Case Title: Welker, Adm. v. Sorenson

Citation: 209 Or. 402, 306 P.2d 737

Docket Number: 

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1957-02-06T00:00:00Z

Document:
Affirmed February 6, 1957.
Robert M. Stults, Roseburg, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief was D.R. Dimick, Roseburg.
Ronald G. Davis argued the cause for respondent. On the brief were Long, Neuner & Davis and Donald A. Dole, Roseburg.
Before TOOZE[*], Acting Chief Justice, and LUSK, BRAND and McALLISTER, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
LUSK, J.
Plaintiff, Glenn H. Welker, administrator of the estate of Pete Welker, deceased, has appealed from a *403 judgment for the defendant in an action to recover damages for death by wrongful act.
The following statement of the case, taken from the defendant's brief, accurately and concisely states the facts out of which the question for decision arises:
From the foregoing it will be seen that the issue is whether a child 29 months old is a guest passenger (within the meaning of our "guest" statute, ORS 30.110) of the operator of an automobile when the child is in the automobile in the custody of the mother, who was a guest passenger.
The identical question, under similar facts, was presented in Buckner v. Vetterick, 124 Cal App2d 417, 269 P2d 67, and the court held that the child's status was determined by that of the mother. After referring to the policy of the guest statute as explained in previous decisions of the California courts, it was said:
We agree with the California decision and the reasoning upon which it is based. We think that it does not conflict with Kudrna v. Adamski, 188 Or 396, 216 P2d 262, upon which the plaintiff relies. We there held that a four-year-old child has not the legal capacity to "accept" an invitation to be a guest passenger, since it is too young to exercise a choice in the matter. 188 Or at p 399. The facts in the Kudrna case were that the child was in the automobile in the custody of her mother, but the mother was not a guest, for the driver was her agent and had no right to say who should ride in the car. We did not place the decision squarely on the ground that the child's status was that of the mother, but we did say that "The result would be the same if it were held that the child had the same status *405 as its mother" (188 Or at p 403), and we added, "We do not decide that a child of tender years cannot, under any circumstances, be a guest" (188 Or at p 404).
Here it is undisputed that the mother of Pete Welker was a guest of the defendant at the time of the accident. Her children, who were in her custody, were for that reason likewise guests, and the court below committed no error in so ruling.
In Kudrna v. Adamski we reviewed the authorities bearing on this subject at some length, and we deem it unnecessary to go over that ground again. Reference is made, however, to the annotation to the Kudrna case in 16 ALR2d 1304.
The judgment is affirmed.
[*]  Died December 21, 1956.