Woods v. Clements
Decision Date | 19 March 1917 |
Docket Number | 18817 |
Citation | 113 Miss. 720,74 So. 422 |
Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Parties | WOODS v. CLEMENTS |
APPEAL from the circuit court of Lauderdale county, HON. W. W VENABLE, Judge.
Suit by George B. Clements against C. F. Woods.
From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.
Appellee Dr. Clements, as plaintiff in the court below, brought this action to recover damages to his automobile as a result of the alleged negligence of the driver of appellant's Ford car. Appellant and his partner, one Poitivent, owned jointly a Ford car which was used by them in their real estate business. Mr. Woods made use of the Ford car while transacting the firm's business; while his partner, Mr Poitivent, used a horse and buggy owned by the firm and used in furtherance of the firm's business. Mr. Woods kept the Ford car at his home, and when he was not using the car himself he permitted the members of his family to use it for pleasure. Miss Majorie Woods is a daughter of appellant, a member of his family, and at the time of the collision complained of was twenty-two years old. Mr. Woods gave to this adult daughter permission at times to use the Ford car and states that he did not object to her using it at any time the car was not being used for business purposes. On the afternoon of Sunday, August 16, 1914, Miss Majorie, without the express permission of her father, but with his implied consent, took a pleasure trip with the Ford car and had with her her mother and two friends. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the daughter was not an experienced or good driver of a Ford car While going along one of the main highways in the city of Meridian, she attempted to pass by and to the left of Dr. Clements, who was driving his car in the same direction along the same road, and, in attempting to pass, Miss Woods, according to the evidence of plaintiff, negligently struck Dr. Clements' automobile, causing it to deflect to the right and down the right-hand side of an embankment and against a telephone pole, as a result of which plaintiff's car was injured. Upon the question of negligence, the evidence was in sharp conflict. The record shows that Mr. Woods was an experienced driver of a Ford car, and that he drove his own car whenever he used it, either for business or pleasure. There is some evidence tending to show that Mr. Woods, some months previous to the accident, taught his daughter how to drive a Ford car, and that Mr. Woods considered his daughter a good driver. There is no evidence tending to show that Mr. Woods ever made use of his daughter as a driver for himself, or that he ever requested her to run the machine for the benefit of his wife or other members of his family.
Appellant requested, and the court refused to grant, the following instructions:
There was verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, from which this appeal is prosecuted.
Reversed and remanded.
Amis & Dunn, for appellant.
The precise question presented by this appeal is this, namely; is the owner of an automobile, which was acquired for business purposes, but also used for the pleasure of his family, liable for an injury to a third person, negligently inflicted by an adult child, who is permitted by the owner to drive the car for her own purposes, such adult child being a careful and competent driver and so regarded by her father? Or to state it otherwise, does the fact that the owner of an automobile, which is kept for purposes of business, but is also used for the pleasure of himself and members of his family, who permits an adult child, who is a member of his family, and who is a careful and competent driver of an automobile, to drive the car for her own pleasure as well as that of her mother and friends, render him liable to third persons, for the negligence of such adult child while driving the car pursuant to the general and implied consent of her father so to do?
So far as we have been able to find the precise question has not been decided by this court. In the case of Wynne v. Halliday, decided by this court in October, 1915, and reported in 69 So. 685, the facts were these: The appellee sued the appellant for damages to his horse and buggy alleged to have resulted by reason of the horse becoming frightened at the appellant's automobile. The automobile was owned by the appellant, and on the occasion in question was driven by William Wynne, his seventeen year old son. William had been driving automobiles for three or four years, and when the automobile here in question was purchased by his father about a year before the injury to the appellee's horse and buggy, he was placed by his father in the exclusive control thereof and was charged with the duty of keeping it in repair and of driving it when in use by appellant or members of his family. On the occasion in question, with the appellant's knowledge and consent, several boys and girls accompanied by a chaperone, were going in the automobile from Laurel to Ellisville to a baseball game the automobile being driven by William. Appellee while driving his horse and buggy met this automobile at a narrow place in the road. The horse became frightened and ran away, causing the damages for which suit was brought.
In passing on these facts, the court speaking through SMITH, C. J., said: Citing Labatt's Master & Servant, section 2270. Now, by referring to section 2270, Labatt's Master & Servant, we find this language:
"Liability when imputable to the parent on the ground of the child being his servant or agent.--The operation of the general rule as to the non-liability of a parent for the torts of his child may also be avoided by proof that at the time when the injury was inflicted, the latter was employed by the former in the capacity of a servant or agent, either generally or with respect to...
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