Title: Rupe v. Smith
Citation: 181 Kan. 606, 313 P.2d 293
Docket Number: 40,597
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: July 3, 1957

181 Kan. 606 (1957)
313 P.2d 293
GILLIE C. RUPE, Appellee,
v.
PHYLLIS MAURENE SMITH, and O.D. SMITH, Her Father and Natural Guardian, Appellants.
No. 40,597

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed July 3, 1957.
Robert M. Siefkin, of Wichita, argued the cause and George B. Powers, Carl T. Smith, John F. Eberhardt, Samuel E. Bartlett, Stuart R. Carter, Robert C. Foulston, Malcolm Miller, Robert N. Partridge, Richard C. Harris and Gerald Sawatzky, all of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellants.
John Callahan, of Wichita, argued the cause and Dale Kidwell, George W. Ball, and Jack H. Greene, all of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
HALL, J.:
This is an appeal from an order overruling a demurrer to the petition in a wrongful death action.
Gillie C. Rupe, the plaintiff and appellee in this action, filed a suit for wrongful death against Phyllis Maurene Smith and O.D. Smith, her father and natural guardian, defendants and appellants herein.
After proper allegations on capacity to sue, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant Phyllis Maurene Smith is unmarried and under the age of 21 years and that on the thirteenth day of October, 1955, Margaret Sue Rupe, daughter of plaintiff, was killed while riding *608 in an automobile driven by defendant and owned by her father, O.D. Smith.
The petition then alleges as follows:
The defendants moved the court to strike paragraph 4 for the reason that the allegations therein contained were incompetent and immaterial; and to make paragraph 5 definite and certain by setting forth with particularity the alleged act or acts of negligence.
The court overruled the motion to strike and to make definite and certain. The defendants then demurred generally to the petition and the court overruled the demurrer.
The single specification of error before this court is the order of the trial court overruling the defendants' demurrer to the plaintiff's petition.
The plaintiff brought this wrongful death action on the theory the decedent, Margaret Sue Rupe, was a "paying passenger" in the automobile driven by defendant, Phyllis Maurene Smith, and thus she was not a "guest" under the Kansas guest statute (G.S. 1949, 8-122b). The guest statute (G.S. 1949, 8-122b) provides:
On this theory plaintiff alleges ordinary negligence and not gross and wanton negligence. In the allegations of negligence, plaintiff also invokes the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. These allegations are in paragraph 5 of the petition.
The defendants contend that the decedent, Margaret Sue Rupe, was not a "paying passenger" but a "guest" under G.S. 1949, 8-122b, and as such plaintiff must plead gross and wanton negligence to escape the limitations of the statute. The defendants also contend that since the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur cannot be invoked to establish gross and wanton negligence it has no application to this case.
To substantiate the contention that the decedent was a guest without payment for such transportation, defendants submit that two recent decisions of this court should govern the disposition of their appeal. Defendants rely on Bedenbender v. Walls, 177 Kan. 531, 280 P.2d 630; and In re Estate of Dikeman, 178 Kan. 188, 284 P.2d 622. These are recent and leading cases under the guest statute.
In the Bedenbender case the plaintiffs and defendants were social and personal friends and often went on hunting excursions together, alternating in the use of their automobiles. They had an understanding and agreement to the effect that when they drove defendants' car the plaintiff husband would pay for gas, oil and meals for the four of them and vice versa. The parties decided to go on a pheasant hunting trip to Nebraska. It was mutually understood and agreed that they would adhere to their past agreement in the matter of paying expenses. They started out in defendants' car. At noon they stopped for lunch. Plaintiff husband paid for it. Later on they stopped for gas and plaintiff husband paid for it. Shortly thereafter the car was involved in a one car automobile collision. At the conclusion of plaintiffs' evidence the defendants' demurrer was sustained on the ground plaintiffs were "guests" and that since the evidence established only ordinary negligence they were precluded from recovery.
The court held:
..............
In the Dikeman case the facts were essentially as follows: Randal Dikeman, the appellant, and other persons were members of the Order of the Eastern Star, a fraternal organization, and as members of such Order they had been chosen as delegates and representatives of their local chapter to attend the Grand Chapter meeting in Topeka. In contemplation of the trip, appellant and Dikeman orally agreed that appellant would pay him a reasonable sum for transportation to Topeka and back from Pratt. Pursuant to this agreement, Dikeman transported appellant, along with others not here involved, to Topeka. The purpose of the trip was to attend the Grand Chapter meeting of the Order. While at the meeting, Dikeman, the appellant, and others accompanying them on the trip, discussed what each would pay Dikeman for transportation. They decided the amount should be fixed upon completion of the trip. Thereafter they left Topeka in Dikeman's automobile for the return to Pratt. An accident occurred at a railroad crossing near Pratt resulting in the death of Dikeman and his wife. The appellant suffered serious injuries and brought this suit against the estate of Dikeman. After disposing of motions to make definite and certain the district court sustained a demurrer to appellant's petition. Appeal was then taken on the demurrer.
