Case Title: McFatridge v. Harlem Globe Trotters

Citation: 365 P.2d 918, 69 N.M. 271

Docket Number: 

State: new-mexico

Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Date: 1961-11-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
365 P.2d 918 (1961) 69 N.M. 271 Jewell McFATRIDGE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HARLEM GLOBE TROTTERS, Abe Saperstein, Abe Saperstein d/b/a The Harlem Globe Trotters, and Abe Saperstein Sports Enterprises, Defendants-Appellants. No. 6848. Supreme Court of New Mexico. November 1, 1961. *919 Smith, Smith & Tharp, Clovis, for appellants. Emmett C. Hart, Eugene E. Brockman, Tucumcari, for appellee. MOISE, Justice. This suit was brought by plaintiff-appellee (hereinafter referred to as plaintiff) against Abe Saperstein, defendant-appellant (hereinafter referred to as defendant) and also named The Harlem Globe Trotters and Abe Saperstein Sport Enterprises as defendants. However, it is conceded that these additional defendants are merely descriptive names for the defendant, Abe Saperstein. The complaint alleged that on December 3, 1957, the Harlem Globe Trotters basketball team played a basketball game at the high school gymnasium in Tucumcari, New Mexico; that plaintiff purchased a ticket to the game and was a spectator; that while playing in the game one of the members of the Harlem Globe Trotters team "intentionally or negligently" threw a basketball toward the spectators on the east side of the gymnasium striking plaintiff in the face, causing the injuries complained of; that at the time, the player was acting within the scope of his employment. Defendant, by his answer, denied the material allegations of the complaint including his negligence, and in addition pleaded affirmatively that plaintiff was contributorily negligent; that she had assumed the risk; that she had the last clear chance to avoid the injury; that the accident was unavoidable and the injuries unforeseeable; also, that there was an absence of an indispensable party. The case was tried to a jury and resulted in a verdict of $18,700 in favor of plaintiff. From a judgment entered pursuant to the verdict, this appeal is prosecuted. Defendant argues his case under 15 points, 13 of which complain of the instructions given by the court and of its failure to give those requested by defendant. The remaining two points deal with the court's failure to sustain defendant's motion for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's case in chief, and the court's failure to grant defendant's motion for a new trial. Points 1, 2 and 3 are argued together by defendant, and we will treat them accordingly. Instruction No. 22, urged as erroneous under Point 3, reads as follows: By his requested instruction No. 6, defendant asked the court to instruct the jury that if the ball was intentionally thrown by one of defendant's employees, the verdict should be for defendant unless such intentional throwing of the ball was within *920 the course of the employee's employment. By requested instruction No. 6-A "course of employment" is defined and explained. The court refused both instructions 6 and 6-A, and as already noted instructed the jury as a matter of law that the basketball players were in the course of their employment while participating in the game. It should be pointed out that while plaintiff alleged the act to have been intentionally or negligently done, the court gave no instruction on the pertinent law covering intentional acts, and confined the issues to those incidental to negligence. Defendant had denied negligence and had denied the act was done in the course of employment. Did the court err in not submitting to the jury the question of whether the player was acting in the course of his employment? We think not. It is not every issue raised by the pleadings that the court is required to cover in its instructions to the jury. When substantial evidence has been submitted in support of a party's position it becomes incumbent on the court to instruct on the party's theory. Lucero v. Torres, 67 N.M. 10, 350 P.2d 1028; Hanks v. Walker, 60 N.M. 166, 288 P.2d 699. It follows without saying that such evidence being absent, the requirement of such an instruction vanishes. Madsen v. Read, 58 N.M. 567, 273 P.2d 845; Davis v. Jones, 60 N.M. 470, 292 P.2d 773. What evidence is disclosed by the record that the player employee of defendant who suddenly threw the ball either directly at the spectators or toward a goal over their heads, was acting intentionally or outside the scope of his employment? The facts to which defendant points as raising the issue are briefly these: The basketball was thrown toward plaintiff; the player gave an indication of throwing the ball into the proper goal from far out in the court when he suddenly turned and threw the ball toward the crowd or above it and against a goal which was not being used in the game and was located on the side; this was the only occasion of this type of occurrence; also, although the team is made up of expert ball-handlers and perform tricks with the ball as "gags" it has no "gag" in which a player throws the ball into or toward the spectators, and even though there is no instruction specifically against throwing the ball into the spectators, the players know that they are not supposed to do so. The player who threw the ball was not