Kossuth v. Bear

114 N.E.2d 80, 96 Ohio App. 219, 54 Ohio Op. 278, 1953 Ohio App. LEXIS 666
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 1, 1953
Docket22757
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 114 N.E.2d 80 (Kossuth v. Bear) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kossuth v. Bear, 114 N.E.2d 80, 96 Ohio App. 219, 54 Ohio Op. 278, 1953 Ohio App. LEXIS 666 (Ohio Ct. App. 1953).

Opinions

*220 Skeel, J.

This appeal comes to this court on questions of law from a judgment entered for plaintiff in the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County. The action is one in negligence.

On May 30, 1948, the plaintiff was a passenger in a westbound automobile on Lake Road in Avon Lake, Lorain County. The driver pulled into the middle traffic lane and stopped behind the automobile driven by the defendant, both drivers intending to make a left turn into an outdoor moving picture theater located on the south side of the road. Lake Road at this point is a three-lane highway.

After some eastbound traffic had passed, the defendant started to make his left-hand turn when he was struck by an approaching eastbound automobile, which, after colliding with defendant’s automobile, swerved into the automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger, whereby she was injured. The plaintiff’s petition alleges that defendant’s negligence in turning in front of an eastbound automobile was the proximate cause of her injuries.

At the time of the accident, the defendant lived on Maple Cliff Drive with his parents at stop 55 in Avon Lake. He was then attending Fenn College under G. I. privileges and in his registration at the college he gave Avon Lake as his residence. He transferred to Dyke-Spencerian School located in the Standard Building on Ontario Avenue near Public Square, in September 1948 and was in attendance there for two school years, that is, until June 20, 1950. He was married on August 20, 1949, at Lakewood Methodist Church. After his marriage he moved from Avon Lake to a room on the third floor of a rooming house known as 1417 East 85th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, where they lived for about a month. This room was rented by defendant’s wife prior to their marriage. The defendant then moved to 1851 East 82nd Street *221 where he lived until moving to California in August or September 1950. During some part of the time he was at Dyke-Spencerian School he worked for the Typewriter Supply Company, 1745 Euclid Avenue.

From a judgment entered for the plaintiff, the defendant claims the following errors:

1. The court’s charge relating to the statute of limitations was prejudicial to the rights of the .defendant.

2. There is no credible evidence of the absence of defendant from the state or an attempt to conceal himself to avoid service.

3. The court erred in refusing to submit interrogatories.

4. The court erred in the rejection and admission of evidence.

An examination of the record discloses circumstances which strongly favor the plaintiff’s right to recover. As above indicated, the plaintiff was a passenger in an automobile standing perfectly still in the middle lane of a three-lane highway, waiting to make a left-hand turn. The defendant, who was just ahead of this automobile, cut in front of oncoming traffic whereby the automobile moving in the opposite direction struck the rear of defendant’s automobile and then deflected into the automobile in which plaintiff was seated. The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of careless driving, thus admitting negligence and the record is clear that such negligence was a proximate cause of the injuries sustained by plaintiff in the collision. The defendant, as a witness (testimony taken by deposition), was far from frank on some subjects and his general attitude in refusing to answer questions was most reprehensible.

But neither the facts of the accident nor the indefensible conduct of defendant are involved in the legal questions here presented. A court should not permit bad facts to influence it in considering disassociated *222 legal questions. Here, the question is one dealing with a statute of limitations (Section 11224-1, General Code) and circumstances which toll the operation of the statute (Section 11228, General Code). Except as to the claim of the plaintiff that defendant was absent from the state on his honeymoon and on two or three short skiing trips and a vacation trip in June 1950 and the plaintiff’s further claim of his general conduct as tending to establish concealment to avoid service of summons, from the date of the accident (May 30,1948) until he left for California in August or September 1950, the facts are matters of record. The plaintiff filed her action in Cuyahoga County on April 4, 1949. Defendant’s address was given as “Cleveland, Ohio” when there was absolutely no dispute about the fact that defendant then lived in Avon Lake on Maple Cliff Drive, Lorain County, with his father and stepmother. An alias summons was issued on May 29, 1950, but no address was furnished. No further attempt to obtain service on defendant was made in this action until November 1, 1950, when an amended petition was filed alleging absence from the state and concealment as tolling the statute of limitations under Section 11228, General Code, and instructions given to the clerk to serve defendant through the Secretary of State under the provisions of Section 6308-1, General Code. The defendant was then living in California.

Another action was filed on May 29, 1950, in Lorain County by plaintiff, setting forth the same allegations as were contained in the action filed in Cuyahoga County on April 4,1949. Service was attempted at the home of defendant’s father on Maple Cliff Drive, Avon Lake, Lorain County. At this time defendant, having been married on August 20,1949, had moved from that address and was living with his wife at 1851 East 82nd Street, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, so that service was returned “not found.” It should be noted *223 that this petition was filed just within the two-year period of the statute of limitations.

In the file of the sheriff of Lorain County, after attempting the service of summons, was a notation that the defendant had moved to 1851 East 82nd Street, Cleveland, and while residence service in this action could not be had because his residence was then in Cuyahoga County, yet, under the provisions of Section 6308, General Code, the Common Pleas Court of that county was vested with jurisdiction of the cause, and under Section 11231, General Code, had 60 days in which to complete service after the filing of the action within the two-year period under the statute of limitations. Nothing was done after the sheriff made return, ‘ ‘ I did not service Richard R. Bear as he could not be found within our county,” so that the ease was dismissed by the court “no service” on September 1, 1950.

In addition to filing a new case in Lorain County on May 29, 1950, defendant could have been brought into court in a Cuyahoga County case by residence service any time within 60 days after May 30, 1950. An alias summons was issued in the Cuyahoga County case on May 29, 1950, but no address was given.

The first question to consider is whether absences of the defendant from the state after May 30, 1948, on pleasure trips while he maintained his residence in Ohio, tolled the statute of limitations under the provisions of Section 11228, General Code.

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Bluebook (online)
114 N.E.2d 80, 96 Ohio App. 219, 54 Ohio Op. 278, 1953 Ohio App. LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kossuth-v-bear-ohioctapp-1953.