Title: Holle v. Lake

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

194 Kan. 200 (1965)
398 P.2d 300
WILLIAM HOLLE, JR., Appellee,
v.
WILLIAM M. LAKE, (Defendant), and CHARLES E. LAKE, JR., Appellant.
No. 43,883

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed January 23, 1965.
Charles L. Davis, Jr., of Topeka, argued the cause, and Robert F. Galloway, Edward F. Wiegers and Keith W. Sprouse, all of Marysville, and Byron M. Gray and Maurice D. Freidberg, both of Topeka, were with him on the brief for the appellant.
Floyd E. Gehrt, of Topeka, argued the cause, and D. Edward Davis and Robert L. Roberts, both of Topeka, were with him on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
SCHROEDER, J.:
This is a damage action for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while attempting to stop a moving truck which had been parked on a highway by one of the defendants in the action. The case was tried to a jury which returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $4,414.27. Appeal has been duly perfected from a judgment entered thereon, and numerous errors have been assigned.
Only those questions material to a disposition of the appeal will be considered. They are: First, whether Charles E. Lake, Jr., a minor defendant, was properly served with summons; and second, whether the trial court properly instructed the jury concerning the "rescue doctrine."
*201 Charles E. Lake, Jr. (defendant-appellant) at all times material to this litigation was a minor. Service of summons was made upon Charles E. Lake, Jr. personally, and upon William M. Lake as his guardian. Charles had lived with his grandfather, William M. Lake (also made a defendant in the action and served with summons as such) for a period of ten years during which the grandfather assumed parental control and stood in the relationship of "loco parentis" to Charles. The grandfather had never adopted Charles and there was no showing that he had ever been appointed his legal guardian. Edward F. Wiegers, the attorney defending Charles, was appointed guardian ad litem by the trial court after Charles was served with summons.
Insofar as the record discloses Charles had no parents in the state of Kansas upon whom service of summons could be made. The record is silent as to whereabouts or existence of his natural parents.
At the time of the accident in question both Charles and William Holle, Jr. (plaintiff-appellee) were working for William M. Lake, who was named a co-defendant in the original action but released by the jury which absolved him of any negligence. Charles was driving his grandfather's truck, loaded with turkeys, when a turkey escaped from the truck. By reason thereof the truck was stopped and parked on a small incline. Both Charles and William Holle, Jr. got out of the truck to catch the turkey, when the truck commenced moving downhill.
Holle then jumped on the running board of the truck to keep it from running into an embankment on the side of the highway. The truck was left in gear and as it rolled the motor "turned over" causing the truck to jerk, throwing Holle under the rear wheel of the truck, thus resulting in his injuries.
The evidence disclosed there was no person in sight that could be injured by the runaway truck, and that had Holle just let the truck go it would have hit the embankment in the ditch and stopped.
The direction in which the truck was moving was away from Charles and Holle.
At no time in the trial court did the appellant Charles challenge the jurisdiction of the trial court on the ground that the service of process upon him as a minor was defective. This question is being raised for the first time on appeal.
It must be conceded that a jurisdictional question of this nature may be raised for the first time on appeal in the Supreme Court.
*202 The point presently under consideration is controlled by Dougan, Administratrix v. McGrew, 187 Kan. 410, 357 P.2d 319, 86 A.L.R.2d 1174. There the provisions of G.S. 1949, 60-408, which authorize service of process on minors, were before the court for construction. Upon the factual situation it was impossible to obtain service of process upon the parents of a minor defendant within the state of Kansas because his parents resided in the state of Missouri. Furthermore, no guardian had been appointed for the minor in the state of Kansas. The court held service of process upon the minor valid, saying:
..............
Assuming that service of process upon William M. Lake, the grandfather, as the "natural guardian" of Charles was void (See, Paronto v. Armstrong, 161 Kan. 720, 171 P.2d 299), the trial court nevertheless did appoint a guardian ad litem after service of process upon the minor. It thereby fully complied with the provisions of 60-408, supra, and acquired jurisdiction over the minor defendant. In such situation the minor's rights are fully protected by the appointment of a guardian ad litem.
Apparently the appellant takes the position that the record must affirmatively show why service of process was not made upon a *203 natural guardian of the minor, before service of process upon the minor is valid under 60-408, supra. This relates to the burden of proof.
We think if service of process upon a minor is valid, the record need not disclose why the service is valid. If such service of process is challenged, either in the trial court or in the Supreme Court on appeal, it becomes the burden of the party attacking the service to prove its invalidity by a sufficient record on appeal.
The contributory negligence of the appellee Holle in attempting to stop the runaway truck was a material issue in this case. A demurrer to the plaintiff's evidence in the lower court was overruled, and it must be said the evidence upon the issue of contributory negligence properly called for its submission to the jury.
As to contributory negligence under the so-called rescue doctrine, the appellant requested the following instruction:
The trial court's instruction No. 9 was identical in all respects to the above requested instruction except that it omitted the last sentence which is italicized.
By the court's instruction No. 10 the jury was instructed:
"No. 10.
The substance of the foregoing instructions given by the court was directly contrary to the appellant's request  that a person is not *204 excused of contributory negligence merely in an effort to save property. In doing so, we think the trial court instructed contrary to the law of Kansas. Both the pleadings and the evidence adduced at the trial warranted the giving of a correct instruction on the point.
The rescue doctrine in Kansas has been held to be applicable to excuse contributory negligence only where an attempt is made to rescue persons from peril. It has not been applied to rescue property from peril.
Before the turn of the century in the landmark case of Condiff v. K.C. Ft. S. & G. Rld. Co., 45 Kan. 256, 25 Pac. 562, the rescue doctrine was announced in the following language:
Although the double negative used by the court in the italicized portion of the foregoing quotation may have conveyed doubtful meaning, the subsequent decision of Smith v. Ice and Delivery Co., 117 Kan. 485, 232 Pac. 603, clarified the point by summarily stating the rule as follows:
Other decisions tending to confirm this statement of the law are Parnell v. Security Elevator Co., 174 Kan. 643, 258 P.2d 288; Brock, Administrator v. Peabody Cooperative Equity Exchange, 186 Kan. 657, 352 P.2d 37; and Jobst v. Butler Well Servicing, Inc., 190 Kan. 86, 372 P.2d 55. (See, also, 38 Am.Jur., Negligence, § 228, p. 912.)
The appellee seeks to justify the trial court's instructions in the case on the ground that the evidence disclosed the appellee was quite concerned with the various possibilities, such as someone else coming down the road.
On the evidence, however, it was apparent the truck, had it been left alone, would have gone into an embankment on the side of the road, and it was admitted that so far as the appellee could see down the road, there was no other person or vehicle on the highway.
In order to justify one in risking his life or serious injury rescuing another person from danger, the peril threatening the latter must be *205 imminent and real, and not merely imaginary or speculative. There must be more than a mere suspicion that an accident to some person may follow if a rescue is not performed. (38 Am.Jur., Negligence, § 228, pp. 912, 913.)
Accordingly, we hold the trial court erred in failing to properly instruct the jury as above indicated on an issue vitally material to a decision in the case.
Other points raised by the appellant are immaterial to a decision on this appeal.
The evidence is such that this court cannot say as a matter of law the appellee was guilty of contributory negligence. Therefore, the judgment of the lower court is reversed with directions to grant the appellant a new trial.