Teague v. Pritchard

• Decision Date: 02 March 1954
• Citation: 38 Tenn.App. 686,279 S.W.2d 706
• Parties: Laverne TEAGUE et al., Appellants, v. Ralph PRITCHARD et al., Appellees. 38 Tenn.App. 686, 279 S.W.2d 706
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 706

279 S.W.2d 706

Laverne TEAGUE et al., Appellants, v. Ralph PRITCHARD et al., Appellees.

38 Tenn.App. 686, 279 S.W.2d 706

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Western Section.

March 2, 1954.

Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court July 23, 1954.

[38 TENNAPP 687] Ray W. Churchill, Memphis, for appellants.

[38 TENNAPP 688] Charles G. Morgan, Memphis, for appellees.

CARNEY, Judge.

These four cases, which were tried jointly, arose out of an automobile collision on May 16, 1952, in Memphis, Tennessee, when the car of plaintiff, Edgar Teague, driven by the plainiff, Laverne Teague, and occupied by the other plaintiffs, Peggy Millner and Marilyn Mitchell, was struck by a Ford station wagon owned by the defendant, Ralph Pritchard, negligently operated by an unidentified youth about eighteen years of age, who ran a stop light. The suits were for personal injuries and property damage to the several plaintiffs as set out in their respective Declarations. The young unidentified driver ran off immediately after the collision and has never been apprehended or identified.

The Declarations, insofar as the averments as to negligence on the part of defendants were concerned, were identical and the phraseology was as follows:

'* * * Plaintiff would show that the co-defendant, Mrs. Nancy Williams, was employed by the defendant, Ralph Pritchard, and that as such, she was permitted as part of her compensation the use and operation of the motor vehicle owned by the defendant, Ralph Pritchard; that both defendants knew that the ignition key, which locked the motor and the steering wheel, was stuck and could not be removed, and in the exercise of reasonable and ordinary care, could or should have known, that said car could be easily driven off by a stranger; that the defendant, Ralph Pritchard, had knowledge of this fact on May 16th, 1952, and for an indefinite period of time prior thereto; Plaintiff further alleges that the co-defendant, Mrs. Nancy Williams, did on or about the 16th [38 TENNAPP 689] day of May 1952, leave the defendant Pritchard's car, unattended on Carroll Street, Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, with said key in the ignition and the doors to the Station Wagon unlocked, and that said co-defendant, Mrs. Nancy Williams, knew that the area in which said car was negligently parked and unattended, was in a thickly populated section of the City of Memphis; that she knew, or in the exercise of reasonable or ordinary care could or should have known, that said Station Wagon was accessible to any stranger who desired to use said car; that with this knowledge the co-defendant, Mrs. Nancy Williams, negligently left said car unattended and went to Mississippi; Plaintiff avers in this respect that the leaving of said Station Wagon, unattended in a thickly populated section of the City of Memphis, with the key in the ignition, was an open invitation to any stranger to use said car and was a manifestation of complete indifference to any consequences that might or could arise from a stranger's use of said Station Wagon; that the said negligence and anticipatory knowledge of the defendants and/or each of them, that a stranger would or could use said vehicle, and, in permitting the Station Wagon to be left unattended with the key in the ignition and the doors unlocked, in a thickly populated section of the City of Memphis, and the negligence of an anticipated user in failing to yield the right of way, was the direct and proximate concurrent cause of Plaintiff's injuries aforesaid.

'Wherefore, the Plaintiff sues the defendants and/or each of them, for $750.00 damages, and demands a jury to try the cause when issues are joined.

'Ray W. Churchill

'Attorney for Plaintiff'

[38 TENNAPP 690] Upon motion of plaintiffs the defendants were required to plead specially and the substance of such pleas was to deny any acts of negligence on the part of either of said defendants; to deny that either of the parties knew that the ignition key was stuck and could not be removed; to aver that the station wagon of defendant, Pritchard, was stolen on the night of May 16, 1952, after being left parked on Carroll Street near the scene of the collision; and to aver that the negligence of the thief in the operation of said station wagon after the theft was the sole proximate cause of plaintiffs' injuries.

Upon the trial there was material evidence to support plaintiffs' allegations of their injuries and the negligence of the unidentified driver of the station wagon in running the stop light; that the ignition key was stuck in the station wagon and could not be easily removed, and that on this particular model automobile the locking of the ignition key operated also to lock the steering wheel of the station wagon; that the defendant, Pritchard, had loaned the car to the defendant, Mrs. Williams, to collect certain rentals for Mr. Pritchard; that the car was left parked at night by Mrs. Williams during the Cotton Carnival while she had gone to Mississippi for a visit, and soon thereafter some unidentified person, without the knowledge or permission of the owner, Pritchard, or the bailee, Mrs. Williams, took said station wagon and caused plaintiffs' injuries sued on in this cause.

There was no evidence that the defendant, Pritchard, or the defendant, Mrs. Williams, knew or had any way of ascertaining the identity of the driver of the Ford station wagon.

The plaintiff sought to introduce the registration records to show that the station wagon was registered in [38 TENNAPP 691] the name of defendant, Pritchard. Defendant objected to proof of registration, but admitted ownership, and plaintiff did not pursue question further after this admission.

Upon the conclusion of plaintiffs' proof, the defendants moved for and were granted directed verdicts in each of the four cases.

Motion for a new trial was overruled and plaintiffs' five Assignments of Error in this Court raise two questions:

First, whether the negligent acts, if such were to be found negligent by the jury, in leaving the station wagon unattended on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, during the annual Cotton Carnival, with the keys in the same, where someone could and did steal said station wagon, were the direct and proximate cause of plaintiffs' injuries, or whether the direct and proximate cause of plaintiffs' injuries was the intervening negligence of the unidentified person who stole the station wagon and ran into plaintiff's automobile.

The second question is whether the plaintiffs were entitled to go to the jury on the presumptions set out in Section 2701 and Section 2702 of the Code.

The first question does not seem to have been decided before in Tennessee. It has arisen a number of times in other states and the cases all seem to hold that the negligence of the thief in operating a stolen car is the efficient...