Co-op Cab Co. v. Howard
Co-op Cab Co. v. Howard
Opinion of the Court
(After stating the foregoing facts.) There is no question raised by the defendant relative to the evidence being insufficient to authorize the jury to find that the plaintiff was injured and that such injuries were the result of negligent operation of the taxicab by the driver thereof. The sole question presented is whether the evidenced authorized the finding that the taxicab was being operated, at the time the plaintiff was injured, by an agent and servant of the taxicab company acting within the scope of his authority. The defendant insists that the fact that the cab in which the plaintiff was riding at the time of her injury bore the words <e Co-op Cab Company” would at most only raise a presumption that the cab was owned by the defendant, and was not sufficient to raise a presumption that the driver of the cab had authority to drive it at the time and place, or that such driver was at the time operating the cab as the agent and servant of the defendant. The plaintiff’s ease does not depend entirely on the fact that she was
The evidence authorized the jury to find that the cab in which the plaintiff was riding at the time she was injured belonged to the cab company, and was being operated as a taxicab of the company in transporting the plaintiff, a passenger for hire, at the time the plaintiff was injured.
While there was evidence that while the driver of the taxicab was not on duty, and that under the rules of the cab company he was not authorized to operate the .taxicab at the time the plaintiff was injured, it appears that the company was a common carrier of passengers, and the driver of the taxicab in which the plaintiff was injured was a taxicab driver of the company, and the plaintiff hired the taxicab to carry her as a passenger to Columbus, and while she was being transported as a passenger she was injured as the result of the negligent operation of the taxicab.
The court did not err in overruling the motion for new trial of the defendant cab company.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.