Morrow v. Hume

Full title: MORROW v. HUME, ADMX

Court: Supreme Court of Ohio

Date published: Jun 17, 1936

131 Ohio St. 319 (Ohio 1936)

3 N.E.2d 39

Opinion

No. 25413

Decided June 17, 1936.

Negligence — Excessive speed of automobile not wantonness, when — Employee riding in automobile owned and driven by superior co-employee — Killed through driver's negligence on a trip in employer's service — Negligence action maintainable notwithstanding dependents received workmen's compensation, when — Guest and driver not engaged in joint enterprise, when — Jury — Voir dire examination — Connection with or interest in casualty insurance company — Court to restrict interrogation when lack of good faith indicated.

1. Excessive speed in the operation of an automobile is not of itself sufficient to constitute an act of wantonness.

2. When, prior to the effective date of the guest statute (Section 6308-6, General Code), an employee who is riding in an automobile owned and driven by his superior co-employee under the latter's sole control, is killed through the negligence of the driver in operating the car, while both are engaged in making a trip in the service of the employer, an action for such negligence may be maintained notwithstanding the dependents of the deceased are entitled to and have received compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law. ( Landrum v. Middaugh, 117 Ohio St. 608, distinguished.)

3. Under such circumstances the guest and driver are not engaged in a joint enterprise as to the operation of the automobile in which they are riding.

4. The plaintiff in an action for damages for wrongful death caused by the alleged unlawful operation of an automobile, has a right to interrogate the jurors on their voir dire (1) as to whether they are connected with or interested in a casualty insurance company and (2) as to the extent thereof; but when the mode of questioning is such as to indicate lack of good faith on the part of plaintiff's counsel it is the duty of the court to compel the inquiry to proceed according to approved methods of interrogation. ( Dowd-Feder, Inc., v. Truesdell, 130 Ohio St. 530, approved and followed.)

ERROR to the Court of Appeals of Trumbull county.

Jane Flora Hume, the administratrix of the estate of James W. Hume, Jr., deceased, as plaintiff, brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas of Trumbull county, Ohio, against Charles A. Morrow, as defendant, to recover damages for wrongful death of the decedent while both were riding in a Cadillac sedan owned and operated by the defendant and proceeding in a westerly direction on Route 18. It is undisputed that when the automobile was about two and one-half miles west of Rootstown, Ohio, it left the roadway and hit a telephone pole resulting in the wreck of the car, the injury of the defendant and the death of James W. Hume, Jr.

The cause of action set forth in the amended petition was grounded upon the alleged "wilful and wanton negligence" of the defendant. The answer thereto contained a second defense to which a demurrer was sustained. This defense, after properly pleading that the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company had qualified as a self-insuring employer under the Workmen's Compensation Act, reads as follows:

"The defendant further alleges that on and prior to said 28th day of July, 1931, he was employed as a Vice President and general manager of sales of the Youngstown Pressed Steel Co. and that plaintiff's decedent, James W. Hume, Jr., on and prior to said date was employed as a salesman for the said company; that it was one of the duties of both defendant and plaintiff's decedent to interview prospective purchasers of the employer's goods and effect sales of the employer's products.

"That on the 28th day of July, 1931, a prospective purchaser of the products of the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company, doing business in the City of Detroit, Michigan, desired to confer with representatives of the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company relative to entering into a contract of purchase. That the defendant, Charles Morrow, was expressly authorized and directed by his employer to go to Detroit, Michigan, for the purpose of the Company's products and to take with him the plaintiff's decedent.

"That, acting under the express authority and directions of the employer, the defendant started to drive an automobile to Detroit and taking with him plaintiff's decedent as he had been directed to do by his employer and while driving to Detroit, Michigan, in furtherance of his employer's business, the accident happened which resulted in the death of plaintiff's decedent.

"Defendant further alleges that on or about the 2nd day of September, 1931, the plaintiff in this cause of action, the dependent of James Hume, Jr., the killed employe, accepted directly from the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company, the employer of plaintiff's decedent, the sum of One Thousand Thirty-eight Dollars and Twenty-five cents ($1038.25), which was the amount of the funeral expenses and an amount greater than is provided for in the Workmen's Compensation Act, that the said Company also paid hospital bills in the sum of Eighteen Dollars ($18.00).

"That on the........day of........, 1931, an application was filed with the Industrial Commission of Ohio asking for an award of compensation for the death of James Hume, Jr., and on the 5th day of October, 1932, said application came on for hearing at which time a finding was made by the Industrial Commission awarding to Jane Flora Hume, the plaintiff herein, as the widow and one of the dependents of James Hume, Jr., deceased, two-thirds of Sixty-five Hundred Dollars ($6500.00), the maximum amount of award that the Industrial Commission could make under the laws of Ohio where death results from injuries received in the course of employment, the other one-third of the Sixty-five Hundred Dollars having been awarded to other dependents of deceased. The award to Jane Flora Hume was ordered to be paid at the rate of $12.50 per week; that in accordance with said award the Youngstown Pressed Steel Co. on the 8th day of October, 1932, paid to the said Jane Flora Hume the sum of Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), being the amount due her on said date from July 28th, 1931, the date of decedent's death, at the rate of $12.50 per week."

