Title: Barker v. Zeckser
Citation: 179 Kan. 596, 296 P.2d 1085
Docket Number: 40,074
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: May 5, 1956

179 Kan. 596 (1956)
296 P.2d 1085
KING S. BARKER, Appellee,
v.
ROGER A.W. ZECKSER, KENNETH MILLER and EMPLOYERS MUTUAL CASUALTY COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellants.
No. 40,074

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed May 5, 1956.
David H. Fisher, of Topeka, argued the cause, and Donald Patterson, of Topeka, was with him on the briefs for the appellants.
William Hergenreter, of Topeka, argued the cause, and Wendell L. Garlinghouse and Warren W. Shaw, both of Topeka, were with him on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
PARKER, J.:
This was an action, commenced within one year from the date of the accident, to recover damages for personal injuries and property damage sustained by the plaintiff in a collision between two motor vehicles on a public highway. The appeal is from an order sustaining plaintiff's motion to strike portions of the defendants' answer.
The amended petition is not in controversy and need only be detailed for the purpose of defining the issues. To that end it may be said it charges the proximate cause of all damages sustained and claimed by plaintiff was due to divers acts of negligence on the part of defendant Zeckser, the defendant Miller's truck driver, in driving into plaintiff's truck and house trailer, while overtaking and attempting to pass those vehicles on a public highway, at a *597 time when the Miller truck was operating under state license as a contract carrier and covered by insurance with the defendant Employers Mutual Casualty Company.
In a general way it can be stated that the first five paragraphs of the answer of defendants, Zeckser, Miller and Employers Mutual Casualty Company, consist of immaterial admissions and a general denial, specific denials that the negligence of Zeckser was the proximate cause of the collision and that plaintiff was the owner or had an interest in the truck he was driving at the time of the accident, allegations that if plaintiff sustained any injuries as the result of the collision the proximate cause thereof was due solely to his own negligence, and averments that if plaintiff was the owner or had an interest in the truck he was driving at the time of the accident he had sustained no damage thereby and had been fully compensated therefor by the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, or others; and that the sixth and final paragraph of such pleading reads:
Following the filing of the foregoing answer plaintiff moved to strike paragraph six, heretofore quoted, from that pleading on grounds the allegations contained therein were irrelevant and immaterial, stated no defense to plaintiff's cause of action and were pleaded solely for prejudicial purposes. When this motion was sustained defendants perfected the instant appeal.
Stated in highly summarized form the essence of all contentions advanced by appellants in support of their position the trial court erred in sustaining the motion to strike paragraph 6 of their answer is that, under and by virtue of the provisions of G.S. 1949, 44-504, where an employee and his employer are within the provisions of the workmen's compensation act and the employee, injured by the negligence of a third person, brings an action to recover damages for injuries sustained as the result of such negligence, the allegations set forth in such paragraph of the answer constitute a defense in the action brought by the employee against the negligent third person and his insurance carrier.
Pertinent portions of the statute, G.S. 1949, 44-504, relied on by appellants to sustain their position read:
We think the sole issue thus raised on appellate review is controlled, and therefore decided, by our recent decision of Davison *599 v. Eby Construction Co., 169 Kan. 256, 218 P.2d 219, where it is said:
And in the opinion said:
Assuming arguendo, as appellants contend, the facts in Davison v. Eby Construction Co., supra, are of such nature as to distinguish it from the case at bar does not lead to or warrant a conclusion the trial court erred in sustaining the involved motion to strike. The issue here raised by appellants was long ago laid to rest and determined by this court in the early case of Moeser v. Shunk, 116 Kan. 247, 226 Pac. 784, where the provisions of the statute then in force and effect were substantially the same as they are now. There, in dealing with similar facts and circumstances, we held:
And in the opinion, with specific reference to whether facts and circumstances of the kind here involved could be pleaded as a defense to a like action, said:
For numerous other decisions sustaining the views expressed in Moeser v. Shunk, supra, as well as Davison v. Eby Construction Co., supra, see Riddle v. Higley Motor Co., 122 Kan. 458, 252 Pac. 231; Jolley v. United Power &amp; Light Corp., 131 Kan. 102, 105, 289 Pac. 962; Early v. Burt, 134 Kan. 445, 453, 455, 7 P.2d 95; Acock v. Kansas City Power &amp; Light Co., 135 Kan. 389, 394, 10 P.2d 877; Cooke v. Bunten, 135 Kan. 558, 11 P.2d 1016; Long v. American Employers Ins. Co., 148 Kan. 520, 525, 83 P.2d 674; Pattrick v. Riggs, 148 Kan. 741, 84 P.2d 840.
See, also, the recent case of Clifford v. Eacrett, 163 Kan. 471, 183 P.2d 861, where it is said:
Appellants cite no cases from this jurisdiction where it has been held that allegations such as are contained in paragraph 6 of their answer constitute a defense to an action where an employee, having the exclusive right to do so under the statute, brings an action against a negligent third party within one year from the date on which he sustained injuries as the result of such negligence; and when considered we find nothing in other arguments made by them sufficient to warrant conclusions contrary to those announced in the foregoing decisions. Therefore we hold that the trial court committed no error in sustaining the involved motion to strike.
The judgment is affirmed.