Wachtel v. Bloch
Decision Date | 04 September 1931 |
Docket Number | 21343. |
Citation | 160 S.E. 97,43 Ga.App. 756 |
Parties | WACHTEL v. BLOCH. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
Guest cannot recover from driver of automobile for injury unless driver's conduct amounted to gross negligence; guest in automobile who protested against driver's speed, but made no request to leave vehicle, could not recover from driver for injuries unless driver was grossly negligent.
One riding by invitation and gratuitously in another's automobile cannot recover for injury caused by the other's negligence in driving, unless it amounted to gross negligence. The facts of this case bring it strictly within this rule.
Error from City Court of Macon; C. H. Hall, Judge.
Action by Mrs. Gus Wachtel against E. H. Bloch. Judgment was for defendant, and plaintiff's motion for new trial was overruled, and plaintiff brings error.
Affirmed.
Jones Jones, Johnston & Russell and Charles M. Cork, all of Macon for plaintiff in error.
Harris Harris & Popper, of Macon, for defendant in error.
Mrs Gus Wachtel sued Earl H. Bloch for damages alleged to have been sustained by her while riding with him in his automobile as his invited guest. The jury found for the defendant, and the exception here is to the judgment overruling the motion for a new trial.
The substance of the evidence shedding light upon the questions to be considered appears from the following statement: Prior to and at the time of the accident, the plaintiff was the defendant's invited guest, riding with him on the rear seat of his automobile. Milton Fried, the only other member of the party, was the defendant's friend, and was driving the car at his request. The road being traversed was an unpaved country road, winding, somewhat hilly, and containing many small wooden bridges. The automobile was traveling at a rate of speed somewhere between thirty-five and forty miles an hour. It was equipped with a device to make it ride more easily "by giving it more swing." The accident occurred at a point a few miles from the city of Macon, at the foot of a hill where the road joined a wooden bridge. Fried was an experienced driver and had traveled this road before.
Fried testified in part as follows:
We next quote briefly from the testimony of the defendant:
The following is a part of the testimony of the plaintiff ...
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