Oklahoma City v. Taylor

1970 OK 76, 470 P.2d 325
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 21, 1970
Docket42734
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1970 OK 76 (Oklahoma City v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oklahoma City v. Taylor, 1970 OK 76, 470 P.2d 325 (Okla. 1970).

Opinions

IRWIN, Chief Justice.

Defendants in error, referred to as plaintiffs, were involved in a two-car accident with an employee of the City of Oklahoma City, At the time of the accident, the employee was operating a vehicle belonging to City and was in the course of his employment. Plaintiffs commenced separate actions against the employee and City to recover damages resulting from the accident. The two actions were consolidated and the jury returned a verdict in favor of both plaintiffs against the employee and City. Judgment was rendered in conformity with the verdicts. The employee did not appeal and City has appealed from the order overruling its motion for a new trial.

The first issue to be determined is: Was City, acting through its employee, engaged in a governmental or proprietary function at the time of the accident ?

[327]*327Plaintiffs contend the employee was engaged in a proprietary function of City at the time of the accident and that City is liable for the negligence of its employee. City contends the employee was engaged in a governmental function and that it is not liable for the alleged negligence of its employee.

In City of Ardmore v. Hendrix, Okl., 348 P.2d 497, we said:

“A city has two classes of powers. One ' class is Legislative, public, governmental, in the exercise of which it is a sovereignty and governs its people. In such functions, a city is not liable for the negligence of its officers or employees. * * * The other class is proprietary, corporate, or quasi private, conferred upon it, not for the purpose of governing its people, but for private advantage of the inhabitants of the city and the city itself as a legal personality. In such functions, the city is liable for the negligence of its officers or employees. * *

The only evidence submitted concerning the employment of City’s employee and what he was doing at the time of the accident is as follows: He worked for City in its traffic control department, sign and paint division; and he was driving a truck belonging to City and going to 39th and Portland to install some guard rail posts.

In Ardmore v. Hendrix, supra, we held that the regulation of traffic is a governmental function, and in regulating and maintaining traffic control signals a city is performing a governmental function and is not liable for negligence or failure in the exercise of said function.

In City of Ardmore v. Stuchul, Okl., 294 P.2d 308, we held that the maintenance and repair of streets are proprietary functions and a city is liable for the negligence of its employees. See also Lane v. City of Tulsa, Okl., 402 P.2d 908.

Oklahoma City v. Bailey, Okl., 405 P.2d 115, involved the alleged negligence of a policeman and we said that traffic control and police activities are governmental functions and City would not be liable for the negligence of a policeman engaging in traffic control and police activities. However, the policeman was authorized to take the city-owned police car home with him for overnight storage, for the convenience of City, and to return it the following day and we held that the policeman in taking the vehicle to and from his home for overnight storage was acting for and on behalf of City in its corporate or proprietary capacity as distinguished from its governmental capacity.

Oklahoma City v. Bailey, supra, supports the rule that where one of the issues in an action against a city for the alleged negligence of its employee is whether the employee was engaged in governmental or proprietary activity, the employee’s activity at the time of the alleged negligence is controlling and not the functions of the department in which employee was employed.

It necessarily follows that the decisive issue presented is whether City’s employee was engaged in a governmental or proprietary activity at the time of the accident, and not whether City’s operation of its “traffic control department, sign and paint division” is a governmental or proprietary function.

The only evidence concerning the activity of the employee at the time of the accident is that the employee was driving a truck belonging to City, and going north to 39th and Portland “to install some guard rail posts”.

In our opinion, guard rail posts, as such, are a part of the physical structure of a city’s street system and the installation of guard rail posts is incidental to the maintenance and repair of streets in the absence of evidence to the contrary. There being no evidence that the guard rail posts in the instant action were a part of City’s traffic and control division, the installation of such guard rail posts is prima facie evidence that City’s employee was en route to perform a proprietary function at the time of the accident. Being a proprietary func[328]*328tion, City is liable for its employee’s negligence. See.City of Ardmore v. Hendrix, supra.

City next contends the allegations contained in plaintiffs’ petition are insufficient to state causes of actions against it. City argues that in an action based on negligence against a city, the petition must set forth with reasonable certainty, the acts in which liability is based and essential facts showing that at the time of the alleged negligence, City was engaged in a proprietary function. City also argues that an activity of a city is presumed to be governmental rather than proprietary; thus, the defense of governmental immunity is not an affirmative defense.

Plaintiffs did not allege that City’s employee was engaged in a proprietary activity at the time of the accident nor did they allege facts that would constitute engaging in a proprietary activity. However, City, in its answer, pleaded that its employee was engaged in governmental activity. It appears from the record that the trial was conducted on the theory that the burden was on City to prove that the employee was engaged in a governmental activity instead of a proprietary activity.

In Van Horn v. Van Horn, 193 Okl. 182, 141 P.2d 1006, we said that it is a well established rule that a judgment of a trial court will not be reversed because of defects or omissions in the petition when such defects or omissions are supplied by the proof without objection.

City next contends that the damages awarded are excessive and should be reduced. City argues that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the jury verdict, and the jury obviously acted, not on the basis of the evidence, but on the ages of the plaintiffs, i.e., the 77 years of the husband and the 71 years of the wife. The wife was awarded $5,384.45. The parties stipulated that she suffered bruises and lacerations on the right thigh, right elbow, knee and skull; that she required twenty stitches in the back of her head; that she was hospitalized for seven days; and that her hospital and medical expense of $384.45 was reasonable and necessary.

In addition to the stipulation, the evidence discloses that she was thrown out of the car onto the middle of the street; that she has had to see her doctor several times after being hospitalized; that she had been and was still very nervous.

The husband was awarded $1,035.13. The parties stipulated that $500.00 was a reasonable value for his car that was damaged in the accident and that $35.13 was a reasonable and correct amount for his glasses that were broken. The husband sought and was awarded $500.00 for his injuries and pain and suffering.

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Oklahoma City v. Taylor
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1970 OK 76, 470 P.2d 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oklahoma-city-v-taylor-okla-1970.