Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Ward

1937 OK 504, 74 P.2d 614, 181 Okla. 462, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 198
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 21, 1937
DocketNo. 26277.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 1937 OK 504 (Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Ward) 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
Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Ward, 1937 OK 504, 74 P.2d 614, 181 Okla. 462, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 198 (Okla. 1937).

Opinion

OSBORN, C. J.

This action was instituted in the district court of Oklahoma county by D. J. Ward, herein'after referred to as plaintiff, against the Phillips Petroleum Company and A. W. Riney, hereinafter referred to as defendants, for dam *463 ages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile collision. The cause was tried to a jury, and a verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff for $18,000. The trial court ordered a remittitur of $4,000, which was duly filed. Judgment was rendered on the verdict for $14,000, and defendants have appealed.

The allegations of plaintiff’s petition are that on October 21, 1938, he was a passenger in a truck, being driven by one Arthur Richardson, and was traveling north on Hudson street in Oklahoma City; that defendant Riney, while acting for himself and also as an agent and employee of the defendant Phillips Petroleum Company, was driving a Buiek automobile owned by the Phillips Petroleum Company at a rate of speed prohibited by the ordinances of Oklahoma City, and was proceeding in an easterly direction on Fourth street, and as he approached the intersection of Hudson and Fourth streets he did not obey a stop sign at said intersection, but proceeded into said intersection at said excessive rate of speed and struck the rear portion of the truck in which plaintiff was riding, with such force that the truck was overturned and plaintiff was thrown out upon the pavement, thereby receiving certain injuries.

The defendants filed separate answers. The Phillips Petroleum Company filed a general denial and alleged that at the time of the injury, defendant Riney was not acting within the scope of his employment with said defendant, but was engaged upon a mission of his own, which mission was without the knowledge or consent of said defendant.

Defendant Riney denied generally the allegations of the petition; alleged contributory negligence on the part of the driver of the truck and that said negligence was imputable to plaintiff, since said driver and plaintiff were engaged upon a joint enterprise.

Defendants have filed separate petitions in error in this court.

On behalf of the Phillips Petroleum Company it is urged that the trial court erred in overruling its demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence and in refusing to direct a verdict in its favor for the reason that the undisputed evidence shows that at the time of the injury to plaintiff, the employee, Riney, was engaged upon a mission personal to himself and was not engaged upon the prosecution of the employer’s business.

The evidence on behalf of defendants is that Riney was employed by the Phillips Company as superintendent of construction; that his duties required that he travel from place to place and that he was furnished a car and gasoline by said company; that on the day prior to the injury to plaintiff he was engaged in supervising some construction in the Oklahoma City field; that about 8:00 a. m., on October 21, 1933, he went to a parking lot near the Black Hotel, procured his car, and drove to the home of Mrs. Ruth Jackson, who lived at 920 E. 12th street, in response to a call from her; that she wanted to talk with him regarding a trip to Detroit which she was contemplating. Both Riney 'and Mrs. Jackson testified that after a short conference, they got into the car and started back to town in order that Mrs. Jackson might go to her work; that she was employed in the Majestic Beauty Shop located in the Fidelity National Bank Building; that Mrs. Jackson was driving the car; that as they approached the intersection of Fourth and Hudson streets Mrs. Jackson did not see the stop sign or the truck on account of the glare of the sun in her eyes, and did not stop at the stop sign, but proceeded on into the intersection and struck the truck in which plaintiff was riding.

Plaintiff introduced as a witness one W. O. Walls, who testified that on a certain morning in October, he went to the warehouse of defendant company at the corner of Fourth and Douglas streets, in company with one Joe Jenkins; that defendant Riney was waiting at the warehouse to see Jenkins; that Jenkins introduced him to defendant Riney; that Riney and Jenkins engaged in a short conversation; that there was a lady in Riney’s car; that Riney left and drove east on Fourth street. The witness testified, further, that he learned later that day that Riney had an automobile accident. The evidence of the witness Walls: was contradicted by several of defendant’s witnesses.

The question presented on a motion to direct a verdict is whether, admitting the truth of all the evidence in favor of the party against whom the action is contemplated, together with such 'inferences and conclusions as may be reasonably 'drawn from it, there is enough evidence to reasonably sustain a verdict in favor of such party. Hagler v. Breeze. 169 Okla. 37, 35 P. (2d) 892; Chickasha Inv. Co. v. Phillips, 58 Okla. 760, 161 P. 223. The test applied *464 to a demurrer to the evidence is that all the facts which the evidence in the slightest degree tends to prove and all inferences or conclusions which may be reasonably and logically drawn from the evidence are admitted. Ward v. Coleman, 170 Okla. 201, 39 P. (2d) 113.

An employer is not liable for the tort of an employee committed outside the scope of his employment and while engaged upon a mission of his own. Drake v. Specht, 175 Okla. 414, 53 P. (2d) 235. Plaintiff concedes the correctness of the principle and insists that under the authorities and by virtue of certain inferences and presumptions deducible from the evidence the issue was properly submitted to the jury.

Defendant Phillips Petroleum' Company relies upon the rule announced in Stumpf v. Montgomery, 101 Okla. 257, 226 P. 65, 32 A. L. R. 1490, wherein it was held that evidence of defendant’s ownership of the ear, coupled with proof that the driver was in his employment, raised the legal presumption that at the time of the accident the driver was acting- for the owner and within the scope of his employment, but when the party against whom the presumption was invoked offered evidence to -the contrary, the presumption disappeared and it was then necessary to determine the case in accordance with the facts and reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom without regard to the legal presumption. To the same effect see the following cases: Jamar v. Brightwell, 162 Okla. 124, 19 P. (2d) 366; McCullough v. Harshman, 99 Okla. 262, 226 P. 555; Echols v. Hurt, 116 Okla. 43, 243 P. 493; Campbell v. Kirkpatrick, 120 Okla. 57, 249 P. 508; Carder v. Martin, 120 Okla. 179, 250 P. 906; St. John v. Ivers, 124 Okla. 215, 255 P. 706; Gallagher v. Holcomb, 172 Okla. 1, 44 P. (2d) 44. In the last-cited case the second syllabus is inaccurate. The true rule is expressed in Stumpf v. Montgomery and Jamar v. Brightwell, supra.

The case of Kruse v. White Brothers (Cal. App.) 253 P. 178, involves a state of facts quite similar to the facts involved herein. Therein it was said:

“ ‘One does not cease to be acting within the course of the master’s employment because his most direct and immediate pursuit of the master’s business is subject to necessary, usual or incidental personal acts, nor even by slight and immaterial delays or deflections from the most direct route for a personal or private purpose, the pursuit of the master’s business continuing to be the controlling purpose.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1937 OK 504, 74 P.2d 614, 181 Okla. 462, 1937 Okla. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phillips-petroleum-co-v-ward-okla-1937.