Gunderson v. Sopiwnik

66 N.W.2d 510, 75 S.D. 402, 1954 S.D. LEXIS 41
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 22, 1954
DocketFile 9437
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 66 N.W.2d 510 (Gunderson v. Sopiwnik) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gunderson v. Sopiwnik, 66 N.W.2d 510, 75 S.D. 402, 1954 S.D. LEXIS 41 (S.D. 1954).

Opinion

RUDOLPH, J.

Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for injuries she received while a passenger 'in the automobile owned and driven by defendant. Plaintiff recovered judgment and defendant has appealed.

The facts most favorable to plaintiff are the following: Plaintiff and defendant are sister and brother. Plaintiff is nine years older than defendant and was married and left home when defendant was thirteen years old. The family home was Minneapolis and plaintiff had been home four times during the fourteen years she had been married. On one of these visits defendant was at home, that being the occasion of his marriage in 1950. This was the only time plaintiff had seen defendant during eight years preceding July 4, 1952. They did not correspond but through their parents each had knowledge of the other. Plaintiff’s home was Hettinger, N. D., defendant’s Minneapolis.

Defendant, his wife and child, left Minneapolis on July 3, 1952 on a contemplated trip to the Black Hills. They ar *404 rived at plaintiff’s home in Hettinger on the morning of July 4. There had been no express invitation on this occasion but plaintiff had expressed a desire to have members of the family visit her. The afternoon of the 4th, plaintiff, defendant and their families, went to Bowman to a rodeo. They made the trip in defendant’s car as plaintiff and her husband were without a car at the time. On this trip plaintiff’s husband paid two dollars for gas and then paid for the tickets to the rodeo.

The next day, Saturday, defendant had a car repair bill of twenty-five dollars, and when he came home and announced that because of this expense the “trip to the Hills is off”. He said he would stay in Hettinger until Wednesday or Thursday and then go back to Minneapolis, in other words he would extend his visit in plaintiff’s home. There was some discussion about plans for Sunday and finally at plaintiff’s suggestion it was agreed they would go to Lemmon to attend a show which plaintiff wanted to see, and also go to Petrified Park. It was understood that the trip would be made in defendant’s car. Plaintiff’s children and defendant’s child were to be cared for at home by a younger sister of plaintiff and defendant who plaintiff said she would pay for staying with the children.

The party left for Lemmon about five o’clock Sunday afternoon on Highway 12. Defendant drove the car and his wife was in the front seat. Plaintiff and her husband sat in the rear. Plaintiff testified that the road to Lemmon was a new oil mat, smooth and wide. As they traveled plaintiff was sitting with her right leg under her and visiting with defendant’s wife. Defendant traveled about the same speed during the trip, which was “fast — quite fast”, but plaintiff never complained or cautioned him to drive slower. The last plaintiff remembered was that she saw the drive-in theater near Lemmon as she was looking out to the north while the car was traveling east.

The accident occurred at the point where Highway 73 intersects Highway 12, west of Lemmon. Vehicles approaching this intersection from the east on Highway 12 can be observed for a distance of 1,000 feet. To the west of the inter *405 section the highway is straight and level for a distance of 4,000 feet. Defendant was approaching the intersection from the west. This intersection is in the shape of a T, in that Highway 73 does not continue north. Highway 73 spreads out before joining Highway 12, one fork for traffic intending to turn west, the other for east bound traffic. The distance between these two forks on Highway 12 is 225 feet. On Highway 12 about 400 feet west of the west fork of Highway 73 there is a “Slow” sign. Defendant testified that as he approached this “Slow” sign he took his foot from the accelerator, and was confirmed in this by plaintiff’s husband, who further testified that in his estimation defendant was driving faster than sixty miles an hour on the trip but that he would not consider the speed excessive.

Defendant observed a car approaching the intersection from the east as he was about at the “Slow” sign. The car approaching from the east will be referred to as the Engle car. When first observed by defendant the Engle car was about 300 feet east of the east fork of the intersection. Defendant replaced his foot on the acce]erator and continued on into the intersection at approximately his prior speed. There was a car stopped in the east fork of the intersection awaiting traffic on Highway 12 to pass. The Engle car was traveling about 25 to 30 miles an hour. As defendant was proceeding through this intersection as above detailed the Engle car turned across his path apparently intending to go south on the east fork of Highway 73. The collision occurred in the south lane of the highway eleven feet east of the east fork of Highway 73, between the left front of defendant’s car and the right front of the Engle car. Defendant’s car skidded eleven feet before impact, and the cars came to rest about ten feet southeast of the place of impact. Both cars were demolished. Defendant’s wife and Engle were killed, and plaintiff and her husband badlly injured.

Two questions are presented. First, was plaintiff a guest passenger in defendant’s car within the meaning of SDC 44.0362. We quote the statute:

“Guest in automobile can recover damages only for willful and wanton misconduct. No person *406 transported by the owner or operator of a motor vehicle as his guest without compensation for such transportation shall have cause of action for damages against such owner or operator for injury, death, or loss, in case of accident, unless such accident shall have been caused by the willful and wanton misconduct of the owner or operator of such motor vehicle, and unless such willful and wanton misconduct contributed to the injury, death, or loss for which the action is brought; and no person so transported shall have such cause of action if he has willfully or by want of ordinary care brought the injury upon himself.”

Second, if a guest, was the evidence sufficient to submit to the jury the question of whether the conduct of defendant was “willful and wanton” within the meaning of the statute.

The question of whether an automobile passenger is a guest within the meaning of our guest statute has 'been before this court on several occasions. In the case of Schutz v. Picton, 66 S.D. 301, 282 N.W. 519, 520, it was said:

“While it might be that under this statute actual payment in money or other tangible thing is not necessary to exclude one from its terms and render one not a guest, nevertheless, we believe that the statute contemplates some benefit accruing from the transportation to the owner or operator of the motor vehicle in order to render a passenger in a motor vehicle not a guest. Such benefits as are compatible with hospitality, companionship or good fellowship accruing to the owner or operator are not sufficient to take the passenger out of the guest classification.”

This rule was in effect affirmed in the case of Forsling v. Mickelson, 66 S.D. 366, 283 N.W. 169, but it was there held that the consideration need not pass from the passenger to the driver. If the driver receives a direct benefit from another, the service is not gratuitous and there is no guest relationship. The rule was again affirmed in the case of Scotvold v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Reed v. Union Resort, LLC
D. South Dakota, 2019
Fischer v. City of Sioux Falls
2018 SD 71 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2018)
Gabriel v. Bauman
2014 SD 30 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 2014)
Boyd v. Alguire
153 N.W.2d 192 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1967)
Neihardt v. Knipmeyer
420 S.W.2d 27 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1967)
Jennings v. Hodges
129 N.W.2d 59 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1964)
Peterson v. Snell
127 N.W.2d 142 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1964)
Fessenden v. Smith
124 N.W.2d 554 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1963)
Cluts v. Peterson
113 N.W.2d 273 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1962)
Hough v. McMillan
351 S.W.2d 609 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1961)
Mitzel v. Hauck
105 N.W.2d 378 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1960)
Kleinhesselink v. Porterfield
83 N.W.2d 191 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1957)
Wakefield v. Singletary
80 N.W.2d 84 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1956)
Tennyson v. Kern
74 N.W.2d 316 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1956)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 N.W.2d 510, 75 S.D. 402, 1954 S.D. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gunderson-v-sopiwnik-sd-1954.