Fogel v. 1324 North Clark Street Building Corp.

278 Ill. App. 286, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 40
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 31, 1934
DocketGen. No. 37,571
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 278 Ill. App. 286 (Fogel v. 1324 North Clark Street Building Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fogel v. 1324 North Clark Street Building Corp., 278 Ill. App. 286, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 40 (Ill. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Gridley

delivered the opinion of the court.

On August 25, 1933, plaintiff commenced in the municipal court a 4th class action in tort against the three defendants to recover for the damages done to his parked automobile as the result of another automobile running into it on the night of July 31, 1933, on the south side of Ohio street, west of Michigan avenue, Chicago. On August 26, 1933, the summons, issued to bring in all three defendants, was served on the defendant corporation, and on September 15th it filed its affidavit of merits. During December, 1933, Babson entered his appearance and filed an affidavit of merits. Several alias summonses for Dietz were returned not served, but he entered his appearance on' March 3, 1934. Shortly prior to the trial, which was had without .a jury on March 16, 1934, plaintiff dismissed the suit as to Babson, who was the owner of the car which ran into plaintiff’s car but who was not in it at the time. On the trial plaintiff sought a recovery against both Dietz, the driver of the car, and the defendant corporation, which conducted a garage at 1324 North- Clark street, and of which Dietz was an employee. The corporation defended upon the theory that at the time and place of the accident Dietz was not operating the car within the scope of his employment, or upon the business of the corporation, but for a purpose of his own. The court found both the corporation and Dietz guilty, assessed plaintiff’s damages at $90, and entered a joint judgment against them in that sum. The corporation alone appealed. Plaintiff has not appeared in this court or filed a brief.

On the trial plaintiff was his only witness. He gave his version of the accident and stated what he heard Dietz say to a police officer immediately thereafter. And he expressed his opinion of the value before the accident of his car, which, as he testified, he sold after the accident for $20. He did not introduce any evidence showing, or tending to show, that at the time and place of the accident Dietz was operating the car within the scope of his employment or upon the business of defendant corporation.

For defendants, Babson, Dietz and Joe Fritz gave testimony. Babson testified in substance that he did not witness the accident; that he owned the car which collided with plaintiff’s; that he lived at 1242 Lake Shore drive; that he stored the car in the garage of defendant corporation, located at 1324 North Clark street (northwesterly from the building in which he resided); and that as part of the garage service rendered by defendant corporation, “my car is picked up and delivered to me between the garage and my home.” Dietz testified in substance as follows:

On July 31, 1933, I was employed at the garage of defendant corporation. On my way to work that evening I was accompanied by my girl, named Kosek, whom I left at the beach at the foot of Ohio street, at Lake Michigan. I made an arrangement to pick her up there later in the evening upon receiving a call from her, which came about 11:30 p. m. I left the garage and walked to Babson’s house at 1242 Lake Shore drive to pick up his car which I knew was standing there. I obtained the keys to the car from the doorman at that address, got into the car and drove south on Lake Shore Drive to Oak street, then east to the outer drive along the lake, then south to Ohio street at the beach. I there stopped and picked up my girl. Then, accompanied by her, I went west on Ohio street to go back to the garage with the car. While going west on Ohio street, near its intersection with Michigan avenue, I struck plaintiff’s car, which was parked along the south side of Ohio street. The time of the accident was about 11:55 p. m. I did not have the consent of my employers, or of Mr. Babson, to use his car for the purpose of picking up my girl.

Fritz, the manager of the garage of defendant corporation, testified in substance that Dietz was one of its employees; that he did not instruct or give his consent to Dietz to use Babson’s car for the purpose of “driving his sweetheart around”; that Dietz had no general authority to pick up cars; that it required only a few minutes to pick up Babson’s car and drive it to the garage; that the distance from Babson’s house to the garage is approximately 4/10ths of a mile nortlmesterly in the opposite direction from that in which Dietz traveled after he picked up the car; that the point on Ohio street where Dietz picked up his girl is several miles southeasterly from the garage; and that the “recognized blue book value of plaintiff’s car immediately prior to the accident was $128.”

In view of the evidence we are of the opinion that the trial court was fully warranted in entering a finding and judgment against the defendant, Dietz, in the amount of $90; but we are also of the opinion that the court was not warranted in entering any judgment against defendant corporation. Considering the undisputed evidence, the law of this State and the general current of authority in other jurisdictions, we do not think that defendant corporation is liable to plaintiff for the damage done to his automobile, which was occasioned by the negligence of Dietz, a servant of defendant corporation, in driving Babson’s automobile at the time and place and for the purpose shown. In 2 Berry on Automobiles, 6th Ed., sec. 1386, p. 1149, under the heading “Deviation from route or instructions,” the general rule is stated as follows: “If the servant steps aside from his master’s business, for however short a time, to do an act not connected with such business, the relation of master and servant is for the time suspended, and an act of the servant during such interval is not to be attributed to the master.” And we think that the holdings and decisions of our Supreme Court in the following cases are applicable here: Johanson v. Johnston Printing Co., 263 Ill. 236, 240; Clark v. Wisconsin Cent. Ry. Co., 261 Ill. 407, 410; Lohr v. Barkmann Cartage Co., 335 Ill. 335, 340; Nelson v. Stutz Chicago Factory Branch, 341 Ill. 387, 393. In the Nelson case it is said (italics ours):

‘ ‘ The general rule is, that one who is injured by another’s negligence must pursue his remedy against the person whose negligence caused the injury. Where, however, the relation of master and servant exists between the person guilty of the negligence and another sought to be held for the resulting damages, the negligence of the servant may be imputed to the master, and he may be held liable for the resulting damages if the servant guilty of the negligence was at the time acting in the master’s business and loithm the scope of his employment. Outside the scope of his-employment the servant is as much a stranger to his master as any third person.”

In the Nelson case it is also said (pp. 396, 397):

“There is no contradiction of the plaintiff’s evidence and none of the defendant’s. The legal conclusion follows as it did in Lohr v. Barkmann Cartage Co., 335 Ill. 335, in which the defendant was sued for a personal injury caused by the negligent operation of an automobile truck which it owned. It was operated by an employee of the defendant. The defense was that the employee at the time of the accident was not acting within the scope of his employment and was therefore not the defendant’s agent.

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Bluebook (online)
278 Ill. App. 286, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fogel-v-1324-north-clark-street-building-corp-illappct-1934.