Opinion ID: 1362157
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Business Joint Adventure

Text: Instruction 8, as given to the jury, still raises the question as to whether in this particular instance Alva Edwards and Patricia Edwards were engaged in a business joint adventure at the time of their accident, so that the negligence of Alva would for this reason be imputed to Patricia. If they were so engaged, we think the evidence failed to establish it. There was testimony disclosing, without contradiction, that Alva Edwards was a real estate broker and a partner in the Star Realty firm. Patricia Edwards held a salesman's real estate license but was not a broker. She had on previous occasions done work as a salesman in the Star Realty firm and had received a commission on at least one occasion. As far as the trip on the evening of December 12, 1961 is concerned, Alva Edwards said he received an invitation to attend a Christmas dinner party, at Hudson, of the Fremont County Board of Realtors. This board is an organization within Fremont County of real estate brokers (not salesmen). Edwards testified he received the invitation solely, but the dinner or party was for brokers and their wives. There was a total absence of any evidence tending to show that there was to be anything educational, instructive or informative at the party for brokers. Also, there was no indication from the evidence that real estate salesmen, as such, would be in attendance. The only possible implication to be drawn from the testimony adduced is that Patricia Edwards was on this particular trip as the wife of broker Alva Edwards. Nothing but speculation and conjecture could cause a jury to find that there was a profit or business motive for either a broker or a salesman at the affair. To establish such would require some kind of substantial evidence. None was offered. Consequently, the possibility of a business or profit motive for either Alva Edwards or his wife is too remote and speculative to be considered as sufficiently proved to warrant an instruction on the subject. It is to be noted, in fact, that not only is there an absence of any evidence tending to show a commercial, business or profit motive connected with the party but Alva Edwards testified it had never occurred to him that the trip would be good for business. We hardly think it necessary to cite authority for the proposition that the mere suggestion of a possibility which is remote and speculative cannot be made to take the place of substantial evidence. We do, however, call attention to our mention of the matter in Kalman v. Western Union Telegraph Company, Wyo., 390 P.2d 724, 726, and to the authorities cited there. The definition for a joint adventure is advanced in 48 C.J.S. Joint Adventures § 1, p. 801, to the effect that it has been aptly defined as a special combination of two or more persons, where in some specific venture a profit is jointly sought without any actual partnership or corporate designation. See Taylor v. Brindley, 10 Cir., 164 F.2d 235, 240; Arizona Public Service Company v. Lamb, 84 Ariz. 314, 327 P.2d 998, 1000; and Rockett v. Ford, Okl., 326 P.2d 787, 790-791. This court had occasion to say in Binning v. Miller, 55 Wyo. 478, 102 P.2d 64, 71, rehearing denied 56 Wyo. 129, 105 P.2d 278, that in a joint adventure the parties, while not necessarily, ordinarily contemplate an enterprise for commercial profit. No other kind of enterprise has been asserted or claimed in the case at bar, and in the absence of concrete evidence of a profit motive, we see no reason to treat the case differently from the ordinary case where a husband and wife are traveling together in a jointly-owned vehicle, with the husband driving and the wife riding as a passenger. Therefore, the principles adopted in Porter v. Wilson, Wyo., 357 P.2d 309, 316, should be followed. It appearing, then, with no evidence to the contrary, that Alva Edwards was in physical and actual possession of their Packard automobile, driving as he desired without instruction or suggestion from his wife, the jury should not have been permitted to impute his negligence to his passenger-wife. It is interesting to notice that during the trial the trial judge must have had the same impression as we now have as to the lack of evidence tending to show a joint adventure. Many questions on the subject were asked of Alva Edwards, by his own attorney and by opposing counsel, with the result being what we have already indicated. Then, during direct examination of plaintiff Patricia Edwards, by her own attorney, when she was questioned on the subject of a joint adventure, the judge observed that he thought counsel was anticipating a defense. Counsel agreed he was, and the judge said, Let's wait until we cross the bridge, get to it. We think this denoted an attitude on the part of the court that no substantial evidence had been offered to show a joint adventure and that defendants had the burden to prove such a defense. No further testimony was offered by either side thereafter bearing on the subject. Thus, plaintiffs would have had reason to claim surprise when the court thereafter gave the jury Instruction 8.