Adams v. Williams

39 Pa. D. & C. 307, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County
DecidedMarch 29, 1940
Docketno. 46
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. D. & C. 307 (Adams v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Williams, 39 Pa. D. & C. 307, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1940).

Opinion

Schaeffer, J.,

In this action of trespass plaintiff, as owner of a truck, sued defendant, -as owner of the automobile, for its negligent operation by defendant’s son. The court entered a compulsory non-suit. The question involved is the liability, if any, of the father for the alleged negligence of his minor son who was driving the father’s automobile with the father’s permission on the son’s return to Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa., to begin his junior scholastic year.

The evidence shows that the son used the car of his father with the latter’s consent. The son had a driver’s license and at the time of his fatal accident was 20 years of age. The son had two other occupants in the car who were also students at Franklin and Marshall College. One of them, Arthur Jenkins, was to drive the car back from Lancaster to the father’s home in Nesquehoning, Pa., and then return to college later. It was testified, inter alia, as follows:

“By Mr. Windolph:
Q. Did you direct your son, on the day of the accident or any other time, to use this car to come to Lancaster?
A. No, I did not.
[308]*308Q. Was he to perform any errands for you in Lancaster, or do any business for you? -
A. None at all.
Q. Did he ask you for permission to use the car?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you grant the permission?
A. I did.
Q. Had you instructed or ordered him to attend Franklin and Marshall College, or was that his own wish?
A. That was his own wish.
Cross-Examination by Mr. Miller:
Q. Did you acquiesce' in that wish, as to his attending Franklin and Marshall College?
A. It was between him and the superintendent of public schools, that he decided to attend Franklin and Marshall College.
Q. That is, he chose Franklin and Marshall as against Haverford, Swarthmore, or some other college, on the recommendation of the superintendent of public schools?
A. Yes.
Q. But he attended college with your entire approval, did he not?
A. Yes.
Q. And you, I believe, have said that you paid his bills for the first two years?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And had given him money to pay the third year?
A. Yes.”

Under the evidence can the negligence of the son be imputed to the father? In plaintiff’s brief it is said:

“It is admitted that neither the family relationship nor the permission granted the son to use the automobile renders defendant liable for its negligent operation. Under the decisions of the appellate courts of this State, the son must be about his father’s business, or engaged in a trip in which the father has more than a sentimental or paternal interest, to render the father liable.”

[309]*309Plaintiff relies on Kunkle v. Thompson, 67 Pa. Superior Ct. 37 (1917), in which Judge Head said:

“Where liability for such act is sought to be imposed on the parent, it must appear the act was committed at a time when the minor was engaged in the furtherance of the parent’s business or pleasure, or in and about a matter in which he had an interest.”

In that case the owner of an automobile permitted his son, 19 years of age, to drive the automobile whenever he desired. The son had been educated at a business college and had been practically manumitted, having been employed by different persons. He paid for his own education from his earnings. On the day of the accident he was returning home from an errand in a neighboring town about a position. The court said (p. 41) :

“We do not suppose it could be successfully urged that in this particular case the son was engaged in the furtherance of the parent’s business or pleasure. The conclusion reached by the learned judge below, if we read his opinion correctly, appears to rest on the theory that the father was interested, within the meaning attached by the law to that term, in the errand on which the son was engaged. Can it be that the word ‘interest’ is used in the authorities in a sense so broad as to justify the conclusion reached? A father is interested, in a sense, in almost every act performed by his son and especially in those which have for their purpose and objeet the advancement of the son in his career, profession or occupation. It is not in that sense that the law regards the term, because a man may have an interest of the same character, though perhaps not so intensive in degree, in the acts of many others to whom he is related by ties of blood or affection.”

Plaintiff contends that in the instant case the “trip was clearly the father’s business, since he had decided to give his son the advantage of a college education. . . . If the trip was a matter in which the father had a definite interest, he is liable.”

[310]*310In the recent case of Hildock v. Grosso, 334 Pa. 222 (1939), the automobile was purchased by the father, who was unable to drive a car, for the pleasure and convenience of his family. On the day of the accident the son, who had a driver’s license, asked his father for the use of the automobile to go to Uniontown in order to make arrangements for his approaching marriage and the father allowed him the use thereof. The Supreme Court said (p. 224) :

“No agency of the son for the father or relation of master and servant was created under the circumstances. The son operated the car on his own account and for his own purpose.
“The cardinal principle applicable to the factual situation here presented was succinctly stated by the late Mr. Justice Sadler in Piquet v. Wazelle, 288 Pa. 463, 467, 136 A. 787: Tf the car, though acquired for the benefit of the family, is not operated at the time of the accident on behalf of the owner and in furtherance of his business, or that of the family, even though it was permissively used, no liability follows, for it cannot be said that the driver was his servant or agent.’ ”

In the latter case it was held that where a father purchases an automobile for family use and permits his son, 19 years of age, to use the car to attend a dance, the father is not liable for injuries caused by the negligent operation of the car by his son while so using it. In Arndt et al. v. Brockhausen et ux., 126 Pa. Superior Ct. 269 (1936), the wife was taking a trip in her husband’s automobile to purchase dresses and shoes which she intended to wear at work in a business enterprise, consisting of a summer resort near Stroudsburg, conducted by the husband and wife. It was held that the husband is not liable for the negligence of his wife unless she is operating the automobile as his agent. Judge Keller in his opinion said (275) : “That would be carrying the meaning of ‘furtherance of the business’ entirely too far.” In Fox v. Cahorowsky, 66 Pa. Superior Ct. 221 (1917), the mother permitted [311]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. D. & C. 307, 1940 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-williams-pactcompllancas-1940.