White v. Hall, 8436.

Citation188 S.E. 768
Decision Date08 December 1936
Docket NumberNo. 8436.,8436.
CourtSupreme Court of West Virginia
PartiesWHITE. v. HALL.

188 S.E. 768

WHITE.
v.
HALL.

No. 8436.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Dec. 8, 1936.


Syllabus by the Court.

1. "In action brought in this state to recover damages for a personal injury received in another state, the right of recovery will be tested by the laws of that state." Clise v. Prunty, 108 W.Va. 635, 152 S.E. 201.

2. Whether the owner or operator of an automobile is liable under a statute limiting his liability for injury to a gratuitous guest is ordinarily a question for the jury.

Error to Circuit Court, Kanawha County.

Action by Hattie White against Stine R. Hall. To review a judgment for defendant, plaintiff brings error.

Affirmed.

J. Howard Hundley, of Charleston, for plaintiff in error.

Payne, Minor, Ray, Maier & Davis, of Charleston, for defendant in error.

LITZ, Judge.

This is an automobile guest case in which the plaintiff, Hattie White, sues the defendant, Stine R. Hall, for personal injury sustained by her while riding as a guest in a Plymouth automobile owned and operated by him. The trial court entered a judgment of nil capiat on the verdict of the jury in favor of defendant, and plaintiff prosecutes error.

The defendant is the son-in-law of plaintiff. He, his wife, plaintiff, her husband, and the son of plaintiff left Saint Albans, Kanawha county, W. Va., at 5 o'clock on the morning of September 14, 1934, in the Plymouth car, driven by defendant, for Chicago, Ill., where the son was to enter college, and arrived in Chicago between

[188 S.E. 769]

3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. All of the party, except the son who remained in Chicago, left Chicago on their return to Saint Albans, September 15th, stopping for the night at or near Jonesboro, Ind. They left Jonesboro about 7:30 o'clock the next morning, en route to Saint Albans. Defendant was driving with his wife by his side. Mr. and Mrs. White were in the rear seat. After traveling about 9 miles in an eastern direction, and while the car was proceeding over a railroad crossing, near Wheeling, Ind., Mr. and Mrs. White, were violently thrown from their positions and injured. She suffered a compression fracture of the spine. The speed of the automobile at the time of the accident was, according to the testimony of plaintiff and her husband, between 50 and 60 miles per hour and in the opinion of defendant about 40 miles an hour. The road at the crossing was 38/10 feet higher than its elevation 100 feet from the railroad tracks in one direction, and 21/10 feet higher than the elevation of the road 100 feet from the tracks in the opposite direction. The road apparently was practically straight for five or six hundred feet from the crossing west. Defendant testified that he had no...

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