De Parcq v. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.

81 F.2d 777, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3546
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 20, 1936
DocketNo. 10319
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 81 F.2d 777 (De Parcq v. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Parcq v. Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co., 81 F.2d 777, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3546 (8th Cir. 1936).

Opinions

BOOTH, Circuit Judge.

This is the second appeal in the above cause to this court. For opinion on the former appeal, see 66 F.(2d) 678.

The action is one brought by De Parcq against Liggett & Myers ‘Tobacco Company to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained as a result of the negligent driving of one Thompson with whom De Parcq was riding in an automobile owned by the tobacco company but being used by Thompson, an employee of the company, on the business of the company.

De Parcq will hereafter be called plaintiff and the tobacco company defendant.

On the first trial plaintiff had a verdict. This was set aside on appeal to this court.

[778]*778On the second trial a- verdict was directed for defendant at the close of all the evidence; and the present appeal followed.

On the former appeal this court stated the questions presented to it in the following language [66 F.(2d) 678, 680] : “(1) Was there substantial evidence of negligence? (2) Was there substantial evidence of a waiver of a rule of the defendant forbidding employees to carry passengers as guests in the cars of the employer? and (3) Was the plaintiff precluded from recovering by virtue of the Minnesota Workmen’s Compensation Act?”

This court answered all three questions in the negative; and in its opinion said [66 F.(2d) 678, 685]: “A new trial must therefore be granted because of the insufficiency of the evidence as to negligence. On a retrial of the action, the question as to the sufficiency of the evidence to establish a waiver by the defendant of its rule forbidding Thompson to carry passengers in the car furnished him by defendant will likely again be involved, and we shall therefore consider that issue.”

On the second trial, the question whether plaintiff was precluded from maintaining the action, by virtue of the Minnesota Workmen’s Compensation Act (Mason’s Minn.St.1927, § 4261 et seq.) was regarded as settled in favor of plaintiff; the other two questions remained in the case.

The trial court, in directing a verdict, said:

“I think this case does present evidence which, if believed by the jury, would be sufficient to support a finding that Thompson was negligent, and that his negligence was the proximate cause of the accident.
“But I do not think there is substantial evidence to support the proposition that the defendant conferred upon Thompson apparent authority to carry passengers. * * *
“It is through the knowledge of Rosenquist that the plaintiff claims knowledge was brought home to the defendant. I do not think the evidence' in this case comes anywheres near showing a waiver of the rule by Rosenquist. It is very little, if any, stronger in this case than it was in the case that went to the Circuit • Court of Appeals on the appeal from the former trial, and in that case the Circuit Court of Appeals characterized the evidence as far from showing a waiver of the rule, and I therefore direct the- jury to return a verdict for the defendant.”
In making up the bill of exceptions for the present appeal, all of the evidence pro and con on the question of negligence of Thompson was, by agreement of counsel, omitted, and the certificate of the trial judge attached to the bill of exceptions stated: “It is Further Ordered, that all evidence and testimony introduced at the trial of the above entitled action relating to the issue of defendants’ negligence need not be made a part of the Bill of Exceptions herein, and by stipulation and agreement between the parties and with the consent of the Court, all of such evidence bearing upon or relating to the issue of negligence has been omitted for the reason that at the conclusion of the trial the Court held that such evidence made the issue of defendants’ negligence one of fact for determination by a jury.”

So that the sole question presented to this court on the present appeal (apart from questions relating to the receiving or rejecting of testimony offered) is whether there was substantial evidence that Thompson had authority to make the defendant, his employer, liable to plaintiff for damages caused by the negligence of Thompson.

This is stating the second question above mentioned more broadly, perhaps, than was done on the former appeal, a result made necessary, we think, by the additional evidence introduced on the second trial.

We are met at the outset by the contention of the defendant that the “law of the case” compels us to answer the question in the negative; in other words, that this court on the former appeal held that Thompson had no such authority, and that this holding is binding upon the court on the present appeal.

Whether the doctrine of the “law of the case” was held applicable by the trial court to the record as made upon the second trial may well be doubted. It is not specifically so stated in the trial court’s opinion in directing a verdict for defendant; nor is it directly referred to as controlling in the motion by defendant for a directed verdict.

We consider the question, however, inasmuch as it has been argued by counsel on both sides of the case, and since it may have been considered by the court to be in the case, though not directly so stated.

This doctrine of the “law of the case” (with its limitation) has been passed upon [779]*779by Ibis court in numerous cases and must be taken as well established.

In the recent case of Claiborne-Reno Co. v. E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., 77 F.(2d) 565, 566, this court, quoting from the earlier case of American Surety Co. v. Bankers’, etc., Ass’n (C.C.A.) 67 F.(2d) 803, said: “The phrase ‘law of the case’ has been employed and applied in many decisions of this and other federal courts. Stated generally, the rule is that, ‘where evidence is substantially the same on both trials, questions of law determined on writ of error or appeal are “law of the case,” both for trial and appellate court, on second writ of error or appeal.’ Pennsylvania Mining Co. v. United Mine Workers of America et al. (C.C.A.8) 28 F.(2d) 851; Thompson v. Maxwell Land-Grant & Railway Co., 168 U.S. 451, 18 S.Ct. 121, 42 L. Ed. 539. This rule has been announced and received adherence in many decisions of this court. Finley v. United Mine Workers, 300 F. 972; Federal Reserve Bank v. Omaha National Bank, 45 F.(2d) 511; Page v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation, 53 F.(2d) 27; City and County of Denver v. Denver Tramway Corporation, 23 F.(2d) 287; Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Wharton, 63 F.(2d) 378; H. P. Coffee Co. v. Reid, Murdoch & Co., 60 F.(2d) 387.”

The limitation that the evidence be substantially the same on the two trials is also well established. See Meyer & Chapman State Bank v. First Nat. Bank of Cody, 291 F. 42 (C.C.A.8) ; Illinois Power & Light Corp. v. Hurley, 49 F.(2d) 681 (C.C.A.8); Page v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corp., 53 F.(2d) 27 (C.C.A.8); General Motors Accep. Corp. v. Mid-West Chevrolet Co. (C.C.A.) 74 F.(2d) 386.

Applying the principles thus stated to the facts in the case at bar, we think that the limitation of the rule is here controlling, especially on the question whether the rule of the company against the carriage of passengers in company automobiles by employees had been waived.

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Bluebook (online)
81 F.2d 777, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-parcq-v-liggett-myers-tobacco-co-ca8-1936.