Satterfield v. United Auto Supply, Inc.

424 S.W.2d 40, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2874
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 19, 1968
Docket16878
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 424 S.W.2d 40 (Satterfield v. United Auto Supply, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Satterfield v. United Auto Supply, Inc., 424 S.W.2d 40, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2874 (Tex. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

LANGDON, Justice.

This is a personal injury suit brought by a father, appellee Jess Satterfield, against his son, appellant Charles Satterfield, and United Auto Supply, Inc., and Billy John Marshall, arising out of a two-car accident on the Waco highway south of Burleson, Texas, between an automobile owned by the father and driven by the son, in which the father was also riding, and a pickup truck owned by United Auto Supply, Inc., and driven by Billy John Marshall. The court found as a matter of law, that the plaintiff, Jess Satterfield, and the defendant, Charles Satterfield, were, at the time in question, engaged in a joint venture. Upon a jury verdict finding both drivers guilty of ordinary negligence, which was a proximate cause of the accident the trial court rendered judgment for the appellee father as against the appellant son and that appellee father take nothing as to United Auto Supply, Inc., and Billy John Marshall.

It refused to render judgment for contribution in favor of appellant Charles Satterfield as against Billy John Marshall. Appellant Charles Satterfield has duly perfected his appeal and Jess Satterfield appealed as to the take nothing judgment against Billy John Marshall.

We affirm.

The appeal of Charles Satterfield is based upon fourteen points of error. Points 1 through 8, both inclusive, and points 13 and 14 all pertain to the applicability of Art. 6701b, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. (commonly referred to as the guest statute) to the facts of this case rather than the court’s finding of joint venture.

The terms joint venture, joint adventure, common enterprise and joint enterprise are *43 synonymous according to the authorities and are used interchangeably.

"A ‘joint enterprise,’ for the purpose of applying the rule here involved, is defined as such a legal relationship between two or more persons as will impose responsibility on each joint adventurer for the negligent acts of the others, while they are acting in furtherance of their common undertaking. Two elements are necessary to show the existence of a joint enterprise. These elements are (1) proof of a joint interest in the object and purpose of the enterprise, and (2) proof of an equal right on the part of all the parties, either express or implied, to direct and control the conduct of each other in attaining the objectives and purposes of the enterprise. * * * ” 7 Tex.Jur.2d 614, § 247. See authorities cited thereunder which include Straffus v. Barclay, 214 S.W.2d 826 (Amarillo, Tex.Civ.App., 1948), affirmed by Supreme Court, 147 Tex. 600, 219 S.W.2d 65 (1949). See also 7 Tex.Jur.2d, p. 614, § 247; 40 Tex.Jur.2d, p. 636, § 120; 11 Tex.L.R. 263; 12 Tex.L.R. 372; 13 Tex.L.R. 161, 163; and Hines v. Welch, 229 S.W. 681 (Texarkana, Tex.Civ.App., 1921, no writ hist.).

The guest statute, Art. 6701b, V.A.C.S., is not applicable where the parties are engaged in a joint enterprise. Where the owner of the vehicle is riding in the vehicle being driven by another person the owner is not the guest of the driver. The owner as such has the equal right either express or implied to direct and control the conduct of the driver in the operation of the vehicle. In this case it is undisputed that the parties were going to church at the time of the collision in question and thus shared a joint or common interest in the object and purpose of the trip. Under the evidence the appellee did not relinquish control of his car and could or would have exercised such right of control had he deemed it necessary. The right of control and not actual physical control is the usual test applied in such cases.

“An owner of a car is entitled to expect that one whom he permits to drive his car will follow his directions. On the other hand, one who is a guest in a car not only feels reluctant to interfere with his driver, but the owner who is driving is far less likely to heed his advice than if he, the driver, were merely permitted by the plaintiff, as owner, to do the driving.” The Restatement of Torts, § 491 at page 551.

A joint venturer may recover from another joint venturer for ordinary negligence as distinguished from gross negligence required of a guest under Art. 6701b, V.A.C.S.

“It seems that a showing that a rider and the operator of a vehicle were engaged in and on the business of a joint enterprise at the time of an accident in which the rider was injured would remove the rider from the operation of the guest statute. The fact that the rider and the operator were engaged, at the time of the rider’s injury, in a joint enterprise will not itself preclude the rider from recovering damages in a suit instituted against the driver. The reason for this rule lies in the fact that the doctrine of ‘imputed negligence’ is inapplicable to a controversy between the parties to a joint enterprise. * * * An entirely different situation is presented, however, where an action by the rider is commenced against the operator of another vehicle involved in the collision. Where this is the case, each member of the joint enterprise will then be regarded as having been the representative of the other member, and the acts of one member will be deemed to have been the acts of both members, provided, of course, that such acts were within the scope of the enterprise. In short, under such circumstances the doctrine of imputed negligence is applicable to the rider, so as to bar him from recovering damages from the operator of the other vehicle.” 7 Tex.Jur.2d 599, § 234.

Since in our opinion the court was correct in holding as a matter of law that *44 the parties were engaged in a joint venture on the occasion in question and that the guest statute was not applicable it follows that the court was correct in denying the appellant’s'motions for summary judgment, judgment non obstante veredicto, for directed verdict and for judgment, all of which were primarily based upon Art. 6701b, supra, (the guest statute). For the same reasons the court was correct in refusing appellant’s motion to sustain his special exceptions, to submit special issues submitted by him as to whether the appellee was a guest of the appellant, and in overruling appellant’s objections to the charge of the court.

Johnson v. Smither, 116 S.W.2d 812 (Fort Worth, Tex.Civ.App., 1938, writ dism.); El Paso Electric Co. v. Leeper, 60 S.W.2d 187 (Tex.Com.App., 1933); McCormick v. Stowe Lumber Company, 356 S.W.2d 450 (Austin, Tex.Civ.App., 1962, ref. n. r. e.); Nelson v. Fulkerson, 155 Tex. 298, 286 S.W. 2d 129 (1956); Straffus v. Barclay, 147 Tex. 600, 219 S.W.2d 65 (1949).

In the case of Bonney v. San Antonio Transit Company, 160 Tex. 11, 325 S.W.2d 117 (1959), which is relied upon by the appellant, the court in an opinion by then Chief Justice Hickman stated: “* * * we do not have before us a case in which the owner was present in his own automobile driven by another, as in Straffus v.

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Bluebook (online)
424 S.W.2d 40, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2874, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/satterfield-v-united-auto-supply-inc-texapp-1968.