Summary
In Sewell v. Douberly, 116 Ga. App. 65 (156 S.E.2d 582), it was stated, "As plaintiff was still in process of alighting from the vehicle when she was injured, the guest passenger relationship had not terminated."
Summary of this case from Roe v. GrimesOpinion
42831.
ARGUED JUNE 12, 1967.
DECIDED JUNE 23, 1967.
Action for damages. Savannah City Court. Before Judge Oliver.
Sullivan Herndon, Richard H. Herndon, for appellant.
Hitch, Miller, Beckmann Simpson, Luhr G. C. Beckmann, for appellee.
In this suit to recover for personal injuries caused by defendant's negligence in the operation of an automobile, plaintiff's petition showed that plaintiff was a guest passenger, that defendant had stopped the vehicle in order to discharge plaintiff and had left the motor running, that plaintiff had stepped to the ground and that while plaintiff was reaching back into the vehicle to remove her package a third person inside the vehicle struck the gear shift, engaging the automobile in reverse gear and causing it to lurch backward and knock plaintiff to the ground. Held:
As plaintiff was still in process of alighting from the vehicle when she was injured, the guest passenger relationship had not terminated. Where plaintiff did not expressly allege gross negligence, but charged merely that defendant's conduct was ordinary negligence, and the facts alleged did not demand the inference of gross negligence, it was not error to sustain defendant's general demurrer to the petition. Townsend v. Minge, 44 Ga. App. 453 ( 161 S.E. 661); Capers v. Martin, 54 Ga. App. 555 (5) ( 188 S.E. 465); Wilder v. Steel Products Co., 57 Ga. App. 255, 257 ( 195 S.E. 226); Perry v. Poss, 86 Ga. App. 169, 173 ( 71 S.E.2d 283); McBee v. Williamson, 96 Ga. App. 859 (3) ( 101 S.E.2d 910).
Judgment affirmed. Pannell and Joslin, JJ., concur.