Dunbar v. American Airlines, Inc.

1962 OK 204, 376 P.2d 226, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 475
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 2, 1962
Docket39643
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1962 OK 204 (Dunbar v. American Airlines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunbar v. American Airlines, Inc., 1962 OK 204, 376 P.2d 226, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 475 (Okla. 1962).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from the District Court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The plaintiff, plaintiff in error here, sued the defendant airline and pilots for the alleged negligent operation of a plane upon which plaintiff was a passenger resulting in personal injury to her. From a jury verdict in favor of the defendants, the plaintiff appeals.

The plaintiff in her petition alleges that she was a fare-paying passenger on the 23rd day of June, 1957, on Flight #201 of the defendant company, enroute from Nashville, Tennessee to Tulsa, Oklahoma; that the individual defendants were the captain and co-pilot on such flight. That this flight departed from Nashville at approximately 12:30 p. m. Central Standard Time. The allegations of negligence were as follows:

“(a) In attempting to fly through a dangerous thunderstorm, when they knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care would have known, that the air within the thunderstorm was turbulent, violent, unstable and unsafe for safe passage.
“(b) By failing to keep proper control of their aircraft once they were inside of the thunderstorm to prevent the same from turning over, and in losing complete control of the aircraft on two occasions.
“(c) Failure to use that degree of care and caution that an ordinarily prudent person would have used under the same, or similar circumstances to avoid the accident and injuries to the plaintiff.”

To this petition the defendants filed their answer, alleging the following defenses: 1. Sudden emergency. 2. Unavoidable accident.

Upon the issues thus joined, trial was had to a jury which returned a verdict for the defendants. From order denying a new *228 trial, the plaintiff appeals and urges reversal upon the following grounds:

1. That the verdict is contrary to the evidence, and the trial court erred in refusing a directed verdict for plaintiff.

2. That the trial court erred in refusing to give requested Instruction No. 1.

3. That the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that violation of C.A.A. regulations constituted negligence per se.

4. That the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the theory of “ordinary care.”

5. That the trial court erred in giving Instructions Nos. 7 and 8 defining “unavoidable accident” and “sudden emergency.”

We shall consider these in order.

The first contention, supra, is that the trial court erred in not directing a verdict for plaintiff. For the purpose of considering this contention, we assume that the plaintiff has proven a prima facie case of negligence. The sole question to consider is whether or not the evidence of the defendant raised a sufficient issue of fact to require the submission to the jury. For this purpose we call attention to the evidence of the pilot, Mills, who was in control of the plane at the time of the alleged negligence.

He testified that he had been flying twenty-five years with approximately 20,000 hours in the air; that he had rechecked the weather at Nashville and there was only one thunderstorm reported which was in the vicinity of Ft. Smith; that this was too far south to be on the regular course to Tulsa. He testified that he had flown this particular route over long periods and had encountered what appeared to be similar wind conditions many times; that he was flying on this particular day just as he had on many other occasions, and conditions looked the same to him as on other trips. He further testified that there was no lightning, no thunder, and no hail; that all of a sudden the plane “started down at an alarming rate of speed.” He testified that he finally brought it under control; that the plane did not turn over at any time, and that it appeared clear before he went into this drop. He stated that they were not permitted to fly over 24,000 feet, and that he could not go up when the downdraft was encountered.

The foregoing is a very brief summary of the pilot’s testimony. We are of the opinion that there was sufficient issue of fact created by the above testimony to make the question of negligence one for the jury.

Secondly, the plaintiff asserts error in the court’s refusal to give her requested Instruction No. 1 which reads as follows:

“PLAINTIFF’S REQUESTED INSTRUCTION NUMBER 1

“Gentlemen of the jury you are instructed if it is possible to determine or even suspect that under certain conditions downdrafts are likely or possible, it would appear to be the duty of a prudent operator to take whatever precautions are necessary or available to guard against dangerous consequences. * * * ”

In support of the above, the plaintiff cites Cudney v. Braniff, (Mo.), 300 S.W.2d 412, and takes the above language from the body of that opinion, which does not deal with instructions. We are of the opinion that the requested instruction goes too far in the use of the word “suspect.” One of the definitions adopted by the Kansas court is:

“ * * * It need not involve knowledge or belief or likelihood.” Cheek v. Missouri, K. & T. Ry. Co., 89 Kan. 247, 131 P. 617.

We believe that such a rule is not the proper one for the operation of an airplane.

We are of the opinion and hold that the court’s Instruction No. 5 embodied all of the essential elements defining the conditions under which liability attaches.

*229 The plaintiff’s third contention is that defendants were negligent in the alleged violation of the C.A.A. regulations. In this connection, it should be observed that this question was apparently never raised in the trial court. There was no pleading nor requested instruction covering the provisions of the regulations. It is true that the court will take judicial notice of these regulations since they have the force of statutes. See Parker v. James E. Granger, 4 Cal.2d 668, 52 P.2d 226, wherein the fifth headnote reads:

“Court takes judicial knowledge of official acts and regulations of department of federal government, and evidence thereof is not required.”

But it is also well established that there must be allegations in the pleadings setting forth the existence of conditions upon which the application of the regulations depend. Such regulations are on a par with a statute, and as said in connection with statutes:

“Those who attempt to enforce a statute must allege and prove that all prerequisite conditions have been complied with or that such conditions exist for the effective operation of the statute.” Liquor Store v. Continental Distilling Corp., (Fla.) 40 So.2d 371.
“Any one who seeks to enforce a statutory right or liability must, by allegation and proof, bring himself within its provisions.” Universal Credit Co., Inc. v. Citizens State Bank of Petersburg, 224 Ind. 1, 64 N.E.2d 28, 168 A.L.R. 352.

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Bluebook (online)
1962 OK 204, 376 P.2d 226, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunbar-v-american-airlines-inc-okla-1962.