Bearden v. Arkansas Transport Co.

471 S.W.2d 748, 251 Ark. 207, 1971 Ark. LEXIS 1122
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 25, 1971
Docket5-5621
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 471 S.W.2d 748 (Bearden v. Arkansas Transport Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bearden v. Arkansas Transport Co., 471 S.W.2d 748, 251 Ark. 207, 1971 Ark. LEXIS 1122 (Ark. 1971).

Opinion

Carleton Harris, Chief Justice.

This appeal relates to the legal doctrine of joint enterprise. On November 2, 1965, a collision occurred near El Dorado on Highway 167 between a northbound tanker truck owned by appellee, Arkansas Transport Company, and driven by A. E. Greer, and a southbound Mercury automobile owned and driven by Lois Ann Phelan, and in which Jack Wesley Johnson was riding. As a result of the collision, Greer, Miss Phelan, and Johnson were all killed, and this suit was instituted by Arkansas Transport, and the widow and child (by her guardian) against the administrator of the estate of Jack Wesley Johnson, the passenger in the Phelan automobile. The complaint, together with the amendment, asserted that Johnson and Miss Phelan were both intoxicated, and were on a joint enterprise at the time of the collision; that the negligence of Miss Phelan was imputed to Johnson. After the filing of an answer denying the allegations, the case proceeded to trial and was submitted to the jury on interrogatories. Interrogatory No. 1 inquired whether the jury found that Johnson and Miss Phelan were engaged in a joint enterprise at the time of the accident, and this interrogatory was answered “Yes”. Interrogatory No. 2 inquired whether the jury found that Lois Ann Phelan was guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident, to which the jury answered “Yes”. Interrogatory No. 3 inquired whether the jury found Johnson to be guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident, and this inquiry was answered “No”. The jury returned a nine man verdict awarding the widow and daughter the sum of $5,000 as damages, and likewise awarding Arkansas Transport Company the sum of $5,-000 for property damage. From the judgment so entered, appellant brings this appeal. For reversal, it is simply asserted that there was no substantial evidence that a joint enterprise existed between Lois Ann Phelan and Jack Wesley Johnson at the time of the accident.

Testimony reflected that the truck driven by Greer was traveling 45 or 50 miles per hour, and that the Phelan automobile was moving at “a terrific speed” at the time of the collision; further, that the truck was on its right side of the highway and the Mercury automobile was straddling the center line. Appellant does not question in his brief that the wreck was caused by the negligence of Miss Phelan. Following the collision, blood tests were made from blood samples of Miss Phelan and Johnson by Dr. Kenneth R. Duzan, and the report was offered in evidence without objection. The report reads as follows:

“The blood tests which you refer to were performed in my laboratory. The blood was drawn by Union County Coroner, Dr. John H. Pinson. The blood was given to me. I brought it to my laboratory, where the tests were run by Mr. Wayne Tubbs, my chief laboratory technologist, under my supervision.

The blood alcohol levels are reported as 75 mg.% on Jack Wesley Johnson and 354.8 mg.% on Lois Ann Phelan. This means that there were 75 mg. of alcohol by weight in each 100 grams of blood of Johnson and 354.8 mg. per 100 grams in the blood of Phelan. At the time these tests were done, I believe that 100 mg.% was considered to be under the influence. 354.8 mg.% is a high level of blood alcohol and should indicate drunkeness.”

The validity of the recovery by appellees in this case, of course, depends entirely upon whether Miss Phelan and Johnson were engaged in a joint enterprise at the time of the wreck. Appellees do not cite any authority relative to whether persons riding in an automobile, engaged in drinking intoxicants, are engaged in a joint enterprise, devoting their arguments rather to the fact that Phelan and Johnson were acting in concert in carrying out the purpose of having a good time and were accordingly embarked upon a joint venture. However, we have cases containing dictum to the effect that where persons are driving around, bent on pleasure, and have become inebriated from drinking, such parties are engaged in a joint enterprise. Missouri Pacific Transportation Co. v. Howard, 201 Ark. 6, 143 S. W. 2d 538, Albritton, Admr., v. C. M. Ferguson & Son, 197 Ark. 436, 122 S. W. 2d 620. There are other cases involving a guest suing an alleged drunken driver; Sparks v. Chittwood Motor Co., 192 Ark. 743, 94 S. W. 2d 359, Lewis v. Chittwood Motor Co., 196 Ark. 86, 115 S. W. 2d 1072. Still others involve a passenger in a car with a drunken driver suing a third party; Wilson v. Holloway, 212 Ark. 878, 208 S. W. 2d 178. While the term “joint enterprise” is used in Wilson v. Holloway supra, a subsequent case, Hurley v. Peebles, 238 Ark. 739, 384 S. W. 2d 261 (November 30, 1964) explains that the above cited cases were really talking about “assumption of risk” rather than joint enterprise. The court said:

“A divided court in Missouri Pacific Transportation Co. v. Howard, 201 Ark. 6, 143 S. W. 2d 538, reversed a judgment in favor of appellee passenger because of erroneous instructions. Before discussing the instructions, the court stated that there was sharp conflict in the testimony, appellee’s evidence being that the driver and passengers were sober, appellant’s being that they were drunk, ‘in the car . . . driving around on pleasure bent,’ and then said, ‘If this testimony is true [i. e., all inebriated], the parties in the car were engaged in a joint enterprise, and the negligence of the driver would be imputed to each of them. Albritton v. Ferguson [supra].’ To set the record straight, if the group, appellee, the driver and other passenger, were drunk, appellee may have ‘assumed the risk’ [J. Paul Smith Co. c. Tipton, 237 Ark. 486, 374 S. W. 2d 176], but the facts reflected in the Missouri Pacific Transportation Co. v. Howard opinion, supra, do not meet the criteria of joint enterprise as we understand them in the law of Arkansas. Woodward v. Holliday, supra.

In Wilson v. Holloway, 212 Ark. 878, 208 S. W. 2d 178, the court cites Missouri Pacific Transportation Co. v. Howard, supra, and Albritton v. Ferguson, supra, as authority for the ‘drunken joint enterprise’ theory, and then states:

‘In the case of Sparks v. Chitwood Motor Co., 192 Ark. 743, 94 S. W. 2d 359, Justice Mehaffy approved the following statement from Berry on Automobiles, § 5.181: ‘If the occupants and driver of an automobile drink together and become intoxicated, each is as responsible as the driver for negligent driving, and none can recover injuries due to such negligence.’

The logic in this quotation is well-founded in the law of assumed risk and was ample basis for the holding in Wilson v. Holloway without reference to the dicta on ‘drunken joint enterprise.’ ”

We have been cited to no case where a passenger riding with a drunken driver, the negligence of the latter being the proximate cause of injuries to a third party, was held liable to such third party on the basis of joint enterprise. That, of course, is the situation that we have in the case before us, and it is at once apparent that there is a vast difference where one, riding with a drunken driver who causes a collision, institutes suit himself for recovery, and where a third party, injured by the drunken driver, institutes suit only against the passenger. The last type of case requires far more evidence than the first because in the first instance we may well have the situation of a passenger assuming the risk of riding with one who is intoxicated.

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Bluebook (online)
471 S.W.2d 748, 251 Ark. 207, 1971 Ark. LEXIS 1122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bearden-v-arkansas-transport-co-ark-1971.