Court Opinion

ID: 9578222
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:43:04.112687+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:17.348927
License: Public Domain

*838Larson, J.
(dissenting) — I must respectfully dissent with the majority. I can see no substantial difference in the evidence submitted herein and that in the prior ease of McBride v. Dexter, 250 Iowa 7, 92 N.W.2d 443, wherein we unanimously denied recovery.
The only difference — a mere statement by the plaintiff that Dexter asked him to go along to help search for his lost fender skirts — is not sufficient evidence, when viewed in the light of the other testimony, to permit a jury to speculate upon the question as to whether plaintiff had established a definite relationship between himself and the driver by which a tangible benefit would accrue to or be conferred upon the defendant.
The rule in this state is quite clear. The benefit accruing to or conferred upon the operator, sufficient to take the person riding with him out of the guest class, must be a tangible one growing out of a definite relationship. McBride v. Dexter, supra; Thuente v. Hart Motors, 234 Iowa 1294, 1300, 1301, 15 N.W.2d 622.
Here there is no dispute as to what happened after they reached Walcott. The two carloads of boys drove around the block twice looking for the skirts, then entered a café, ate, and drank soft drinks, and returned to Davenport. How does that indicate any tangible benefit contemplated, or establish any definite relationship between plaintiff and the driver?
I too have sympathy for the plaintiff and his family, but I can see no real distinction between this case and the other where McBride was denied recovery because he was a guest. The evidence discloses no more than a sociable venture wherein all of the boys were seeking excitement and adventure, although perhaps plaintiff’s size, as suggested by his counsel, made his presence desirable, not for the purpose of finding fender skirts, but for fighting in case a brawl should occur. By trying to distinguish between these two cases, we have done nothing to aid the Bench and Bar as to when one has shown himself a guest and when a passenger.