Title: Cole v. Kyle

State: colorado

Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court

Document:

348 P.2d 960 (1960) Norman J. COLE, Plaintiff in Error, v. Ed KYLE, Defendant in Error. No. 18727. Supreme Court of Colorado, In Department. February 1, 1960. *961 Bennett and Heinicke, Colorado Springs, for plaintiff in error. Elwood M. Haynie, Colorado Springs, for defendant in error. MOORE, Justice. The parties appear here in the same order as they appeared in the trial court and we will refer to them in that order, namely, Cole as plaintiff and Kyle as defendant. The action was brought by plaintiff to recover damages to an automobile resulting from fire at a time when the car had been left in defendant's garage for the purpose of repair. The case was tried to the court on the first, second and fifth days of May, 1958, and resulted in a judgment in favor of defendant. The record before us for review contains only the complaint, answer, findings of fact and conclusions of law and the judgment of the trial court. From the findings it appears that the action was fully tried, that both plaintiff and defendant offered evidence in support of the allegations of their pleadings. The pertinent parts of the findings of the trial court upon which error is claimed are as follows: It is the contention of plaintiff that the portion of the above quotation, namely the statement, "that there was no presumption of negligence on the part of Defendant bailee and Defendant need not demonstrate freedom from negligence," constitutes reversible error without reference to any testimony which was heard by the trial court. Assuming this statement to be erroneous as an abstract proposition of law concerning bailor-bailee relationships generally, it does not ipso facto require a reversal of the judgment. We note that the trial court specifically found that defendant "had the duty of ordinary care; that in order to recover, Plaintiff had the burden of proving a breach of this duty; that Plaintiff did not sustain this burden; * * *" That the action was fully tried is not disputed. In oral argument here it was not claimed that defendant failed to go forward with evidence to overcome any claimed presumption of negligence, and from the record before us it cannot be said that defendant's evidence was insufficient to overcome such presumption. Eddy v. McAninch, *962 141 Colo. ___, 347 P.2d 499. In argument it was asserted, and not disputed, that numerous witnesses gave testimony from which this court must presume that the trial court was fully justified in finding no negligence on the part of defendant. The findings of the court recite that both parties presented their evidence in a trial lasting three days. No reporter's transcript is made a part of the record before us. As was stated in Frederick v. Resler, 82 Colo. 285, 260 P. 103, 104, "* * * we do not know what the evidence was upon which the trial court acted." In that case we also find the following pertinent language: The duty rests upon the party asserting error in the rendition of a judgment to present a record which discloses prejudical error, since the judgment is presumed to be correct until the contrary affirmatively appears. Estate of Zeilinger (Flowers v. Zeilinger, Conservator), 102 Colo. 556, 81 P.2d 879; Hollenbeck and Reeves v. Peterson, 115 Colo. 301, 172 P.2d 678. The case of Teets v. Richardson, 131 Colo. 592, 284 P.2d 233, 234, was one in which a reversal was sought on a record which contained only the pleadings, findings and judgment of the trial court. From the opinion in that case we quote the following: So in the case at bar, without the evidence before us we cannot speculate as to whether the asserted misconception of the law concerning the presumption of negligence arising from a bailor-bailee relationship, operated to prejudice plaintiff's case. In the absence of a transcript of the evidence we cannot pass upon that question. The judgment is affirmed. SUTTON, C.J., and FRANTZ, J., concur.