Case ID: ohio-law-abs_1/html/0404-13.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "MARSHALL, C. J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

No. 17634
    Charles T. Elliott v. Christine Hardins
    Error to the Court of Appeals of Butler county.
    AUTOMOBILE — (1) May become a dangerous ii strument, per se — Liability for damages whei owner entrusts machine to incompetent driver-(2) Father entrusting to son, for purposes apa) from his business, liability a jury question — (3 Question of combined negligence of both..
   MARSHALL, C. J.:

1. While an automobile is not a dangerous instri ment per se, it may become such if operated by or who is unskilled in its use; and, where the owner ei trusts such a machine to an inexperienced or incon petent person, liability for damages may arise.

2. Where a father entrusts his automobile to fa-son, a youth of fourteen years, unaccustomed to i1 use, for purposes wholly apart from any business c enterprise of the father, the question of competenc is one for the jury under proper instructions.

3. In such case the liability of the owner woul not rest upon ownership or agency, but upon the con bined negligence of the owner and driver — negligent of the father in entrusting the machine to an incon petent driver, and negligence of the son in its operi tion.

Judgment affirmed.

Wanamaker, Jones, Day and Allen, JJ., concu: Matthias, J., concurs in the syllabus but' not in th judgment.