Upon trial a verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $40,000, a remittitur of $15,000 was granted with plaintiff's consent and judgment entered in her favor in the sum of $25,000.

Error was prosecuted in the Court of Appeals and on hearing that court reversed the judgment and remanded the cause for a new trial.

The grounds for reversal are stated in the journal entry in the Court of Appeals as follows:

"The Court of Common Pleas committed prejudicial and reversible error in failing to sustain objections of the defendant to questions propounded by plaintiff on the voir dire examination of members of the jury relating to their interest in insurance companies.

"The Court of Common Pleas committed prejudicial and reversible error in giving to the jury before argument special written requests, Numbers one [ sic, seven], eight and nine, at the instance of the plaintiff.

"The Court of Common Pleas committed prejudicial and reversible error in its general charge to the jury when it employed the term 'wanton and willful negligence' a number of times.

"And in further consideration thereof the Court find there is no error apparent on the record in the proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas, in this, to-wit:

"In sustaining the demurrer of the plaintiff to the second defense of the defendant's answer to plaintiff's amended petition.

"In overruling the motion of the defendant at the close of plaintiff's evidence and at the close of all of the evidence to arrest the testimony from the jury, and to direct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant."

Charles A. Morrow, plaintiff in error, felt aggrieved at the remander and failure of that court to enter final judgment in his favor; thereupon, he filed a motion to certify the record to this court which was allowed.

Other facts are stated in the opinion.

Messrs. Patchin Burgess, Messrs. Hartshorn, Thomas Abele and Mr. Arnold M. Edelman, for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Charles M. Wilkins and Mr. L.L. Guarnieri, for defendant in error.

WILLIAMS, J.

Were the facts such that the court was warranted in submitting the questions of wilfulness and wantonness to the jury?

The amended petition charged that the defendant was guilty of wanton and wilful carelessness, negligence and recklessness in driving his automobile at a high rate of speed and permitting it to leave the highway. The trial court, in the charge, and by giving plaintiff's requests referred to in the journal entry of the Court of Appeals, injected "wilful and wanton negligence" into the case.

The theory upon which the case was tried was that if the defendant was guilty of "wilful and wanton negligence" the plaintiff could recover under Landrum v. Middaugh, 117 Ohio St. 608, 160 N.E. 691, and was based upon language in the opinion which indicates that an injured employee entitled to and receiving compensation could maintain an action against his foreman predicated upon the latter's wilful, malicious or wanton act.

The Court of Appeals took the position that there was no proof of wilfulness but that there was evidence requiring submission of the case to the jury on the question of wantonness.

The defendant, Charles A. Morrow, testified that at the time of the accident he was driving his automobile some forty to forty-five miles per hour. While there was no witness to the accident other than the defendant, testimony of other witnesses was adduced tending to show that the car was driven from Warren, Ohio, to the point where it left the road, in such a short period of time that the rate of speed must have been much higher. The defendant further testified that no other automobile was approaching at the time, that he did not know that the automobile was off the pavement, that the first intimation he had of anything out of the ordinary was a crash and that when he came to he was sitting on the running board of his car. His testimony in this respect was uncontradicted. There can be no inference that he wilfully drove the car off the highway or wilfully injured the decedent. On the other hand, wantonness can never be predicated upon speed alone; but when the concomitant facts show an unusually dangerous situation and a consciousness on the part of the driver that his conduct will in common probability result in injury to another of whose dangerous position he is aware, and he drives on without any care whatever, and without slackening his speed, in utter heedlessness of the other person's jeopardy, speed plus such unusually dangerous surroundings and knowing disregard of another's safety may amount to wantonness. Vecchio v. Vecchio, ante, 59; Universal Concrete Pipe Co. v. Bassett, 130 Ohio St. 567, 200 N.E. 843. The evidence adduced did not tend to prove a wanton act.

There is no evidence in the record to show that the automobile left the road on account of the speed at which it was going, but it appears merely that the machine left the road without explanation as to the cause. Under the circumstances the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is applicable and the law of negligence governs. Weller, Exrx., v. Worstall, 129 Ohio St. 596, 196 N.E. 637.

Did the trial court err in sustaining the demurrer of the plaintiff to the second defense?

After the demurrer was sustained an amended answer was filed which omitted that defense; there is, therefore, a question whether the defendant by amendment waived any error that may have been committed in sustaining the demurrer. We will, however, pass by the question of waiver and proceed to a consideration of the sufficiency of the second defense.

