Priese v. Clement

70 Pa. D. & C.2d 47, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 67
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County
DecidedDecember 20, 1974
Docketno. 1927 of 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 70 Pa. D. & C.2d 47 (Priese v. Clement) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Priese v. Clement, 70 Pa. D. & C.2d 47, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 67 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1974).

Opinion

ORLOWSKY, J.,

This action in trespass was commenced by plaintiffs, Gerhard Priese and Marilyn Jane Priese, husband and wife, to recover for personal injuries sustained by wife-plaintiff (hereinafter “plaintiff’) on April 19, 1971. Plaintiff was injured when she was attempting to prevent operation of an automobile by defendant-wife, Marilyn Clement, who, at the time, was laboring under a mental deficiency. The vehicle had been parked on premises owned by both defendants.

After a three-day trial, on May 2, 1974, the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $110,000 and in favor of plaintiffs husband in the amount of $10,000. The verdicts were rendered against both defendants. Defendants have filed timely motions for new trial and judgment n.o.v. which are now before the court for disposition.

This case involves a highly unusual factual sitúa[49]*49tion that requires some elaboration, as well as some seldom-used principles of law.

In reviewing this case we must view all facts (in dispute) and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to plaintiff as the verdict winner: Fallon v. Penn Central Transp. Co., 440 Pa. 148, 279 A. 2d 164 (1971).

Viewed according to this principle, we set forth the following facts:

In December of 1970, plaintiff was hired by husband-defendant (hereinafter Mr. Clement) as housekeeper, cook and companion for defendants’ three children. The wife-defendant (hereinafter Mrs. Clement) at that time was in the hospital recuperating from brain surgery. When Mrs. Clement was discharged from the hospital in February of 1971, plaintiff was requested by Mr. Clement to expand her duties to include the care and companionship of Mrs. Clement. Although plaintiff expressed concern that she had no experience as a nurse or nurse’s aid, Mr. Clement assured her that no specialized training was necessary.

Mrs. Clement required supervision to the extent that she was mentally confused and not well oriented. She believed that she still lived in a house from which defendants had moved two years before and inquired almost daily as to when she was going home. In March of 1971, Mrs. Clement obtained keys to the family car and drove to her old home in the middle of the night, requiring Mr. Clement to bring her home. It was brought to plaintiffs attention on other occasions that Mrs. Clement, in the evening, would sit in one or the other of the defendants’ two family vehicles. Mrs. Clement’s children were worried for her welfare, since the cars were parked on a parking area leading to a sloped driveway next to the house. Mr. Clement was aware of the foregoing actions of his wife. As a result, the [50]*50keys to the vehicles were hidden from Mrs. Clement and she no longer had access to them. Mr. Clement also acknowledged that he had been warned by his wife’s doctor about his wife’s poor eyesight and her confusion and the fact that she should not be driving.

Because plaintiff had transportation difficulties, as part of her employment, she was permitted to use one of defendants’ family cars, a Karmann Ghia. Plaintiff used this vehicle Monday through Friday and would leave the vehicle on defendants’ premises at the close of her workday on Friday.

On Monday, April 19, 1971, plaintiff came to work at 8:00 a.m. She observed the Karmann Ghia parked with its back close to a barn on the parking pad to the side of defendants’ home, facing downgrade toward the driveway. It was the first time that the vehicle was parked in this position on a Monday morning. It was not in the same position that plaintiff had parked it on the preceding Friday when she left the premises.

On every other Monday since plaintiff began her employment, the Karmann Ghia had been locked. One set of keys for the vehicle was kept at all times by plaintiff and the remaining set was retained by Mr. Clement. Mr. Clement admitted that he would have been the only person to have used the vehicle since the preceding Friday and that he would have been the one who parked the vehicle in the position described by plaintiff. On cross-examination, Mr. Clement acknowledged that there were several places on the parking pad where the vehicle could be parked and would not be subject to drifting downhill if the emergency brake were off.

The macadam parking area was approximately 20 feet wide and 60 feet long and located about 40 feet from the house. The parking area sloped downhill and connected to a driveway that exited onto [51]*51Glen Mills Road. The long, tree-lined driveway sloped downhill steeply for 350 feet, where it crossed a stone bridge, and then sloped up hill to Glen Mills Road another 350 feet.

On the Monday in question, at approximately 11:00 a.m., plaintiff, after doing the breakfast dishes, began to vacuum the living room. Mrs. Clement then informed plaintiff that she was going to walk out to the barn on the premises where she had gone on many prior occasions to visit the animals that were there.

Plaintiff followed Mrs. Clement out onto the porch and down the walk, staying about 20 feet behind her. After having passed the car, Mrs. Clement, suddenly and without warning, deviated from her entry into the barn and opened the door of the Karmann Ghia, which had been left unlocked. Plaintiff yelled to Mrs. Clement not to get into the car. Mrs. Clement ignored the warning and entered the vehicle, after pushing off with one leg to get the vehicle rolling down the driveway. Plaintiff ran after the car and caught up with it after it had traveled aboutone car length. The driver’s door had been left open and plaintiff jumped on the side of the vehicle as it coasted downhill. Plaintiff tried to persuade Mrs. Clement to bring the vehicle to a stop and, at the same time, tried to reach the brake pedal with her own foot. Plaintiff had one hand on the steering wheel as the car went downhill and the other on the frame of the car. The vehicle began to veer to the left and it appeared to plaintiff that the vehicle would crash into a tree, the bridge, or go into the stream bed running under the bridge. Plaintiff stayed with the vehicle until it was approximately two car lengths from the bridge. She then straightened the wheels so the car would pass over the bridge and attempted to jump from the vehicle. However, plaintiff fell to the ground and the left [52]*52rear wheel of the vehicle ran over her left ankle, severely crushing the bones and causing internal damage to the ankle. The car ended up further down the driveway without damage or without any injury to Mrs. Clement.

Plaintiff was taken to Lankenau Hospital where her injuries were diagnosed as a trimalleolar fracture and dislocation of the left ankle, with diastasis. The next day an operation on the ankle was performed. The following July, plaintiff re-entered the hospital for the removal of a Webb bolt that had been inserted in the prior operation. Plaintiff has since developed traumatic arthritis in the fracture site and has been in continual pain and discomfort. Doctor Brandfass, plaintiffs treating orthopedic specialist, testified that the arthritis in the ankle will progressively increase causing more pain and stiffness, more swelling and less ability to function with the ankle. Dr. Brandfass stated that plaintiffs condition was permanent, she would continue to limp, should refrain from working and, finally, that some future additional surgery might be required. At the time of trial, plaintiffs medical expenses were $2,993.38.

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Bluebook (online)
70 Pa. D. & C.2d 47, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/priese-v-clement-pactcompldelawa-1974.