Court Opinion

ID: 9728309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:04:31.096979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:47.553191
License: Public Domain

FRIEDMAN, Acting P. J.
I concur with the result. Plaintiffs’ counsel had an opportunity to request special verdicts on the issues of Kathleen’s guest status and defendant’s willful misconduct. (Code Civ. Proc., § 625.) Counsel did not do so. The general verdict implies findings in favor of the prevailing party on all issues submitted to the jury. (Rawlings v. Harris (1968) 265 Cal.App.2d 452, 454 [71 Cal.Rptr. 288]; Christensen v. Malkin (1965) 236 Cal.App.2d 114, 123 [45 Cal.Rptr. 836].) The same notion, in altered form, is expressed by the rule refusing appellate review of a general verdict when several issues are tried and one of them is supported by substantial evidence and is unaffected by error. (Lysick v. Walcom (1968) 258 Cal.App.2d 136, 157 [65 Cal.Rptr. 406, 28 A.L.R.3d 368]; Posz v. Burchell (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 324, 335-337 [25 Cal.Rptr. 896].) When there is a guest-passenger issue and an implied finding of passenger status, the reviewing court does not reach the issue of willful misconduct. (Tucker v. Landucci (1962) 57 Cal.2d 762, 766-767 [22 Cal.Rptr. 10, 371 P.2d 754]; Gillespie v. Rawlings (1957) 49 Cal.2d 359, 369 [317 P.2d 601].)
Appellate courts are wrestling with overwhelming caseloads. Well-conceived special verdicts simplify and often eliminate issues on appeal. (See, e.g., Raymond v. Paradise Unified School Dist. (1963) 218 Cal.App.2d 1 [31 Cal.Rptr. 847].) We should not permit the tactical choices of trial counsel to force abstract issues upon us. Rather, we should utilize opportunities to force counsel into requesting special verdicts. There is no problem in locating responsibility for the request. The responsibility rests with the party who will lose the verdict. Under the circumstances of the case, I do not reach the willful misconduct issue.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied May 6, 1971.