Cohen v. Bucey

158 Ohio St. (N.S.) 159
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1952
DocketNo. 32915
StatusPublished

This text of 158 Ohio St. (N.S.) 159 (Cohen v. Bucey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cohen v. Bucey, 158 Ohio St. (N.S.) 159 (Ohio 1952).

Opinion

Matthias, J.

The single question of law presented, as stated by the defendant, is: “Does an amendment to a petition sounding in negligence which adds allegations of wilful and wanton misconduct introduce a new and different cause of action, so that it is not permissible after the running of the applicable statute of limitations?”

[162]*162Section 11363, General Code, provides as follows:

“Before or after judgment, in furtherance of justice and on such terms as it deems proper, the court may amend any pleading, process, or proceeding, by adding or striking out the name of any party, or by correcting a mistake in the name of a party or a mistake in any other respect, or by inserting other allegations material to the case, or, when the amendment does not substantially change the claim or defense, by conforming the pleading or proceeding to the facts proved. When an action or proceeding fails to conform to the provisions of this title, the court may permit either to be made conformable thereto, by amendment. ’ ’

The contention of the defendant is that negligence, wilfulness and wantonness being productive of different legal consequences are inconsistent, and, therefore, the amendment of a petition, seeking to recover damages on the ground of negligence, by averments that the operative acts stated in the petition were wilfully, wantonly, purposely and intentionally done states a new and different cause of action and is not authorized by the provisions of Section 11363, General Code.

This court had before it substantially the same question in the case of Schweinfurth, Admr., v. C., C., C. & St. L. Ry. Co., 60 Ohio St., 215, 54 N. E., 89. The action in that case was brought to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s intestate, which it was alleged was caused by the wrongful acts, negligence and default of the defendant railroad company.

It was alleged in the petition that the death was caused when the defendant “recklessly, carelessly, wantonly and wilfully” struck the decedent at a railroad crossing. The defendant Urged that by the joinder of the allegations of negligence and wilful mis[163]*163conduct two causes of action were stated and that the court erred when it overruled the defendant’s motion to require plaintiff to elect between such allegedly inconsistent . causes of action. In reversing the judgment of the Circuit Court and affirming the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, this court held as follows in the syllabus:

“A petition in such an action which states all the material facts of the transaction or occurrence resulting in the person’s death contains but one cause of action, though they comprise a number of co-operating acts and omissions, some of which were wilful or intentional, and others the negligent failure to observe proper care.”

The following language from the opinion by Williams, J., is pertinent:

“It is urged, however, with much earnestness, that the correct judgment was rendered, because several other errors assigned required the reversal. We will notice but two of them, as they seem to be most relied upon. One is, that the court erred in overruling a motion made by the defendant to compel plaintiff to elect between inconsistent causes of action. This motion appears to be based upon the evident misconception that the petition states two causes of action — one for purposely causing the death of Blum, and the other for causing it by negligence. The statute (Section 6134) gives the right of action against one who (in its language) ‘by wrongful act, neglect or default,’ causes the death of another, etc. The transaction or occurrence resulting in the death may consist of a number of co-operating acts and omissions, some of which may be wilful or intentional, and others merely failures to observe the necessary care; and a plaintiff cannot be required to arrange the facts into these different classes, and plead each as a separate cause of action. [164]*164Good pleading requires that he shall state as one cause of action all of the material facts of such wrongful act, neglect, and default, whether they were wilful, or negligent only, or whether they consist in part of wrongful acts purposely done, and in part in the neglect or default of the defendant; and he may recover upon sufficient proof of either, or of all combined. ’ ’

We cannot agree with defendant’s contention that the decision of this court in the case of Vasu v. Kohlers, Inc., 145 Ohio St., 321, 61 N. E. (2d), 707, 166 A. L. R., 855, or in the case of Universal Concrete Pipe Co. v. Bassett, 130 Ohio St., 567, 200 N. E., 843, 119 A. L. R., 646, has in any respect overruled or modified the decision in the Schweinfurth case, supra.

In the Vasu case, supra, by reason of a contract of subrogation, an insurance company, as assignee, brought an action to recover the amount of money.it paid to Vasu for damages to his automobile occasioned by a collision with a truck owned by the defendant. In that action judgment was rendered for the defendant. Thereafter Vasu brought an action against the same defendant to recover for personal injuries suffered in the same collision. It was urged upon this court in that case that a single cause of action had arisen from the plaintiff’s injuries to his person and to his automobile ; that such cause of action could not be divided; and that when judgment was rendered for the defendant in the action to recover for the damages to the automobile, that judgment was res judicata in the subsequent action brought by Vasu to recover for his personal injuries.

The question involved in the Vasu case, supra, differs materially from the question presented in this case. In that case there were two separate and distinct causes of action based upon two separate claims for damages.

[165]*165It is stated in the opinion in that ease that two distinct rights — the right of personal security and the right of property — were invaded which gave rise to two remedial rights, and that different rules of damage governed the measure of recovery.

This court held in the syllabus as follows:

“Injuries to both person and property suffered by the same person as a result of the same wrongful act are infringements of different rights and give rise to distinct causes of action, with the result that the recovery or denial of recovery of compensation for damages to the property is no bar to an action subsequently prosecuted for the personal injury, unless by an adverse judgment in the first action issues are determined against the plaintiff which operate as an estoppel against him in the second action.”

We find nothing in the Universal Concrete Pipe Co. case, supra, which in any way modifies the Schweinfurth case, supra.

The liberal policy announced by Section 11363, General Code, is summarized as follows in 31 Ohio Jurisprudence, 915, Section 319:

“Generally speaking, amendments to pleadings are liberally allowed in the furtherance of justice.

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Related

Universal Concrete Pipe Co. v. Bassett
200 N.E. 843 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1936)
Douglas v. Daniels Bros. Coal Co.
22 N.E.2d 195 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1939)
Jurrus v. Toledo, Fostoria & Findlay Electric Ry. Co.
177 N.E. 585 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1931)
Louisville & Nashville Rd. v. Greene
149 N.E. 873 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1925)
Moherman v. Nickels
45 N.E.2d 405 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1942)
Vasu v. Kohlers, Inc.
61 N.E.2d 707 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1945)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 Ohio St. (N.S.) 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-bucey-ohio-1952.