The court said:
The court followed the Bedenbender case and held that while the Dikeman case could be distinguished from the Bedenbender case in some respects it could not be distinguished on the grounds that it was a business trip rather than a social trip; hence it was squarely within the decision of the Bedenbender case. The court held:
Before considering the point at hand, a rule of construction must be disposed of. Since a motion to make more definite and certain was filed and overruled as to paragraph 5 of the petition, appellants contend that the petition should be strictly construed.
We believe the petition comes under the rule of liberal construction for the reason that the court properly overruled the motion and paragraph 5 fairly apprised the appellants of appellee's claim and brought the petition within the rule of Henderson v. National *612 Mutual Cas. Co., 164 Kan. 109, 187 P.2d 508, which was cited with approval in Noel v. McCaig, 174 Kan. 677, 258 P.2d 234, where the court said:
Under this rule of construction we now consider the appellants' contentions in this case.
While analogous in many respects the allegations of paragraph 4 of plaintiff's petition are distinguishable from the Bedenbender and Dikeman cases. The point of distinction is simply that there is nothing in paragraph 4 or in the petition as a whole that the decedent, Margaret Sue Rupe, and the appellant, Phyllis Maurene Smith, were engaged in a "social enterprise." To the contrary, the allegations state that the parties shared their income and pleasures; they kept their money in a joint checking account and from this account paid all expenses in operating the automobile in which the decedent died.
The allegations are carefully drawn to show the parties were engaged in more than mere social enterprise for their mutual pleasure. The petition properly alleges the ultimate facts that the decedent was transported by the operator of the motor vehicle with payment for such transportation.
The allegations are good as against demurrer. The evidence may or may not vary from the allegations but on demurrer to a petition this court cannot indulge in premature and unwarranted inferences as to what the evidence will show. We cannot read into a petition something that is not there.
We hold the plaintiff's petition good as against demurrer under the guest statute. What now of the matter of negligence?
Under these circumstances it is only necessary to plead ordinary negligence. Since we are dealing with a "paying passenger" under the statute we are not concerned with gross and wanton negligence.
However, under the allegations of paragraph 5 of the petition we have an additional problem. Plaintiff alleges ordinary negligence and invokes the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.
While the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur has been long recognized in this state the plaintiff concedes that it has not heretofore been *613 extended to an ordinary automobile negligence case. On the point, this is a case of first impression.
Under the allegations of paragraph 5 the plaintiff's theory of the application of res ipsa loquitur is simply that the decedent at the time of the accident was asleep in the front seat of the automobile which was driven by and under the control of the defendant; that there were no apparent defects in the car; the road was level, straight, black-topped and dry with no defects and unlimited visibility and that under these circumstances the defendant drove off the road and into a concrete embankment. The plaintiff had no knowledge how or why the fatal accident occurred and this knowledge lay only with the defendant.
Of course, res ipsa loquitur is simply a rule of evidence and the result of the application of the doctrine in a case such as this would shift the burden to the defendant of going forward with the evidence on the question of negligence.
The general doctrine of res ipsa loquitur has long been recognized in this state. One of the most recent cases was Lamb v. Hartford Accident &amp; Indemnity Co., 180 Kan. 157, 300 P.2d 387. The court said:
This court has previously allowed the doctrine to be invoked in cases against common carriers (Clarke v. Cardinal Stage Lines, 139 Kan. 280, 31 P.2d 1; and Misner v. Hawthorne, 168 Kan. 279, 212 P.2d 336).
In the Clarke case the court said:
Likewise in the Misner case the court said:
While this court has never expressed its approval or disapproval of the application of the doctrine in an ordinary automobile negligence case, a great number of jurisdictions in this country hold the doctrine applicable, particularly as to passengers where an automobile *615 leaves the traveled portion of the highway and causes injuries or damage. The general rule is stated by Cyclopedia of Automobile Law and Practice, Blashfield 9B, § 6049:
The supreme court of the United States denied certiorari in Lindsey v. Williams, 260 S.W.2d 472, 347 U.S. 904, 98 L. Ed. 1063, 74 S. Ct. 428, where the doctrine was invoked by a guest in defendant's automobile. In that case the court said at page 475 of the reporter:
The cases where the doctrine has been applied are annotated in 93 A.L.R. 1102 and 33 A.L.R.2d 818.
The facts alleged in this case under paragraph 5 are very similar to those in the above authorities where the doctrine has been applied.
The fact that the decedent was asleep at the time of the accident is a much stronger factual situation than in many of the above cases. This court long ago held that a guest was not guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law because he was asleep at the beginning of the mishap resulting in his injury (Howse v. Weinrich, 133 Kan. 132, 298 Pac. 766).
Restatement of the Law, Torts, § 495 comments on the general rule:
Appellants object strenuously to the application of res ipsa loquitur in this case but argue the point only on the grounds that res ipsa loquitur cannot be invoked to establish gross negligence or willful misconduct. We have no quarrel on this point. The doctrine may not be so invoked but we are not dealing with gross and wanton negligence. We are dealing with ordinary negligence where the doctrine may be applied.
Following the Lamb case and the above general authorities we think the petition contains allegations of fact which, if proved, authorizes the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. The district court was correct in holding the petition good as against demurrer.
The judgment is affirmed.
PARKER, C.J., and PRICE and SCHROEDER, JJ., dissent.