In brief, the defense was based upon the claim that the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company, the employer of both the defendant, who was vice president in charge of sales, and of the decedent who was working as a salesman under the direction and control of the vice president, had complied with the Workmen's Compensation Law of Ohio, that the decedent was entitled to and had received compensation from the Workmen's Compensation fund in this state, and that the defendant as superior of the decedent could not be personally liable in damages for decedent's death under the rule laid down in Landrum v. Middaugh, supra.

As this court takes the view that neither wilfulness nor wantonness is involved, there can be no recovery unless plaintiff's right to recover can properly be predicated on defendant's negligence in the operation of the car. There is no question that the defendant owed a duty to third parties, not employees of the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company, who might be using the highway.

The guest statute (Section 6308-6, General Code) was not in force at the time of the accident. Therefore there is presented the simple question whether the defendant owed a duty to the decedent. It is admitted in the first defense of the answer that the automobile was owned and driven by the defendant. It appears from the allegations of the second defense that in making the trip to Detroit, the defendant was acting under express authority and direction of the employer and in furtherance of his employer's business, but no facts are alleged which show that the employer had any power or right to direct the operation and control of the automobile.

This court is driven to the conclusion that this case may be distinguished from Landrum v. Middaugh, supra. In that case a board had been caught by a conveyor and by it carried into a dry pan, thereby obstructing and interfering with the free operation of the machinery. The defendant, who was the foreman of the company operating the plant, directed the "plaintiff together with a fellow worker to assist him" in taking the board from its lodgement. As the plaintiff, in obeying the order, reached his left arm into and under the dry pan to get the board, the defendant foreman, without notice or warning, started the machinery thereby crushing plaintiff's arm. It thus appears that the foreman was the alter ego of the employer in the operation of the employer's machinery.

In the instant case the defendant was in a different position in that he was operating and controlling his own automobile. The defendant did owe a duty to the decedent and may be held to respond in damages for the wrongful death based on his negligence provided all elements warranting recovery are present.

Were the defendant and the decedent engaged in a joint enterprise in the driving of the automobile?

At the time they were making a trip together to execute a common purpose, the securing of a contract to furnish certain goods to the Kelvinator Refrigerator Company at Detroit, Michigan, and were on their way to their destination by a direct route. They were not, however, engaged in a joint enterprise in the operation of the automobile. To constitute a joint adventure in that respect it would be necessary for each to have authority to act for all in respect to the control of the vehicle. Bloom v. Leech, Admr., 120 Ohio St. 239, 166 N.E. 137. What is more to the point, persons engaged in a joint enterprise owe each other a duty; in other words, if one of the members of a joint enterprise is free from contributory negligence and the other is guilty of actionable negligence causing injury, the joint adventurer injured may recover from the other. The reason for the rule is stated in Bloom v. Leech, Admr., supra:

"When the action is brought by one member of the enterprise against another, there is no place to apply the doctrine of imputed negligence. To do so would be to permit one guilty of negligence to take refuge behind his own wrong. The situation when the action is brought by one member of the enterprise against the other is entirely different from that when recovery is sought against a third person. For present purposes it is sufficiently accurate to say that the relations of joint adventurers as between themselves are governed practically by the same rules that govern partners. Harm v. Boatman, 128 Wn. 202, 222 P. 478. In the case of partners, an action for damages will lie by one partner against the other for wrongs inflicted upon the person or property of the one seeking to recover."

There was no joint enterprise and, if there were, it would not preclude liability.

Was there error in interrogating the prospective jurors on their voir dire?

The Court of Appeals applied the rule of Vega, Admr., v. Evans, 128 Ohio St. 535, 191 N.E. 757. Since the determination of the error proceeding in that court, this court has decided the case of Dowd-Feder, Inc., v. Truesdell, 130 Ohio St. 530, by which the third paragraph of the syllabus in Vega, Admr., v. Evans, supra, was modified.

The plaintiff below had the right to interrogate a juror on his voir dire regarding his connection with casualty insurance companies, and as to any interest he might have therein and the extent of his connection or interest, but counsel could not propound the questions in such form as to evidence lack of good faith. If the mode of interrogation does not comply with the rule it is the duty of the trial court in all cases to require counsel to put the questions in such a way as to be in accordance with orderly procedure.

As there is nothing to show bad faith in the instant case the questions were proper and the trial court was bound to allow them.

The Court of Appeals did not err in reversing the judgment of the trial court, but did err as to the grounds of reversal.

The judgment of that court will be affirmed and the cause remanded for a new trial in accordance with the principles of the law of negligence as hereinbefore pronounced.

Judgment affirmed.

WEYGANDT, C.J., STEPHENSON, MATTHIAS, DAY and ZIMMERMAN, JJ., concur.