Kauffroath v. Wilbur

185 P.2d 522, 66 Ariz. 152, 1947 Ariz. LEXIS 106
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 14, 1947
DocketNo. 4939.
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 185 P.2d 522 (Kauffroath v. Wilbur) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kauffroath v. Wilbur, 185 P.2d 522, 66 Ariz. 152, 1947 Ariz. LEXIS 106 (Ark. 1947).

Opinion

*154 UDALL, Justice.

Joseph H. Wilbur, plaintiff (appellee), instituted this tort action against defendant (appellant) I. W. Kauffroath, seeking damages in the overall sum of $1,250. These, plaintiff alleged, arose out of injuries to his person and his motorcycle resulting from a collision with defendant’s automobile on the afternoon of August 7, 1945, at a point some four miles east of Phoenix, the intersection of Delano Avenue and East Washington Street.

Plaintiff’s complaint contains only a general allegation of negligence set out as follows : “ * * * defendant * * * so negligently operated said automobile as to cause the plaintiff and his motorcycle to be thrown to the street and into violent collision with the automobile operated by defendant * * * In his amended answer, defendant denied that he was negligent claiming the accident to be either entirely the fault of the plaintiff, or that plaintiff was at least guilty of contributory negligence such as would bar his recovery here. Defendant also filed a cross compláint seeking $275 to cover damage to his car in answer to which plaintiff denied all responsibility therefor.

At the close of plaintiff’s case and again when all the evidence was in, defendant moved for a directed verdict upon the sole ground that the complaint failed to charge him with any act of negligence. Both of these motions were denied and the jury returned a unanimous verdict for plaintiff assessing his damages at $250 and denying defendant any relief upon his cross complaints The court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict and later denied defendant’s motion for a new trial. It is from the judgment and order that this appeal is taken. We are limited in our review of the record to the eight assignments of error relied upon by defendant.

At the outset, there is no merit to-defendant’s first assignment in which he attacks the court’s failure to direct a verdict for the reason that the complaint did not state a'cause of action in negligence. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 8(a), (e) (1), 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, adopted by this State with hut slight change not here applicable, it is provided that:

“A pleading which sets forth a claim for relief * * * shall contain * * * (2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief * * Rule 8(a), Sec. 21-404, A.C.A. 1939.
‘‘Each averment of a pleading shall be simple, concise, and direct. No technical forms of pleading or motions are required.” Rule 8(e) (1), Sec. 21-408.

Although Arizona did not adopt as a part of these Rules the Federal Forms appended to them, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, still these forms are highly persuasive in guiding our interpretation of their meaning and use. Form 9 therein *155 'dearly provides for a general allegation «of negligence.

“Form 9. — Complaint for Negligence V

“2. On June 1, 1936, in a public highway * * * defendant negligently drove a motor vehicle against plaintiff who was then crossing said highway.” (Emphasis supplied)

In discussing the conflict that sometimes exists between pure fact pleading versus "brevity and sufficient notice to the opposite party, 1 Moore’s Federal Practice, Sec. •8.07 says: “The phrases * * * ‘negligently drove’, ‘wilfully or recklessly or negligently drove’, * * * clearly do not fall within a scientific definition of ‘fact’. They •are mixed conclusions concerning propositions of fact and law, but they are succinct and have a definite meaning to the lawyer. Courts generally have regarded them as sufficient and all of them are to be found in the Official Forms which accompany the Federal Rules.”

For other examples of proper use of the general allegation of negligence see: Sierocinski v. E. I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., 3 Cir., 1939, 103 F.2d 843; Martz v. Abbott, D.C., 2 F.R.D. 17. Had defendant actually been at a loss for sufficient information upon which to base his defense he properly could have made a motion before the trial court under rule 12(e), Sec. 21-433, for more definite statement or for a bill of particulars.

Another assignment of error is based upon the cross examination of plaintiff in which defense counsel brought out the fact that both motorcycles were equipped with special exhaust pipes used to make noise and attract attention. Quoting from the reporter’s transcript:

“Q. Particularly girls, is that right? A. That’s right.
“Q. Then you had those on there so as to attract girls as you traveled by? A. There were no girls out there.
“Mr. Whitney: I object to this. I think it is getting ludicrous.
“Mr. Hash: It goes to the quality of his testimony; goes to the question of care in the operation of the motorcycle.
“The Court: No girls were out there and he never saw any." (Emphasis supplied).

Particularly, defendant complains of the above emphasized statement of the court contending that it constitutes a comment and instruction to the jury upon the evidence. Manifestly there is no tíierit to this assignment. Counsel improperly injected this line of questioning into the examination over the uncontradicted evidence that there were no girls at the scene of the collision and he cannot now be heard to complain at its summary exclusion by the court. Even should this constitute an improper comment by the court, it could in no way prejudice defendant as it had no relevancy to any of the .issues in this case. Hagan v. Cowan, 35 Ariz. 334, 278 P. 68.

*156 Defendant.also assigns as error the fact that.“the verdict should be set aside for the reason that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, by his own admission, which proximately caused the collision.” Contributory negligence having been put in issue by both the pleadings and evidence in this case, it seems that counsel in making this assignment has completely overlooked the provisions of Sec. 5, art. 18, of the Arizona Constitution which radically changed the common law rule. It reads : “[Contributory negligence] — The defense of contributory negligence or of assumption of risk shall, in all cases whatsoever, be a question of fact and shall, at all times, be left to the jury.”

Apropos of the present situation, this court in Campbell v. English, 56 Ariz. 549, 110 P.2d 219

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

Related

Apigian v. Mills
512 P.2d 596 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1973)
McElwain v. Schuckert
477 P.2d 754 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1970)
Douglas Investment Co. v. Van Ness
468 P.2d 568 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1970)
Hitching Post Lodge, Inc. v. Kerwin
420 P.2d 273 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1966)
Harbel Oil Company v. Steele
402 P.2d 436 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1965)
Gillespie Land & Irrigation Co. v. Narramore
378 P.2d 745 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1963)
Rossi v. Stewart
367 P.2d 242 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1961)
Kellogg v. Bowen
337 P.2d 628 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1959)
Romero v. Cooper
325 P.2d 412 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1958)
Marcione v. Marcione
289 P.2d 689 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1955)
General Petroleum Corp. v. Barker
269 P.2d 729 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1954)
Edwards v. Gaston
252 P.2d 786 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1953)
State v. Chee
250 P.2d 985 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1952)
Reese v. De Mund
245 P.2d 284 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1952)
Tipton v. Burson
238 P.2d 1098 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1951)
Huish v. Lopez
218 P.2d 727 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1950)
Porterfield v. Black Bill & Doney Parks Water Users' Ass'n
210 P.2d 335 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1949)
Valley Transp. System v. Reinartz
197 P.2d 269 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1948)
Lundberg v. Bolon
194 P.2d 454 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1948)
Butane Corporation v. Kirby
187 P.2d 325 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 P.2d 522, 66 Ariz. 152, 1947 Ariz. LEXIS 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kauffroath-v-wilbur-ariz-1947.