Pugh v. Queal Lumber Co.

193 Iowa 924
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 9, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 193 Iowa 924 (Pugh v. Queal Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pugh v. Queal Lumber Co., 193 Iowa 924 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Arthur, J.

— For consideration of the errors assigned and relied upon for reversal, it is necessary only to make a skeleton statement.

Plaintiff alleged that his wife,' Harriet Pugh, was driving his Chalmers car west on Grand Avenue in the city of Des Moines, in the exercise of due care, and while at the Twenty-eighth Street intersection, appellant’s truck, going north on Twenty-eighth Street, struck the front end .of appellee’s car, damaging the ear to the extent of $630,- that the collision and consequent injury to appellee’s car were caused by the negligence of appellant’s employee, in operating its truck. Appellee alleged that he expended $140 for repairs on his car after it was injured, and further alleged that to restore the car to its condition immediately before the accident would cost $450, in addition to the amount already expended for repairs.

Appellant denied negligence and liability for the injury to appellee’s car.

[926]*926The ease was submitted to a jury, and a verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of «$433.87. Motion for a new trial was overruled, and judgment was entered on the verdict against the defendant, from which this appeal is prosecuted.

Three errors are assigned and relied upon for reversal.

T. In Assignment of Error No. 1, appellant complains of the statements of plaintiff’s cause of action by the court in the instructions. Plaintiff alleged that he expended $140 in necessary repairs to his car, to make it at all usable, and. that:

1. Tbiax: instauctions: positive statement as non-assumption of iaot‘ ,, m , , . . . •« „ -, To buy and put m said car new renders, radiator, and to repair frame, damage to crank shaft, transmission and driving mechanism, and other damages caused by said collision, and restore said car to its condition immediately before said collision, will cost, at reasonable prices and values, $450, in addition to the repairs already made on said car.”

In stating the case to the jury, the court used this' language: “That he had to buy and put in said car” the parts above mentioned, “to restore said car to its condition immediately before said collision, at the reasonable price of $365.” Immediately following such statement, the court covered the same matter in another way, following the statement in the petition “that the reasonable value of the repairs of said ear which would be necessary to restore it to its condition immediately before said collision, included in said repair, parts, labor, and merchandise, is $450, in addition to the repairs already made on said car.”

Appellant’s attack on the court’s statement is that the court told the jury that the plaintiff had expended for repairs $140, and also $365, when it appears without dispute that the amount actually expended for repairs was $140 only. While the court was rather unfortunate in using the language, “he had to buy and put in said car,” etc., instead of saying, as the petition does, “that to buy and put in said car,” etc., we think the jury was not misled, and must have understood the true state of the record. From the wording of the instruction preceding the clause complained of, it is clear that the court was [927]*927not telling* the jury what the .facts were, but was stating to the jury what was claimed by the plaintiff to be the facts: that is, the statements did not purport to state what plaintiff had proven, but only what he claimed. The proof on this point was so perfectly clear that we think the jury could not have been misled. The proof showed that plaintiff had only expended $140 at the time, and that it would be necessary to expend for parts about $298, plus about $150 for labor in putting them in. These three items aggregate approximately $588. In addition to these items the ifiaintiff offered testimony to prove that he had been deprived of the use of his ear while repairs were being made, five days, and that he would be out of the use of it seven days; while new parts necessary to restore it were being put in, and that the use of the car was worth $5.00 per day, and that he liad spent two days of his own time looking after its repair, and that his time was worth $12.50 per day, making $60 for loss of use of the car and $25 for his own time, which, added to the above item, makes $673. Deducting $15 for parts included in repairs, leaves $658 damages, which plaintiff offered testimony to prove; and this evidence was undisputed by the defendant. The plaintiff had claimed only $630 in his pleadings. The verdict was for $433.87. It is quite evident that the jury did not consider any extra item of $365. ¥e think there is no reversible error in the instruction.

of use of automoMe' II. In Assignment No. 2, appellant finds fault with the instruction on the measure of damages, in part. The court told the jury to measure the damages by the difference between the value of the automobile immediately preceding the accident and the value of said automobile just after the accident. No fault is found with the instruction thus far. The court further authorized the jury to allow plaintiff for the reasonable value of his own time spent in the care of the automobile, caused by the accident, and also the reasonable value of the use of the- automobile during the time he was deprived of its use while it was being repaired, with ordinary diligence. Appellant’s only criticism of the instruction is as to the value of the loss of the use of the car while it was being repaired. Appellant’s position is that, where the dam[928]*928ages caused by injury to the car are measured on the theory of the difference between the values before and after the injury, the damage which is the amount of this difference cannot be increased by the value of the loss of the use of the car while it is being repaired.

The general rule for the determination of damages to personal property is that the owner shall receive fair and reasonable compensation for the injuries sustained by him. It is the general rale in most jurisdictions that, where an automobile is injured, but not totally destroyed, the measure of damages usually adopted is the difference between the market value before the injury and the market value immediately after the injury. Also, the reasonable value of repairs to an injured automobile is frequently considered the proper measure of damages for the injury. As said in Lonnecker v. Van Patten (Iowa), 179 N. W. 432 (not officially reported) :

“Ordinarily, there would not be any material difference between the value before and after it [an automobile] was injured, and the actual cost of the repairs required to return it to its former condition: that is, the difference in value before and after would be the amount that it would cost to repair it and return it to its former condition.”

Conflicting decisions have been made in different jurisdictions when, by reason of an injury to plaintiff’s automobile, he is deprived of the use thereof for some time, as to the damages which he shall be allowed, to compensate him for such loss. The Kentucky court holds that the owner of a commercial truck or machine is entitled to recover, as an element of his compensatory damages, the usable value of the truck during the time reasonably necessary for repair, when he is unable to use the same. Southern Railway v. Kentucky Grocery Co., 166 Ky. 94 (178 S. W. 1162).

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193 Iowa 924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pugh-v-queal-lumber-co-iowa-1922.