Swilley v. Economy Cab Co. of Jacksonville

46 So. 2d 173, 1950 Fla. LEXIS 882
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMay 9, 1950
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 46 So. 2d 173 (Swilley v. Economy Cab Co. of Jacksonville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Swilley v. Economy Cab Co. of Jacksonville, 46 So. 2d 173, 1950 Fla. LEXIS 882 (Fla. 1950).

Opinion

46 So.2d 173 (1950)

SWILLEY
v.
ECONOMY CAB CO. OF JACKSONVILLE.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.

May 9, 1950.
Rehearing Denied May 31, 1950.

*175 Price & Stewart and Fred B. Noble, Jacksonville, for appellant.

Mathews & Mathews, Jacksonville, for appellee.

SEBRING, Justice.

The plaintiff has appealed from a judgment sustaining a demurrer to his second amended declaration. The question is whether any of the four counts of the declaration states a cause of action.

Certain allegations of fact which are common to all four counts of the declaration may be briefly stated as follows:

The defendant owned and operated a taxicab for hire in Jacksonville, Florida. The defendant accepted the plaintiff, in the nighttime and unaccompanied by any other person, as a passenger for hire and contracted to transport him in the taxicab from a point on one of the downtown streets of Jacksonville to a certain "jook-joint" about seven miles north of the City. At the time the plaintiff was received as a passenger he "was obviously and apparently drunk and intoxicated to the point of being physically and mentally irresponsible and incapable", which fact was known or should have been known to the defendant. While the plaintiff was being conveyed to his destination the left front tire of the taxicab became flat, at a point on the highway north of the City limits. Thereupon, the driver stopped the taxicab, for the purpose of repairing the tire, with all four wheels of the vehicle resting upon the pavement in such a position as to obstruct a large portion of the highway provided for northbound traffic, which was then passing the point at a high rate of speed.

Based upon these underlying facts the first count of the declaration charges that when the taxicab company accepted the plaintiff as a passenger with knowledge of his highly intoxicated condition there devolved upon the company the duty of exercising a high degree of care to convey the passenger to his destination safely; that the driver of the taxicab breached this duty in that, after he stopped the taxicab on the highway to make repairs the "plaintiff alighted from the said taxicab to the highway and did stand and remain thereon at a point between said taxicab and the center of said highway, in the lane provided for northbound traffic, which was then and there passing said point at a high rate of speed; that after knowledge of plaintiff's peril from being struck down by passing vehicles, defendant had the opportunity to, and was able to remove plaintiff from said highway by the exercise of reasonable care; that in spite of the high degree of care defendant owed to plaintiff, defendant did then and there carelessly and negligently acquiesce to plaintiff remaining in said place of danger and did fail to act in any manner to remove or attempt to remove plaintiff from his place of danger on *176 said highway, and as a proximate result of defendant's carelessness and negligence in not properly caring for plaintiff after he knew of his imminence to danger, an automobile traveling in a Northerly direction on said highway ran into and struck down the plaintiff * * *"

The second count of the declaration charges, upon the underlying facts we have stated, that after the driver of the taxicab had gotten out to repair the flat tire, the plaintiff "offered to assist defendant in the repair of said tire, and after acceptance of said offer by defendant, plaintiff alighted from said taxicab to the said highway, and in rendering or attempting to render said assistance, placed himself on the highway at a point between the left front wheel of said taxicab and the center of said highway in the lane of the highway provided for northbound traffic, which was then and there passing said point at a high rate of speed; that after knowledge of plaintiff's peril from being struck down by passing vehicles, defendant had the opportunity to, and was able to remove plaintiff from said highway by the exercise of reasonable care; that in spite of the high degree of care defendant owed the plaintiff, defendant did then and there carelessly and negligently accept plaintiff's services requiring him to remain on said highway and did fail to act in any manner to remove or attempt to remove plaintiff from his place of danger on said highway, and as a proximate result of defendant's carelessness and negligence * * * an automobile traveling in a Northerly direction on said highway ran into and struck down the plaintiff * * *"

It will be observed that in the first count of the declaration the plaintiff bases his right to recover damages on the alleged fact that after the taxicab had been stopped on the public highway for the purpose of making repairs and the plaintiff had alighted therefrom to a position of danger in the highway, the defendant's driver, who knew or should have known that plaintiff was "intoxicated to the point of being physically and mentally irresponsible and incapable" from the excessive use of intoxicating beverages, "did then and there carelessly and negligently acquiesce to plaintiff remaining in said place of danger and did fail to act in any manner to remove or attempt to remove plaintiff from his place of danger." It is contended by the plaintiff with respect to this count that inasmuch as the relationship of carrier and passenger came into existence when defendant's driver accepted the plaintiff for carriage in downtown Jacksonville, the law imposed upon the defendant the absolute duty of taking all necessary steps thereafter to prevent the plaintiff from injuring himself enroute and of delivering him to his destination safely.

We agree with the plaintiff that when the plaintiff was accepted by the defendant for carriage the relationship of carrier and passenger came into existence. Thereafter, during the course of the trip the same rule and measure of legal responsibility attached to the defendant as would attach to common carriers generally. See Korner v. Cosgrove, 108 Ohio St. 484, 141 N.E. 267, 31 A.L.R. 1193; Anderson v. Yellow Cab Company, 179 Wis. 300, 191 N.W. 748, 31 A.L.R. 1197; Huddy on Automobiles, 9th Ed. Sections 158, 161, pp. 307, 309, 310; Berry on Automobiles, 4th Ed. Section 1709, pp. 1465-1466; Annotations 4 A.L.R. 1501, 31 A.L.R. 1206. Having assumed the obligation of transporting a passenger who was intoxicated "to the point of being physically and mentally irresponsible and incapable" it became the duty of the defendant to exercise a degree of care commensurate with the condition of the passenger to the end that the passenger would be transported and delivered to his destination safely. Compare Loftin v. Florida Cities Bus Co., 159 Fla. 514, 32 So.2d 166. But this high degree of duty did not extend to the point of making the defendant an absolute insurer of the safety of its passenger; it did not require of the defendant that it place a guard over its passenger or deliver him to his destination safely at any and all events, or save him free from harm under any and every situation.

As will be seen from a critical analysis of the first count of the declaration, the plaintiff has made no complaint of the manner in which he was being transported by *177 the defendant up to the time the driver stopped his taxicab for emergency repairs. No attempt has been made to charge the defendant with dereliction of duty in stopping the cab on the public highway in order to make the repairs. The plaintiff has not attempted to fasten liability on the defendant for allowing him to alight from the cab and station himself on the highway while repairs were being made.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 So. 2d 173, 1950 Fla. LEXIS 882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/swilley-v-economy-cab-co-of-jacksonville-fla-1950.