Court Opinion

ID: 9566986
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:46:14.728893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:07.642751
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE ADAIR:
(specially concurring).
In Laird v. Berthelote, 63 Mont. 122, 206 Pac. 445, the facts and conditions there shown were quite similar to those which here obtain. There a wife riding in a car being driven in the nighttime by her husband was injured when the car ran into a trench that had been dug in the highway. This court there *476held that the negligence, if any, of the husband was not imputable to the wife, nothing appearing* that she was in control of the car or directing the driving.
In Green v. City of Roundup, 117 Mont. 249, 254, 157 Pac. (2d) 1010, 1012, this court said: “It is to be remembered that plaintiff was a jmssenger in and not the driver of the automobile. Under the evidence here, the court might possibly have found that the driver was negligent. But the rule is that generally his negligence is not imputed to the passenger as a matter of law. Black v. Martin, 88 Mont. 256, 292 Pac. 577. In such cases, the passenger must take only such precautions for his own safety as under the particular circumstances are reasonable; he is not absolved from the duty of using ordinary care for his own safety. Black v. Martin, supra; Laird v. Berthelote, 63 Mont. 122, 206 Pac. 445. As is said in Baatz v. Noble, 105 Mont. 59, 69 Pac. (2d) 579, 582: ‘We approve the ruling of this court as declared in the case of Marinkovich v. Tierney, 93 Mont. 72, 17 Pac. (2d) 93, 98, wherein it was said: “The primary duty of caring for the safety of the vehicle and those riding in it rests upon the driver; a mere gratuitous passenger should not be held guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, until he in some way actively participates in the negligence of «the driver, or is aware of the incompetence or carelessness of the driver, or lmowing that the driver is not taking proper precautions while approaching a place of danger, fails to warn or admonish the driver.” ’ ”
The plaintiff is entitled to a clear instruction based upon the above-cited cases informing the jury that generally a motorist’s negligence is not imputed to a passenger in an automobile as a matter of law. I concur in the order reversing the judgment and remanding the cause for a new trial under proper instructions.