Court Opinion

ID: 9683518
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:30:35.817443+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:48.006331
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, J.
(dissenting) The common-law rule is that a guest has a right of action against the owner or driver of a motor vehicle for injury sustained as a result of ordinary negligence. Barger v. Chelpon, 60 S.D. 66, 243 N.W. 97. The fact that there .is a family relationship between the owner or operator of a motor vehicle and the guest does not deprive the latter of the benelEits of the common-law rule. Holdhusen v. Schaible, 60 S.D. 275, 244 N.W. 392; Hall v. Hall, 63 S.D. 343, 258 N.W. 491. This state enacted a statute (now SDC 44.0362) in 1933 precluding recovery for ordinary negligence where the occupant of a motor vehicle is a "guest without compensation" for the transportation. Such a guest does not have a cause of action for damages against an *593owner or operator for injury in case of accident "unless such, accident shall have been caused by the willful and wanton misconduct of the owner or operator." The primary purpose of enacting the statute, we observed in a recent case, Schlim v. Gau, 80 S.D. 403, 125 N.W.2d 174, "was to do away with, or at least minimize, collusive litigation." We quoted with approval from the opinion in Naudzius v. Lahr, 253 Mich. 216, 234 N.W. 581, 74 A.L.R. 1189: "In many, probably most, of the cases between relatives or friends the real defendant is an insurance company. Ordinary negligence is not hard to prove if guest and host co-operate to that end. It is conceivable that such actions are not always unattended by collusion, perjury, and consequent fraud .upon the court. While we may accept the contention that paid insurers are not objects of special consideration by the Legislature, it is inadmissible for the court to consider a law from the viewpoint that they are not entitled to a proper trial and honest determination of liability in a lawsuit. Nor are insurance companies alone interested in the question. The results of verdicts are mirrored in insurance rates, and the law provides a possible reason in the purse of the motor owning public,'most of whom carry liability insurance."
The rule followed in most jurisdictions is that a guest statute being in derrogation of the common law must be 'strictly construed against the host and liberally construed in favor of the guest. 60 C.J.S. Motor Vehicles § 399(3), p. 996. That is not the rule in this state. In conformity to the provisions of SDC 65.0202(1), it is the function of the courts of this state to construe the provisions of the guest statute and proceedings thereunder liberally with the view of effectuating the legislative purpose. Scotvold v. Scotvold, 68 S.D. 53, 298 N.W. 266.
The question who is a guest within the. contemplation of the statute has been before this court in a number of cases. The mere fact that an injured occupant may have conferred some benefit on the driver does not exclude him from being a guest. In Schiltz v. Picton, 66 S.D. 301, 282 N.W. 519, this court said: '/Such benefits as are compatible with hospitality, companionship or good fellowship accruing to the owner or operator are not sufficient to take the passenger out of the guest classification." *594In Scotvold v. Scotvold, supra, we said: "* * * we entertain the view that no basis exists for differentiating such a guest from the true guest the Legislature'had in mind unless the benefit he is to bestow on the owner or operator is sufficiently real, tangible and substantial to serve as the inducing cause of the-transportation, and to operate to completely overshadow any considerations of mere hospitality growing out of friendship or relationship." The reasoning of the Schütz and Scotvold cases has been consistently recognized and followed in subsequent cases. Gunderson v. Sopiwnik, 75 S.D. 402, 66 N.W.2d 510; Tennyson v. Kern, 76 S.D. 136, 74 N.W.2d 316; Mitzel v. Hauck, 78 S.D. 543, 105 N.W.2d 378; Cluts v. Peterson, 79 S.D. 462, 113 N.W.2d 273; Schlim v. Gau, supra.
We have recognized that if the transportation of a person is not of a social nature, but tends to promote the business or commercial interests of the parties, the occupant is not a guest within the meaning of the statute. What is such a benefit is indicated by the following cases: Forsling v. Mickelson, 66 S.D. 366, 283 N.W. 169 (where plaintiff volunteered his services as a musician on a booster trip); Peters v. Hoisington, 72 S.D. 542, 37 N.W.2d 410 (where plaintiff rode along at request of driver to check wiring); Antonen v. Swanson, 74 S.D. 1, 48 N.W.2d 161, 28 A.L.R.2d 1 (where driver asked rider to accompany and assist him on truck route); Kleinhesselink v. Porterfield, 76 S.D. 577, 83 N.W.2d 191 ¡where rider accompanied father primarily for business purpose). The situations in the two cases principally relied on by plaintiff are readily distinguishable from that presented in the instant case. In Kruzie v. Sanders, 23 Cal.2d 237, 143 P.2d 704, the sole purpose of the plaintiff in riding with the defendant was to help defendant select Christmas gifts. In Roberts v. Craig, 124 Cal.App.2d 202, 268 P.2d 500, 43 A.L.R.2d 1146, it appeared from the evidence that defendant driver who had only a limited instruction permit asked plaintiff to accompany her on a trip in order that she could comply with a statutory requirement of supervision by a licensed operator. The court there said: "* * * the jury, based on respondent's evidence, was justified in finding that the primary purpose of the trip was the business of the driver and that compensation was given by the rider. Appellant wanted to make the trip to Martinez to secure her husband's salary *595checks. Respondent had no business to transact in Martinez and had no reason, business or social, to go there. She was asked by appellant to go as an accommodation because the law' prohibited appellant from driving without a licensed driver in the car. Thus, the implied finding that the primary purpose of the trip was the business of appellant is supported."
