Eliason v. United Amusement Company

504 P.2d 94, 264 Or. 114, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 351
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 14, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 504 P.2d 94 (Eliason v. United Amusement Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eliason v. United Amusement Company, 504 P.2d 94, 264 Or. 114, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 351 (Or. 1972).

Opinions

HOLMAN, J.

Plaintiff brought this action for damages resulting from injuries incurred when she fell upon a merry-go-round at defendant’s amusement park. She appealed from a judgment for defendant entered pursuant to a jury verdict.

Plaintiff took a small child for a ride on the merry-go-round which had two levels or tiers of animals upon which to ride. The outer tier was on a platform about a foot lower than the inner tier. Plaintiff and the child rode upon the animals on the upper platform and, upon leaving the‘merry-go-round at the completion of their ride, plaintiff fell and injured herself. She claims that her foot slipped when she stepped on a bottle cap which was on the floor of the upper platform and that she fell from the upper platform to the lower one and suffered the injuries of which she complains.

Plaintiff first contends the court erred in not instructing the jury that defendant was required to use the highest degree of care for her safety, as required by ORS 460.355(2), while she was a patron on the amusement device. Insofar as applicable to plaintiff’s contention, the statutory law is as follows:

. “460 310 Definitions for ORS 460.310 to 460.380. As used in ORS 460.310 to 460.380, unless the context requires otherwise:'
“(1) ‘Amusement ride’ means any vehicle, boat other mechanical device.moving upon or within a structure, along eables or rails, through the air by centrifugal force or otherwise, or across water, [117]*117that is used to convey one or more individuals for amusement, entertainment, diversion or recreation. ‘Amusement ride’ includes, by way of illustration:
“(a) Devices commonly known as Ferris wheels, carousels, parachute towers, tunnels of love and roller coasters.
“(b) Devices and equipment generally associated with winter sports activities, such as ski lifts, ski tows, j-bars, t-bars, ski mobiles, chair lifts and aerial tramways.
# % * ft
“460.355 Rules; required standards of care; exemption of regulated or inspected devices. (1) In adopting rules pursuant to subsection (1) of ORS 460.360, applicable to devices mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of ORS 460.310, the department shall be guided by the safety standards approved by the American Standards Association.
“(2) The owner or operator of such devices shall be deemed not a common carrier; however, such owner or operator shall exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of persons using the devices compatible with the practical operation of the devices being used.
# m # * ??

It is clear from the statutes just quoted that the requirement that the highest degree of care be used for patrons is limited to winter sport amusement devices as enumerated in ORS 460.310 (1) (b) and that carousels are not among the devices there enumerated.

Next, plaintiff contends the court erred in giving its instruction on causation because it confused causation with ultimate legal liability. The instruction was as follows:

“The term ‘proximate cause’ means a cause which, in a direct, unbroken sequence, produces the damages or the injuries complained of. An [118]*118injury is proximately caused by an act or failure to act whenever it appears that the injury was either a natural or reasonably probable consequence of such negligent act or iaüure to act.”

Plaintiff is correct in her contention that the instruction intermingles the two concepts. An act may be the cause of damage even though the damage is not its natural or reasonably probable consequence. Whether or not damage is the natural or reasonably probable consequence of an act is a concept which concerns ultimate legal liability, and not causation.

We cannot say, however, that the error justifies reversal. We rather suspect that the concept is more confusing to members of the bench and bar who, presumably, are capable of such fine legal concepts, than it is to jurors. When the jury was told, as it was, that the negligent act must be “a cause which, in a direct, unbroken sequence, produces the damage or injuries complained of,” we do not think it was seriously misled by the language which followed it which, admittedly, mixed causation with a correct concept relating to ultimate liability.

Plaintiff also contends that the trial court overemphasized contributory negligence in its instructions and that she was prejudiced thereby. Contributory negligence was mentioned many times, but it was usually, though not always, coupled with the corresponding mention of the possibility of negligence by defendant. It was thus mentioned in connection with the claims made by the pleadings, burden of proof, causation, and the duties of the parties. The instructions, as a whole, were somewhat repetitious. The trial judge recognized this and told the jury that “* * * some of these instructions may appear to be repetitious, but [119]*119don’t put any more emphasis on them than you would on any others.” In reading the instructions of the court, one does not receive the impression that the court is overemphasizing plaintiff’s duties of care as compared with those of defendant.

Plaintiff next objects to the giving of the first sentence of the following instruction:

“The owner of premises—that is, the amusement company in this case—is not an insurer or guarantor against accidents to people who come onto the premises. The owner is bound to use ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition, and is not liable for injuries to people coming onto the premises unless there is proof that it was negligent in performing this duty, and that such negligence is the proximate cause of the injury * *

The portion of the instruction objected to is a correct statement of the law. It is merely a way of enlarging upon the instruction that defendant must be proved to have been guilty of a breach of duty owed to plaintiff which caused the accident before he can be held responsible. It is the kind of instruction which it is not error either to give or to fail to give.

Plaintiff’s last assignment of error relates to a jury view which defendant asked for and which was allowed by the trial court. The accident occurred early in the evening; the jury view was taken in the afternoon. Defendant requested permission to turn on the merry-go-round lights, but plaintiff objected unless they would also be turned off during the jury view. The court required the lights to be left on the entire time the jury was there. After the jury view, plaintiff moved for a mistrial on the basis that the merry-go-round was “lit up like a Christmas tree” [120]

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Related

Gomez v. Superior Court
113 P.3d 41 (California Supreme Court, 2005)
McEwen v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
528 P.2d 522 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1974)
Eliason v. United Amusement Company
504 P.2d 94 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
504 P.2d 94, 264 Or. 114, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eliason-v-united-amusement-company-or-1972.