produced as a witness, and there is no explanation of the conduct resulting in the injury except as disclosed by the testimony referred to. In the case of Childers v. Southern Pac. Co., 20 N.M. 366, 149 P. 307, 308, where suit was brought for damages resulting from an assault by a railroad watchman, we said: *921 In that case the defendant was held to be responsible since the assault resulted from the employee's activities in keeping people from stealing rides on his employer's train, even though plaintiff was not attempting to steal a ride when assaulted. The rule as announced in the quotation above was followed in the recent case of Miera v. George, 55 N.M. 535, 237 P.2d 102. See, also, White Auto Stores v. Reyes, 10 Cir., 223 F.2d 298, and United States v. Mraz, 10 Cir., 255 F.2d 115; Restatement of the Law of Agency, 2d, § 228. It would seem clear that the record is devoid of any proof that the player participating in the game and who threw the ball that struck plaintiff was doing anything other than an act "fairly and naturally incident to the business." As a matter of fact, he was engaged in the performance of his duties as a basketball player, and although he mistakenly or illadvisedly threw the ball into the audience, he was nevertheless performing defendant's business, and if this was negligence which proximately caused plaintiff's injuries defendant was liable unless liability was excused under one of the defenses pleaded and proved. There being no evidence upon which the jury could have found that the act arose "wholly from some external, independent, and personal motive * * * to do the act on his own account," the court ruled correctly that the jury should not be permitted to speculate upon any such possible reason not supported by proof. Under points 6 and 7 defendant complains of the giving of instruction No. 19, reading as follows: and refusal of his requested instruction No. 7, as follows: Defendant cites the following statement appearing in 142 A.L.R. 868, at 871: Although conceding that he has located no case to support his position, he argues that the rule there stated as applicable to spectators at baseball games should also apply to those attending basketball games. In the instant case it is clear there was no screened section offering protection from balls escaping from the floor, either in the ordinary course of the game, or because deliberately thrown, and accordingly plaintiff had no choice as between a protected *922 and an unprotected seat. Neither is there any proof to establish that there is any real danger of injury to spectators at a basketball game from balls entering the spectator section in the usual and ordinary course of a game. That there is danger from being injured by being struck by balls hit foul or otherwise striking spectators in certain locations at baseball games which would be known to fans of the game is clear and from this fact arises the custom to protect the areas of greatest danger, and the rule as stated by the note writer. However, we are not advised of any similar danger being present at basketball games, or that protection is ever provided for spectators. This fact is recognized by defendant in his argument under point 12. Because of the differences in the two games and in the usual facilities offered spectators we do not consider the rule quoted above to be applicable in the instant case. Neither do we think refusal of requested instruction No. 7 was error inasmuch as the instruction given made it amply clear that plaintiff was required to establish negligence on the part of defendant as a proximate cause of her injury before she could recover. In addition, the jury were advised that plaintiff assumed the risk of injuries resulting from any dangerous position or conduct to which she voluntarily exposed herself, including that of being struck by a ball, if she knew or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known that danger existed of being struck, and that recovery should be denied if the jury found she had so assumed the risk. Nothing more was required, and it is our conclusion that the court did not err in giving its instruction No. 19, and in refusing defendant's requested instruction No. 7. We now proceed to a discussion of defendant's point 9. The court gave its instruction No. 24, which read as follows: Defendant stated his objections to this instruction to the court, as follows: and his argument here is based on the claimed defects as so stated to the court. Plaintiff answers the argument by pointing out that instruction No. 24 was necessary in view of instruction No. 23 wherein the court advised the jury that if they were not satisfied from a preponderance of the evidence that a member of the Harlem Globe Trotters team threw the ball that struck plaintiff their verdict should be for defendant; and that instruction No. 24 was intended merely to advise that plaintiff was not required to prove which player threw the ball, but that it was sufficient if it was established that any member of the team negligently did so. The complaint made against the instruction, as we understand it, is that it is in "binding" form or is what has sometimes been called a "formula" instruction. We find no case in New Mexico where we have been called upon to pass on whether the giving *923 of an instruction such as this is reversible error. By use