Egan v. Sheffer
Egan v. Sheffer
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a verdict in favor of plaintiff for damages for personal injuries suffered in a one-car accident while plaintiff was riding in defendant's automobile as a guest.
Plaintiff and defendant became acquainted sometime in 1964 when they started attending Washington High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They remained good friends during their high school days, during which time they visited each other's homes and drove each other's automobiles. After graduating from high school in the spring of 1967, plaintiff and defendant enrolled in Dunwoody Industrial Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the fall of that year where they shared an apartment with a friend from Sioux Falls, Timothy Boe, who was also attending the Institute. The three boys returned to Dunwoody Institute in the fall of 1968 after the summer vacation.
On November 26, 1968, plaintiff, defendant and Timothy Boe returned to Sioux Falls from Minneapolis for the Thanksgiving holiday with another young man from Sioux Falls who was also attending the Institute. During the course of the trip back to Sioux Falls, plaintiff and defendant made arrangements to meet that evening. In accordance with such arrangements defendant drove to plaintiff's home at approximately 8 p.m. on November 26th. From there the two drove to the Union Jack, a 3.2 beer tavern in Sioux Falls, where they drank some 3.2 beer. After staying at the
After Charlie's Pizza House closed for the evening, plaintiff, defendant and Timothy Boe got into defendant's 1956 Chevrolet automobile. Timothy Boe sat in the back seat and plaintiff sat in the front passenger seat. In place of a stock engine, the car was powered by a 327 (presumably 327 cubic inch) engine which defendant, who was studying auto mechanics at Dunwoody Institute, had modified by installing some high performance parts which enable the car to accelerate more rapidly and to go faster. The car had a manually operated transmission with the hand gearshift on the floor. The speedometer did not work.
After entering the car plaintiff and defendant had some conversation about "burning out the cobs." Plaintiff testified that defendant jumped into the car, started the engine "* * * was just pumping the foot feed, just pumping the gas, and I asked him, more or less, like, well, it was just a thing between us, you know — 'What are you going to do, burn the cobs out?' And he shoved it in first gear, and rammed through all three gears * * * ". On cross-examination, plaintiff testified that after defendant had jumped into the car and revved up the engine plaintiff asked him, "Did you bum out the cobs?" Plaintiff conceded that "to burn out the cobs" means to spin the tires and to drive at a high rate of speed and that he knew that defendant would drive at a high rate of speed.
As defendant drove away from where he was parked near Charlie's Pizza House he accelerated rapidly and did not slow down as he drove south on Minnesota Avenue. A witness testified that as he was preparing to turn on to south Minnesota Avenue from 41st Street on a green light defendant's automobile ran through the intersection against the red light at a speed of approximately 60 miles per hour between the witness' car and another car which had almost completed its turn on to Minnesota Avenue from 41st Street, narrowly missing both automobiles. Defendant lost control of the automobile on the curve on the top of the hill on south Minnesota with the result that the automobile skidded around, hit an embankment and turned over.
Timothy Boe testified that when the car reached the bottom of the hill on south Minnesota Avenue, "I heard him [plaintiff] call Dan's name. I heard him yell, 'Sheffer,' and then he leaned over and then the ignition on the car went off and back on again and after that I blacked out because by then we were at the top of the hill and that's •— [when the accident happened]".
Defendant was familiar with south Minnesota Avenue, as was plaintiff. He testified that he had no idea whether he stopped at the stoplight at 33rd and Minnesota or whether the light there was red or green. He testified that he didn't stop for the stoplight at 41st and Minnesota, but stated that he could not remember what color that light was either. He testified that he couldn't remember whether plaintiff or Timothy Boe had ever advised him to stop or slow down. Defendant pleaded guilty to and paid a fine on a charge of reckless driving filed as a result of the driving that led to the accident.
The evidence was sufficient to support the jury's finding that defendant was guilty of willful and wanton misconduct as defined in our earlier decisions. See, e. g., Melby v. Anderson, 64 S.D. 249, 266 N.W. 135; Wentzel v. Huebner, 78 S.D. 481, 104 N.W.2d 695. The evidence here was stronger than it was in Brewer v. Mattern, 85 S.D. 356, 182 N.W.2d 327, inasmuch as defendant drove a car, personally modified by him to accelerate rapidly and go at a high rate of speed, at least 60 miles per hour at night through at least one stoplight on a busy thoroughfare with which he was familiar, narrowly missing other automobiles that had the right-of-way over him.
Defendant contends that plaintiff assumed the risk of riding in defendant's automobile. The jury was properly instructed as to the defense of assumption or risk. There was competent evidence to support the jury's finding that plaintiff had not assumed the risk of injury. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, we cannot say as a matter of law that plaintiff assumed the risk. Wentzel v. Huebner, 78 S.D. 481, 104 N.W.2d 695; Jennings v. Hodges, 80 S.D. 582, 129 N.W.2d 59.
