectively). In Syverson v. Berg, 194 Wash. 86, 77 P.2d 382, Fuller v. Tucker, Wash., 103 P.2d 1086, the court held that the host and guest statute precluded recovery by the person transp......
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...relationship as set forth in the Rosenstrom case, held that the facts presented a question for the jury on that issue. Syverson v. Berg, 194 Wash. 86, 77 P.2d 382. college alumnus invited a young lady to accompany him on an automobile trip from Tacoma to Pullman to attend a formal ball. Acc......
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...requirement of 'motivation' was adopted from the Washington cases of Fuller v. Tucker, 4 Wash.2d 426, 103 P.2d 1086; and Syverson v. Berg, 194 Wash. 86, 77 P.2d 382, and was reiterated in Oregon in Luebke v. Hawthorne et al., 183 Or. 362, 192 P.2d 990; and Rosa v. Briggs and Lafferty, 200 O......
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...by friendship or the social amenities. Washington cases holding that the invitee was a guest without payment are Syverson v. Berg, 1938, 197 Wash. 86, 77 P.2d 382 mother riding as chaperon of daughter and driver; Fuller v. Tucker, supra, 103 P.2d 1086, the plaintiff asked the defendant for ......