of the term "formula" instruction we mean an instruction which advises the jury that under certain facts therein hypothesized their verdict should be for one of the parties. To state an instruction in this form is extremely hazardous and not to be recommended because if any conditions to the right of recovery, or any hypothesis which would require a contrary verdict are overlooked, the instruction is faulty. There are innumerable cases holding that a "formula" instruction must include each and every element requisite to support a verdict, and that omission of any of these elements can not be supplied by reference to other instructions correctly stating the law. For a few examples see Beyerle v. Clift, 59 Cal. App. 7, 209 P. 1015; Kanousis v. Lasham Cartage Co., 332 Ill. App. 525, 76 N.E.2d 239; Pardridge v. Cutler, 168 Ill. 504, 48 N.E. 125; Ivie v. Richardson, 9 Utah 2d 5, 336 P.2d 781; Vaughn v. Herring, 195 Ark. 639, 113 S.W.2d 512; Moore v. Turner, 137 W. Va. 299, 71 S.E.2d 342, 32 A.L.R.2d 713. Having noted the general rule, our problem remains unresolved because we are convinced that the instruction under attack was not a "formula" instruction. A careful examination of the instructions demonstrates clearly that, as stated by plaintiff, instruction No. 24 was intended to do nothing more than advise the jury that in order for plaintiff to prevail she was not required to prove specifically which of the several ball players present on the floor threw the ball. It was accordingly nothing more nor less than a statement of the law of respondeat superior, as was likewise the case in Douglas v. Southern Pac. Co., 203 Cal. 390, 264 P. 237 discussed post. Instruction No. 21 defined "agent" for the jury. Instruction No. 22 has already been set out in full. Instruction No. 23 stated that if the jury were not satisfied from a preponderance of the evidence that some member of the Harlem Globe Trotters team threw the ball that struck plaintiff, their verdict should be for defendant. Reading instructions No. 21, 22 and 23 in connection with instruction No. 24 makes it amply clear that the sole purpose of the latter instruction was to advise the jury concerning the particularity or certainty with which the player who threw the ball had to be identified. It did not purport to direct that plaintiff could recover in any event. The situation is identical with that which was present in the case of Douglas v. Southern Pacific Co., supra. The instruction there attacked read as follows: Concerning this instruction, the court, after stating the general rule applicable to "formula" instructions, as we have heretofore noted it to be, had the following to say: Similarly, in the instant case, contributory negligence was covered in instruction No. 8; burden of proof of contributory negligence in instruction No. 10; assumption of risk was defined in instructions No. 12 and 13, and the burden of proof therein outlined in instruction No. 11; the standard of care of a person charged with contributory negligence was set forth in instruction No. 14, and the jury advised in instruction No. 15 that comparative negligence is not to be considered; instruction No. 16 explained proximate cause. In addition, the jury were told in instruction No. 1 that determination of the facts in the case was their exclusive province; in instruction No. 35 they were advised that the court intended no emphasis on any rule, direction or idea which might be stated in varying ways in the instructions and, further, that no single instruction or part of an instruction was to be singled out to the exclusion of the balance of the instructions, but that they were to be considered as a whole giving due regard to each in the light of all the others; and in instructions No. 37 and 39 they were informed that the court expressed no opinion on the facts either by the instructions or rulings or comments during the trial. We are convinced that the law of contributory negligence, proximate cause and assumption of risk were all set forth with such certainty that the jury could not have been misled by the unfortunate language used in instruction No. 24, and that they must have understood the rule there announced to be, as already stated, nothing more than an explanation that it was not necessary to prove the identity of the agent of defendant who actually threw the ball. Compare Sturgeon v. Clark, N.M., 364 P.2d 757. As said by the Supreme Court of California in Douglas v. Southern Pac. Co., supra: The rule with reference to considering instructions in their entirety has been often stated by this court. Olguin v. Thygesen, 47 N.M. 377, 143 P.2d 585; Chandler v. Battenfield, 55 N.M. 361, 233 P.2d 1047; Gerrard v. Harvey & Newman Drilling Company, 59 N.M. 262, 282 P.2d 1105; Barakos v. Sponduris, 64 N.M. 125, 325 P.2d 712. Concerning points 10, 11 and 12, it is sufficient to refer to the rule referred to above concerning the instructions as a whole. We find no undue emphasis in instructions No. 25, 27 and 28 in the light of the cautionary instructions already noted. These points are not well taken. We have considered each of the other points argued by defendant and not specifically discussed herein, and hold them to be without merit. It follows that the judgment appealed from should be affirmed. It is so ordered. COMPTON, C.J., and CARMODY, CHAVEZ, and NOBLE, JJ., concur.