Willden v. Kennecott Copper Corp.
Willden v. Kennecott Copper Corp.
Opinion of the Court
Allen Willden sued Kennecott Copper Corporation for injuries he claims he suffered as a result of certain alleged acts of negligence of that company in transporting him in its ambulance from Bingham to a hospital in Salt Lake City. On the basis of the defendant’s defense, relying on the “guest statute,”
In the course of his work for his employer, Boyles Brothers Drilling Company, in Bingham Canyon, the plaintiff suffered
Inasmuch as plaintiff’s averments as to the cause of the collision and his further injury resulting therefrom charge only ordinary negligence against the defendant, and do not involve intoxication or wilful misconduct, the guest statute would be a good defense as to any such further injury, if the plaintiff was in the status of .a guest. Accordingly, upon this review of the summary judgment in defendant’s favor, the issue we confront is whether the trial court was justified in so ruling as a matter, of law. A fact of critical importance bearing on that issue is that upon the facts submitted to the trial court for the purpose of that motion the defendant agreed that its regular charge for such ambulance service was $7:50, for which the plaintiff would have been billed and required to pay.
The argument made by the defendant is: that the round trip to the hospital would be about 70 miles, for which the charge of $7.50 would only be about ten cents a mile; that such a nominal fee would be inadequate to compensate for the operation of its ambulance service; that it was not the principal inducement for rendering it to the plaintiff; and that it therefore should be deemed to have extended a gratuitous humanitarian courtesy in connection with which the plaintiff was a guest rather than a passenger for hire.
In that regard defendant places reliance on such cases as Greenhalgh v. Green
An examination of the cases above referred to relied on by the plaintiff will show that they are significantly different from this one. They involve social relationships where there was also some money paid in connection with the furnishing and accepting of a ride. Although the facts are different, the principles discussed in those cases, particularly in Smith v. Franklin, are applicable here. There was a family relationship between the two girls who were going from Tooele to Salt Lake on a furnish-the-car and share-the-expense basis. After discussing the fact situation and pointing out that there was a dispute between the parties as to which motive predominated in the transaction, we concluded that the trial court had properly submitted the issue to the jury, stating:
From our consideration of this subject * * * we are persuaded that the sound and practical view is that the determination should be made on the basis of which was the chief inducement for' giving the ride.
Upon the basis of the record thus far developed in this case and the inferences that fairly could be drawn therefrom, it appears to us that reasonable minds may well reach different conclusions on the disputed issue as to whether the payment to be made for the ride, or the giving of the ride as a gratuitous accommodation, was the chief factor in its motivation. The situation thus presented falls within the purpose for which a trial by court or jury was created: the resolving of such disputed issues of fact. It is therefore necessary that this summary judgment be vacated, and that this case be remanded for determination of the issue herein discussed and other issues which have not been reached in the case. It is so ordered. Costs to plaintiff (appellant).
. See. 41-9-1, TJ.C.A.1953: “Any person who as a guest accepts a ride in any vehicle * * * shall have no right of recovery against the owner or driver * * [except] * * * for injury * * * resulting from the intoxication or wilful misconduct of such owner, driver *
. 14 Utah 2d 16, 376 P.2d 541 (1962).
.Ibid, at p. 543, Pacific Reporter, p. 19, Utah Reports.
. See eases footnotes 2 and 3 above; and see particularly Jensen v. Mower, 4 Utah 2d 336, 294 P.2d 683.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting): '
I respectfully dissent. The briefs of the parties and the main opinion appear to concede that $7.50 would be the charge for the ride. Under the facts stated in the main opinion, plaintiff’s own foreman
It would seem to this writer almost incredible that at present day prices, Ken-necott which was not a certificated common carrier for hire, would hold itself out, in violation of public utilities law, as a supplier of the aid given here by its attendant at its station and transport not only him, but the plaintiff and his foreman, in its private ambulance, which was driven by another of its employees, a distance of 70 miles, for $7.50, which would be its main inducement for the ride, which would eliminate a guest statute defense.
The main opinion says that Smith v. Franklin
It is interesting further to note that this court, subsequent to Smith v. Franklin, recognized in Greenhalgh v. Green, where plaintiff, on the facts, was held to be a guest as a matter of law, that although what was said in the Smith case anent the guest statute, that case was “not a precedent for a rule that cases involving the Utah Guest Statute always are to be determined by a jury” and that “This court is well aware that a summary judgment cannot be given if there exists a genuine issue of fact. But no issue of fact exists when patently it is clear that plaintiff was a guest.”
This author believes that “patently it is clear that plaintiff was a guest” in the instant case, — more so, if you please, than in Greenhalgh v. Green. I am convinced that the facts here do not come close to demonstrating the main inducement this court had in mind in Jensen v. Mower,
Probably, not as a legal but as a practical matter, — the most unhappy consequence of the decision here, will be a merited reluctance on the part of business firms that, as a matter of good public relations, ordinarily would come to the aid of an injured person not their own employee, extending an eleemosynary hand to one so in need, lest such gesture gestate into an expensive, litigious multi-birth.
. And .incidentally his uncle. ,
. The argument that plaintiff did not “accept” the ride seems to be without merit
. 14 Utah 2d 16, 376 P.2d 541 (1962).
. 16 Utah 2d 221, 398 P.2d 691 (1965).
. 4 Utah 2d 336, 294 P.2d 683 (1956).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Allen WILLDEN, and v. KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION, a Utah corporation, and Lee Cecil Hansen, and
- Status
- Published