If a trip is primarily for social as distinguished from a business purpose, incidental benefits including the sharing of expenses of the trip do not exclude the guest relationship. Tennyson v. Kern, supra. If the owner or operator, of course, insists upon a prearrangement by which the person riding with him is obligated to share the expense of the trip, the agreement thus made precludes the relationship of host and guest notwithstanding the social aspects of the trip. McMahon v. DeKraay, 70 S.D. 180, 16 N.W.2d 308. The status thus created is not imposed by law, but is one voluntarily assumed. As the court said in Has-brook v. Wingate, 152 Ohio St. 50, 87 N.E.2d 87, 10 A.L.R.2d 1342: "Although a contract or arrangement for transportation of a passenger may be express or implied, no implied contract or obligation having the effect of increasing the liability of the motorist by reason of a 'passenger' status may come into operation by reason of the mere payment of a small 'sum unless such payment is made under such facts and circumstances as would raise an inference of the acquiescence of the motorist in the assumption of such increased liability. In other words, to create the status of 'passenger' when there is no express agreement for transportation with payment therefor, the surrounding circumstances must be such as to indicate to the motorist, as a reasonable person, that one enjoying transportation at his hands is riding as his 'passenger' rather than as his 'guest.'"
In Sabo v. Marn, 103 Ohio App. 113, 144 N.E.2d 248, a question similar to the one before us was presented. Defendant who had a limited driver's license requested plaintiff to accompany him because the law prohibited defendant from driving without a licensed driver in the car. They picked up three friends and went to a restaurant for coffee. Plaintiff brought the action to recover damages for injuries sustained in an accident occurring on the return trip. Following the holding in the Hasbrook v. Win-*596gate case, supra, the court concluded that plaintiff was a guest. It said: "There was no express contract between these young men. They were in no sense joint adventurers having a mutual business interest in this trip. In fact, it was not a business trip at all but a social excursion, the purpose of which was to have a ride and get a cup of coffee at Jimmy's Truck Stop."
.The court in Smith v. Tatum, 199 Va. 85, 97 S.E.2d 820, had before it a statute similar to our statute. The action was for the death of one who was giving defendant a driving lesson when the accident resulting in his death occurred. With respect to the question of whether decedent was a guest the court said: "In the present case decedent volunteered to go with the defendant to give her a driving lesson. There was no mutual or reciprocal benefit to him in being transported by the defendant. Neither of them expected or intended that any business or contractual relationship would be thereby created, but the service being rendered to the defendant was considered by both as a gratuitous and friendly act, prompted only by family relationship and interest."
Plaintiff in my opinion was a guest of the defendant at the time of the accident involved and to hold otherwise is contrary to the purpose and intent of the guest statute and the decisions of this court construing its force and effect. Here, for the first time in this court the rule is stated to be that one who accepts a ride solely to perform a gratuitous service for the driver is a passenger and not a guest. The rule is stated too broadly and not in accord with our holdings. Cf. Tarbet v. Green, Or., 388 P.2d 468. It appears from what has been stated and cases cited that a benefit must not only be substantial, but must have some significance beyond social hospitality or the usual social amenities which are expected between the parties. Even though a defendant is benefited the plaintiff is ordinarily a guest where the relationship is primarily social in nature. Any bona fide prearrangement for compensation or sharing of expenses, of course, will as above indicated take an occupant out of the guest category notwithstanding the social aspects of the trip. The instant case is distinctly unlike Peters v. Hoising ton, supra, where the facts were in dispute concerning the purpose of the transportation and the *597evidence justified a finding that the relationship was not primarily of a social nature. Plaintiff in that case who had recently installed the battery in the car driven by the defendant was asked to ride and check the lights. The record herein supports only the conclusion that the trip was taken for pleasure and had no connection with a business transaction. It is apparent that the gratuitous service rendered to defendant was part of the social amenities normally incident to the relationship between the parties and was not so incompatible with considerations of hospitality as to indicate to a driver, as a reasonable person, that the invited occupant was a passenger and not a guest. This is clearly a type of case to which the guest statute construed with a view of effectuating its objects applies. In other words, where the injured party was a guest, the protection afforded by the legislature to the driver cannot be removed by a judicial determination from the evidence that there was no collusion or possibility of fabrication of testimony.
The facts concerning the status of the plaintiff were not in substantial dispute. When the evidence is undisputed, or such that minds of men could not reasonably arrive at any other conclusion, the question is one for decision by the court as a matter of law. The court's function of declaring the applicability of the guest statute was here in effect turned over to the jury.
RENTTO, J., concurs in dissent.