Defendant contends that plaintiff brought his injury upon himself by his willful act or want of ordinary care and is barred from recovering by SDCL 32-34-2, which provides that:
''No person transported by the owner or operator of a motor vehicle as his guest without compensation for*690 such transportation shall have cause of action for damages against such owner or operator for injury, death, or loss, in case of accident, if he has willfully or by want of ordinary care brought the injury upon himself."
Defendant argues that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the issue of plaintiff's contributory negligence, citing Stoll v. Wagaman, 73 S.D. 186, 40 N.W.2d 393, where this court said that SDCL 32-34-2 (then SDC 44. 0362) means that contributory negligence of the plaintiff is a defense in a host-guest case.
The court instructed the jury generally in the words of the guest statute, SDCL 32-34-1. Defendant's request that the court instruct the jury that plaintiff could not recover if he had willfully or by want of ordinary care brought the injury upon himself, SD-CL 32-34-2, was refused. We conclude that the defendant did not suffer prejudice by reason of the court's refusal to give the requested instruction. The evidence did not warrant an instruction that defendant could not recover if he had willfully brought the injury upon himself. Defendant's argument that it was plaintiff who promoted the operation of the automobile at a high rate of speed is premised on the testimony that after defendant had pumped the accelerator on the automobile, plaintiff either said, "What are you going to do, burn the cobs out?" or, "Let's burn the cobs out of it."
While it is true that the trial court is under a duty to instruct the jury on applicable law where the theory of law is supported by competent evidence, Zakrzewski v. Hyronimus, 81 S.D. 428, 136 N.W.2d 572, Miller v. Baken Park, Inc., 84 S.D. 624, 175 N.W.2d 605, it is not error to refuse to amplify instructions given which substantially cover the principle embodied in requested instructions. Peters v. Hoisington, 72 S.D. 542, 37 N.W.2d 410; Jorgenson v. Dronebarger, 82 S.D. 213, 143 N.W.2d 869. Assuming arguendo that defendant's version of the events is correct and that plaintiff did say, "Let's burn the cobs out of it", it does not follow that defendant was prejudicied by the court's failure to give the requested instruction. As we have said, this con
Defendant contends that the court should have instructed the jury that plaintiff could recover only for conscious pain and suffering and that the court erred in instructing the jury that the plaintiff's claimed elements of damage included "The pain, suffering, and mental anguish experienced and reasonably certain to be experienced in the future as a result of the injury * * * Plaintiff testified that he had no recollection of suffering pain for a considerable length of time; however, one of plaintiff's witnesses, a patient in the same hospital room, testified that on the second or third day of plaintiff's hospitalization plaintiff complained about suffering head pains. Although it would have been proper for the trial court to have stated in express words to the jury that damages could only be awarded for conscious pain, the effect of the instruction given was to tell the jury that plaintiff could recover only for the pain of which he was conscious, i. e., that which he experienced. Plank v. Heirigs, 83 S.D. 173, 156 N.W.2d 193.
Finally, defendant contends that the verdict of $8,500 is excessive and was given under the influence of passion and prejudice in view of the fact that the total special damages incurred by plaintiff amounted to only $1,532.92, with no claim being made for loss of wages.
Plaintiff, who was 19 years old at the time of the accident, suffered a cerebral contusion and a fractured left wrist as a result of the accident and was hospitalized from November 28th to December 23, 1968. When he was first brought to the hospital plaintiff was comatose and remained that way for several days,
Affirmed.
. Because of the injuries he suffered in the accident plaintiff had a very limited recollection of the events that occuried on the night of the accident.
. We have disregarded the evidence that plaintiff may have jested with or taunted defendant about his former girl friend as they drove past the Barrel Drive-In inasmuch as defendant did not recall any such conversation and presumably was not influenced by it.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
"Contributory negligence has sometimes been thought to be no more than an aspect of assumption of risk, so that plaintiff is barred from recovery under the maxim volenti non fit injuria. This explanation, too, would warrant the rule in its present form, as a complete bar to plaintiff's action. The two notions, however, do not cover the same ground and in many situations do not even overlap, though they may. Assumption of risk involves the negation of defendant's duty; contributory negligence is a defense to a breach of such duty. Assumption of risk may involve perfectly reasonable conduct on plaintiff's part; contributory negligence never does. Assumption of risk typically involves the voluntary or deliberate incurring of known peril; contributory negligence frequently involves the inadvertent failure to notice danger. Only confusion can come from failure to keep separate these two strands of legal doctrine."
See Annot., 82 A.L.R.2d, beginning at page 1218.
The difference between the conduct of the driver of the car and his guests in this case is that the driver had hold of the
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