Waller v. Hipp
| Decision Date | 10 April 1935 |
| Docket Number | 91. |
| Citation | 179 S.E. 428,208 N.C. 117 |
| Parties | WALLER v. HIPP et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Nash County; Devin, Judge.
Action by Guy E. Waller against L. M. Hipp and another. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal.
No error.
Employer is responsible for employee's negligence which results in injury to third person, where employee is acting within scope of employment.
This is an action to recover of the defendants damages for personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff, and caused, as alleged in the complaint, by the negligence of the defendant L. M. Hipp an employee of the defendant the Quaker State Oil Refining Company, Inc., while he was driving an automobile which was owned by the defendant the Quaker State Oil Refining Company Inc., in the performance of his duties as its employee, and in which the plaintiff was riding as a passenger.
In their answer, the defendants admit that the plaintiff was injured as alleged in the complaint, and that at the time he was injured he was riding as a passenger in an automobile owned by the defendant the Quaker State Oil Refining Company Inc., and driven by its employee, the defendant L. M. Hipp, in the performance of his duties. They deny that plaintiff's injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant L. M. Hipp, as alleged in the complaint.
At the trial, evidence was introduced by the plaintiff; no evidence was offered by the defendants or by either of them.
The issues submitted to the jury were answered as follows:
From judgment that plaintiff recover of the defendants the sum of $12,500, with interest and costs, the defendants appealed to the Supreme Court, assigning as error: (1) The refusal of the court to allow their motion for judgment as of nonsuit; (2) an instruction of the court to the jury in its charge; and (3) the refusal of the court to allow defendants' motion to set aside the verdict, on the ground that the damages assessed by the jury are excessive.
Cooley & Bone, of Nashville, and Alexander & Gold, of Rocky Mount, for appellee.
Burgess, Baker & Allen, of Raleigh, for appellants.
In view of the admissions in the pleadings in this action, the only question involved in the first issue submitted to the jury was whether the plaintiff's injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant L. M. Hipp, as alleged in the answer.
It is alleged in the complaint and admitted in the answer that at the time the plaintiff was injured, he was riding in an automobile which was owned by the defendant the Quaker State Oil Refining Company, Inc., and driven by the defendant L. M. Hipp in the performance of his duties as its employee; and that the plaintiff was riding in the automobile upon the invitation of the defendants, and for the purpose of aiding the defendant L. M. Hipp in the performance of his duties as an employee of the defendant the Quaker State Oil Refining Company, Inc.
On these admissions in their answer, both the defendants are liable to the plaintiff for the damages which he sustained as the result of his injuries, if his injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant L. M. Hipp, as alleged in the complaint. It is elementary law that the employer is responsible for the negligence of his employee which results in injury to a third person, when the employee is acting within the scope of his employment and about his employer's business. See Martin v. Bus Line, 197 N.C. 720, 150 S.E. 501.
The evidence at the trial tended to show that as the plaintiff and the defendant L. M. Hipp were riding in the automobile on a state highway between the town of Fountain and the town of Farmville, at a speed of 35 to 37 miles an hour, the automobile side-slipped or skidded, and that the defendant L. M. Hipp, the driver,...
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