Lasley v. Dorsey Bus Co.

531 P.2d 278, 271 Or. 228, 1975 Ore. LEXIS 504
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 531 P.2d 278 (Lasley v. Dorsey Bus Co.) 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
Lasley v. Dorsey Bus Co., 531 P.2d 278, 271 Or. 228, 1975 Ore. LEXIS 504 (Or. 1975).

Opinion

DENECKE, J.

Plaintiff’s 13-year-old daughter, Amy, was killed and plaintiff brought this wrongful death action. Amy had been picking strawberries for defendants Hamlin and they transported her to and from work in a bus. She alighted from the bus and while crossing the street to go home was struck by a Volkswagen driven by defendant Bush. Bush settled before trial. The trial court directed a verdict for the Hamlins and for the defendant Dorsey Bus Co. which leased the bus to the Hamlins. Plaintiff appeals.

[230]*230Plaintiff charged that the Hamlins were “negligent in that they did allow the decedent to alight from the bus at a time and place when the danger of the decedent attempting to cross the highway was known, or should have been known, to the defendants Hamlin.”

Upon the motion of the Hamlins, the trial court struck this charge and plaintiff assigns this ruling as error.

The evidence pertaining to this issue was not in dispute. The bus traveled west on Highway 20 in a suburban area west of the City of Corvallis. Just to the east of the intersection of Highway 20 and 53rd Street the bus pulled completely off the traveled portion of the road and stopped. An amber flashing light hung over the intersection. When the bus stopped, James Hamlin, the driver, activated two yellow flashing lights on the front and rear of the bus. They continued to flash for some time after the child was struck.

Hamlin opened the door and four passengers got off. Just as he was closing the door, Amy, with a friend chasing her, came through the bus, and Hamlin reopened the door. The two children went a short distance into a field to the right of the bus. Hamlin no longer saw her. Hamlin knew the child had to cross Highway 20 to go to her home.

After she left the bus, Hamlin looked in his rear view mirror and saw a Volkswagen bus coming down the gradual slope. Hamlin estimated the distance to the Volkswagen to be about 300 yards. It “was moving right along.” Hamlin closed the door, released the brake and looked into his rear view mirror again. The [231]*231Volkswagen bus had not slowed down; so Hamlin decided to wait to pull out until the Volkswagen had passed. Just as the Volkswagen was at the rear of the Hamlin bus, Hamlin saw Amy “pop out of the lefthand side of my bus” and start across the highway.

The issue is, was there sufficient evidence for the jury to find that Hamlin was negligent in permitting the child to leave the bus under the circumstances ?

Plaintiff relies heavily upon Ashley v. Ensley, 44 Wash 2d 74, 265 P2d 829 (1954). That case also involved the discharge of a young strawberry picker from a bus. The bus stopped and discharged the child; the driver waited for her to go in front of the bus and cross the highway. A car came from the rear, “weaving like a snake” and hit the child. The court held that whether the bus was negligent was a question for the jury. The court stated:

“* * * [B]ut the bus driver waited for her to pass in front of the bus. This was an implied invitation for her to do so. The bus driver had an opportunity of seeing the highway to the rear of the bus for eight hundred seventy-five feet, while Lorene’s [plaintiff] view was obstructed by the bus until she got past it. Under these circumstances, we think it was for the jury to determine whether or not the bus driver discharged her duty of care to Lorene.” 44 Wash2d at 78-79.

The precise basis for the Washington court’s decision is not clear. Begardless of the basis for the Washington decision, we are of the opinion that the usual rules of negligence are applicable. A bus driver disembarking children has a duty to not permit them to alight when, as a reasonably prudent person, the driver should know there is a likelihood of harm. In [232]*232the present case we hold that no juror reasonably could have found under the circumstances that there was a likelihood of harm.

The only charge of negligence was allowing the child to alight under the attendant circumstances. If Hamlin had looked to the rear before he let the child out, he may have been able to observe the Volkswagen. Assuming he did, however, he would not have observed any conduct indicating a likelihood of harm to passengers alighting and crossing the highway. There was time for the child to have crossed in safety. There was nothing about the operation of the Volkswagen to indicate it would not observe normal safety precautions when approaching- a stopped bus with flashing yellow lights.

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Related

Blackledge v. Morrow
26 P.3d 851 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
531 P.2d 278, 271 Or. 228, 1975 Ore. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lasley-v-dorsey-bus-co-or-1975.