Court Opinion

ID: 9650945
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:56:54.814972+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:50.050061
License: Public Domain

MANTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Appellee’s proof of ownership, general employment, and customary use established a prima facie case, which means that there was a question of fact for the jury as to operation of the car for the appellant’s business. From such proof the jury was permitted to infer, as its reason might dictate, either that the driver was, or was not, acting within the scope of his employment.
The evidence said to be erroneously admitted may have been a factor which determined the jury’s verdict. In such case, it would be important and may well have been the decisive piece of evidence upon which the verdict was based. Therefore, it is essential to hold that the evidence of payment of a claim of a passenger in appellee’s car, at the time of the accident, was an admission of the scope of employment of appellant’s servant. A compromise is not ád*848missible as an admission because it is, in point of fact, no admission at all. It is referred to by Wigmore, § 1061, as a Hypothetical concession, and is not an assertion. It does not imply a belief that the claim is well founded, but only that payment is to be preferred to the annoyance of a suit. In Tennant v. Hamilton, 7 C. L. & F. 122, it was said that “money paid upon a complaint made, paid merely to purchase peace, is no proof that the demand is well founded.” See Rideout v. Newton, 17 N. H. 71; Snow v. Batchelder, 8 Cush. (Mass.) 513. So, when a person compromises a claim made against him, it cannot be said that he, by such act, admits the truth of any part of the claim.
However, a plain and forthright admission of the truth of a claim and payment thereof, even though the amount of damages is the result of a compromise, cannot be truly said to be a compromise. A compromise is hypothetical and therefore non-admissible as an assertion. But if payment of a claim is absolute in terms, it is not a compromise but is, rather, an outright admission of the truth of the claim. Where there is no mere assumption that a claim is well founded, or payment thereof for the purpose of purchasing peace, there is no. compromise. In such case there is an admission of the truth of the claim. Consequently, the question of whether the trial court was correct in admitting evidence of payment of the passenger’s claim depends upon whether such payment was merely a hypothetical admission or was an absolute admission of the truth of the claim.
The distinction between an admission of the truth of a claim and a mere “purchase of peace” was observed in the leading case of Colburn v. Town of Groton, 66 N. H. 151, 28 A. 95, 22 L. R. A. 763. The facts in that case were quite similar to those present in the instant case. There the plaintiff brought an action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the fault of the defendant. At the time of the accident, a passenger in plaintiff’s vehicle received injuries, and plaintiff offered to show that the defendant had settled the passenger’s claim for damages. On' appeal, the court held that whether payment of the passenger’s claim was an admission of liability, in which event it was admissible, or was a mere “purchase of peace,” and nonadmissible, was a question for the judge to decide before admitting it in evidence. Whether or not payment of a third party’s claim is admissible in evidence, said the court, depends entirely upon the intent of the party making the payment. What the intent was is a question for the trial court. (The case cited states that the amount paid in settlement may be a circumstance to be considered in arriving at the intent with which the payment was made.)
In Grimes v. Keene, 52 N. H. 330, plaintiff offered to prove that the defendant had paid a passenger in his carriage for injuries caused by the same accident. It was held that such evidence was admissible on the ground that payment of the claim was an admission of the truth of the claim, especially in so far as no proof that the payment of the claim was a matter of compromise was offered by defendant.
In Phoenix Assurance Co. v. Davis, 67 F.(2d) 824 (C. C. A. 5), it was held that whether a transaction is a mere compromise or an admission is ordinarily a preliminary question for the trial judge, though if the evidence on this preliminary question is conflicting, the question may be submitted to the jury with proper instructions. The ■ court thus observed the distinction between a “purchase of peace” and an admission.
In Weiss v. Kohlhagen, 58 Or. 144, 113 P. 46, it was held that it is permissible to offer in evidence proof that the party claimed to be liable had settled with others in the same position as the plaintiff.
In Manistee National Bank v. Seymour, 64 Mich. 59, 31 N. W. 140, it was stated to be the general rule that all admissions not made to make peace are admissible in evidence.
In Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Rhodes, 21 Colo. App. 229, 121 P. 769, it was held that plaintiff in a suit to recover for the death of cattle alleged to have been killed by defendant, might offer in evidence proof that the defendant had paid another whose cattle were killed at the same time in the absence of proof by defendant that the payment was made merely to purchase peace.
In Michigan, etc., Ins. Co. v. Pere Marquette Ry. Co., 193 Mich. 429, 160 N. W. 599, it was held that the trial court should decide whether a payment is a compromise or an admission that a claim is well founded.
Therefore, if payment of the passenger’s claim was an outright admission that the driver was acting within the scope of *849his employment, it was admissible. The appellee offered evidence that the passenger claimed the appellant was liable to her for injuries inflicted by the appellee through its agent. Appellee then showed that the appellant paid the passenger’s claim. Appeliee offered this as an admission on the part of the appellant that the driver of the car was acting as appellant’s agent and within the scope of his employment.
The court below admitted the testimony as an admission that the driver was appellant’s agent acting within the scope of his authority. The appellant offered no evidence whatever that it was a hypothetical admission only; that is, merely a compromise. The appellant having offered no evidence, the trial court was correct in admitting it for the purpose offered, namely, as an admission rather than as evidence of a compromise for the purpose of purchasing peace.
The judgment should be affirmed.