Court Opinion

ID: 9625817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:51:40.665452+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:15.698053
License: Public Domain

TRAYNOR, J.
I dissent.
I agree that the trial court’s instructions concerning negligence per se were erroneous. I do not agree, however, that the error was not prejudicial.
If there are two independent grounds upon which a verdict may have been based, erroneous instructions as to one ground will not justify reversal if it clearly appears that the verdict was based upon the other ground. (Oettinger v. Stewart, 24 Cal.2d 133, 140 [148 P.2d 19, 156 A.L.B. 1221].) Thus, there need be no reversal if such other ground is established as a matter of law (Clement v. State Reclamation Board, 35 Cal.2d 628, 643 [220 P.2d 897]), as, for example, by “facts that are admitted as proved beyond controversy” (O’Meara v. Swortfiguer, 191 Cal. 12, 17 [214 P. 975]). If the evidence with respect to such other ground is substantially in conflict, however, it is impossible to determine whether the jury based its verdict thereon or relied instead upon the ground upon which they were erroneously instructed. It is settled that in such a case the error is prejudicial. (Young v. Southern Pacific Co., 182 Cal. 369 [190 P. 36]; O’Meara v. Swortfiguer, 191 Cal. 12 [214 P. 975]; Oettinger v. Stewart, 24 Cal.2d 133 [148 P.2d 19, 156 A.L.B. 1221]; Huebotter v. Follett, 27 Cal. 2d 765 [167 P.2d 193]; Edwards v. Freeman, 34 Cal.2d 589 [212 P.2d 883]; Clement v. State Reclamation Board, 35 Cal.2d 628 [220 P.2d 897]; Galloway v. United Railroads, 69 Cal.App. 770 [232 P. 491]; Criswell v. Pacific Electric Railway Co., 48 Cal.App.2d 819 [120 P.2d 670].)
In the present ease, although the issue of negligence per se was improperly submitted to the jury, there was evidence of other negligence which, if believed, would support a verdict for the plaintiff. The other alleged acts of negligence were inadequate lighting, improper placement of the mattress over the vent shaft, and absence of warning signs. As to each of them, however, there was a sharp conflict in the evidence. *503The jury may have rejected these claims of negligence and relied solely upon the court’s instructions that the height of the parapet constituted negligence per se. Under these circumstances, we should reverse the judgment.
It is contended, however, that the instructions concerning negligence per se referred only to Mrs. Brickel and that it necessarily follows from the verdict against Mr. Brickel that the jury found him guilty of general negligence. It is argued further that since he was the manager of the hotel and acting within the scope of his employment, his negligence is imputed to his principal, Mrs. Brickel, so that she too can be held liable without reliance on negligence per se.
An examination of the erroneous instructions reveals that they did not refer to Mrs. Brickel exclusively.
Instruction No. 15 reads as follows: “Health and Safety Code, 16827. Parapet or rail at roof line. ‘A parapet or rail at least thirty inches in height shall be constructed at the roof line of every vent shaft in an apartment house or hotel so that no person may walk or fall into the shaft.’ Conduct which is in violation of Section 16827 just read to you constitutes negligence per se.”
Instruction No. 30 reads as follows: “If you find that defendant Gladys Peterson Brickel violated the statute requiring the parapet around the light well to be of minimum height, her negligence is thereby established. But before plaintiff may recover you must further find that the negligence of such defendant was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury and that plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence and that plaintiff was an invitee as to the part of the premises where she was injured.”
Clearly No. 15 is not limited to Mrs. Brickel, and No. 30, while referring only to her, does not exclude Mr. Brickel and may be viewed as illustrative of the way in which No. 15 was meant to .be applied. There is nothing in the pleadings, in the evidence, or elsewhere in the instructions to the jury to suggest that plaintiff or the trial court considered Mr. Brickel to be any less responsible for the violation of the statute than Mrs. Brickel. Neither of the defendants constructed the building, and therefore the statute could apply only to the operation of the hotel-—conduct for which Mr. Brickel, as manager, was as responsible as his wife (Restatement, Agency, § 355), and the complaint was so framed.
If the trial court had charged that “residing in Santa *504Ana is negligence per se,” the error would have affected both defendants. This error would not be corrected as to Mr. Briekel by a later instruction that “if yon find that defendant Gladys Peterson Briekel resides in Santa Ana, her negligence is thereby established” —such an instruction would serve rather to illustrate the general rule already given. The instructions in the present case are analogous, and it must be concluded that both defendants were prejudicially affected by them.
Spence, J., concurred.
Appellants’ petition for a rehearing was denied January 15, 1951. Traynor, J., and Spence, J., voted for a rehearing.