Court Opinion

ID: 9766617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:55:13.007102+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:24.195477
License: Public Domain

FRASER, Justice
(concurring).
I concur because the sum total of all the probative evidence in this case shows at most a sudden swerving of the Plymouth automobile. There is no living person to explain it. It was stipulated that the three passengers were guests. Under such stipulation, liability of defendant had to be predicated on gross negligence, which requires a finding that the driver had a conscious disregard of the safety of the. passengers. Again, it must be remembered there were ho survivors of that car, and the driver of the truck said only that the Plymouth car suddenly ■ swerved. This could have been attributed to many things, such as a heart attack, bee sting, or even carelessness, but gross- negligence must be affirmatively established, not guessed at. This situation is significantly lacking in the elements found in many cases involving the guest statute where gross negligence was established, such as cautioning and entreaty by passengers to driver, high speed coupled with known mechanical defects, angry and reckless state of mind, etc. The ruling of the trial court was therefore entirely correct.