De Villars v. Hessler
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania |
| Writing for the Court | Before MAXEY; HORACE STERN |
| Citation | 363 Pa. 498,70 A.2d 333,14 A.L.R.2d 470 |
| Decision Date | 03 January 1950 |
| Parties | , 14 A.L.R.2d 470 DE VILLARS et al. v. HESSLER et al. |
Page 333
v.
HESSLER et al.
Page 334
F. Joseph Thomas, Meadville, for appellants.
Stuart A. Culbertson, Meadville, for appellees.
Before MAXEY, C. J., and DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE, and JONES, JJ.
HORACE STERN, Justice.
In this case plaintiffs filed a complaint, defendants an answer together with new matter, and plaintiffs a reply to the new matter. The court sustained a motion [363 Pa. 499] by defendants for judgment on the pleadings, the question involved being the right of a member of an unincorporated association to recover from it for injuries sustained through a tort committed by other members in carrying out an association project.
Accepting as true all the allegations contained in plaintiffs' complaint and their reply to new matter, it appears that Kiser Hill-Mead Grange is an unincorporated fraternal association in Crawford County. At the Crawford County Fair it had a concession for the sale of food. Defendants (who are respectively designated in the action as the master, the overseer, the treasurer, and the members of the executive committee) were in charge of the operation of this concession. They requested the wife plaintiff to serve in the capacity of cooking and dispensing the food, and, for the purpose of preparing the food, they provided a protane gas steam table. When the wife plaintiff, in the course of the performance of her duties, attempted to light the burners of the table, it exploded, causing injuries to her for which she and her husband brought the present suit. Plaintiffs assert that defendants were negligent in furnishing a defective, inadequate and unsafe steam table which was so improperly connected that it could not safely be lighted, in failing to provide adequate means to prevent it from remaining lighted, and in failing to notify her that it was unsafe and unfit for use and that it was dangerous to light it. In their reply to new matter they admit that the wife plaintiff is not only a member of the association but also its secretary, that she actively participated in the endeavor of the association to raise funds and in the conduct of its concession at the Crawford County Fair, and that although she did not actively participate in the purchase of the table it was bought by virtue of her own motion. They further admit that in operating the steam table she did so for the benefit of the association when [363 Pa. 500] the persons in charge were absent and could not be found.
There can be no question but that the wife plaintiff and her fellow members who participated in the operation of the concession on behalf of the association were engaged in a...
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Inglis v. Operating Engineers Local Union No. 12, No. 12
...of certain members in managing a steam table at a fair concession maintained by the association, was denied in DeVillers v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 14 A.L.R.2d 470, on the ground that the negligence of any one of the members is imputed to each and all of them and since negligence......
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Kemether v. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Ass'n, No. CIV. A. 96-6986.
...there is thereby created a mutual relationship of agency among them." Selected Risks, 552 A.2d at 1385 (quoting DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 335 (1950)). I conclude that there is a mutual relationship of agency among the member schools of Del Val for the purposes of their......
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McRoberts v. Phelps
...note 18, supra; 30 Am.Jur., Joint Adventures, § 172. 20 Instances wherein joint ventures have been found to exist: DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 14 A.L.R.2d 470; Kingsley Clothing Manufacturing Company, Inc., v. Jacobs, 344 Pa. 551, 26 A.2d 315; Nolan v. J. & M. Doyle Comp......
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Selected Risks Ins. Co. v. Thompson
...appellee was a "class one" insured for stacking purposes.9 The Superior Court, relying on this Court's decision in DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333 (1950), concluded that unincorporated associations "are not recognized as entities at law, and have no existence separate and apa......
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Inglis v. Operating Engineers Local Union No. 12, No. 12
...of certain members in managing a steam table at a fair concession maintained by the association, was denied in DeVillers v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 14 A.L.R.2d 470, on the ground that the negligence of any one of the members is imputed to each and all of them and since negligence......
-
Kemether v. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Ass'n, No. CIV. A. 96-6986.
...there is thereby created a mutual relationship of agency among them." Selected Risks, 552 A.2d at 1385 (quoting DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 335 (1950)). I conclude that there is a mutual relationship of agency among the member schools of Del Val for the purposes of their......
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McRoberts v. Phelps
...note 18, supra; 30 Am.Jur., Joint Adventures, § 172. 20 Instances wherein joint ventures have been found to exist: DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333, 14 A.L.R.2d 470; Kingsley Clothing Manufacturing Company, Inc., v. Jacobs, 344 Pa. 551, 26 A.2d 315; Nolan v. J. & M. Doyle Comp......
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Selected Risks Ins. Co. v. Thompson
...appellee was a "class one" insured for stacking purposes.9 The Superior Court, relying on this Court's decision in DeVillars v. Hessler, 363 Pa. 498, 70 A.2d 333 (1950), concluded that unincorporated associations "are not recognized as entities at law, and have no existence separate and apa......