Tyndall v. Rippon

61 A.2d 422, 44 Del. 458, 5 Terry 458, 1948 Del. Super. LEXIS 120
CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedMarch 2, 1948
DocketNos. 120, 121 and 122
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 61 A.2d 422 (Tyndall v. Rippon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tyndall v. Rippon, 61 A.2d 422, 44 Del. 458, 5 Terry 458, 1948 Del. Super. LEXIS 120 (Del. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

Terry, J.

The plaintiffs have alleged that on December 7, 1947, at about 7:45 in the evening, they were nonpaying guest passengers in an automobile owned and operated by Philip Rippon over and along the Philadelphia Pike in a southerly direction at a point approximately one hundred eighty feet north of the intersection of said Pike with Bellevue Road; that at the time and place Thomas A. Donohue was operating an automobile over and along said Pike in a northerly direction at a speed of approximately fifty miles per hour as he approached and proceeded through said intersection; that at the time mentioned traffic proceeding on the Philadelphia Pike was not controlled by any designated highway traffic signs or signals; that Rippon, intending to make a left turn into Bellevue Road, when approximately one hundred eighty feet north of the intersection, drove his automobile, against the express protest of the respective plaintiffs, to the left and [461]*461over the center line so that his automobile occupied a part of the northbound lane of traffic, then recklessly, wantonly and in deliberate disregard of the protests of the plaintiffs proceeded to drive his automobile further into the northbound lane so that at a point approximately forty feet from the intersection the Rippon automobile was completely in the northbound lane where it collided head-on with the Donohue automobile; that the acts of Rippon were deliberately taken with full knowledge and notice of the situation, and were committed by him with a reckless and wanton disregard of the rights of the plaintiffs.

The complaints continue with designated allegations of negligence on the part of Donohue, and conclude with a prayer for damages alleged to have been occasioned because of personal injuries sustained by reason of the collision.

The defendant, Rippon, has filed a motion under Superior Court Rule 12(b) (6) to dismiss the complaints insofar as he is concerned, for the reason that the respective plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

In this State a nonpaying guest passenger riding in an automobile of another cannot recover damages from his host for any injuries sustained by reason of the occurrence of an accident due to the negligence of his host. This is so by reason of the enactment of Chapter 26, Volume 38, Laws of Delaware, Section 5713, Revised Code of 1935, which provides in part—

“No person transported by the owner or operator of a motor vehicle as his guest without payment for such transportation shall have a cause of action for damages against such owner or operator for injury, death or loss, in case of accident, unless such accident shall have been intentional on the part of such owner or operator or caused by his wilful or wanton disregard of the rights of others.”

[462]*462It is conceded that the respective plaintiffs come within the purview of the Guest Statute; that is, each plaintiff was a non-paying guest passenger riding in the car of Rippon. Under the language of the statute the conduct on the part of the host must have been intentional or caused by his willful or wanton disregard of the rights of others. I shall not attempt to define what constitutes an intentional accident. I take for granted such never occurred. Gallegher v. Davis, 7 W. W. Harr. 380, 183 A. 620. The import of the question now presented under the defendant’s motion is, Did Rippon’s conduct in operating his automobile as alleged amount to a willful or wanton disregard of the rights of the respective plaintiffs? In the case of Gallegher v. Davis the Court defined and distinguished willfulness from wantonness by stating, “Willfulness includes actual intent to cause injury, while ‘wantonness’ includes at most implied or constructive intent.”

The respective plaintiffs contend that the complaints filed charge Rippon with something more than negligence and therefore are sufficient. They contend that the operation by Rippon under the conditions as alleged in the face of the expressed warnings -as indicated constituted a willful or wanton disregard of their individual rights. Such willful or wanton conduct as contended for by the plaintiffs must be found from the allegations when considered in their entirety. Epithetical language will not enlarge allegations otherwise not sufficient into the statutory requirement of the willful or wanton disregard of the rights of others. Gallegher v. Davis.

The modern automobile is a dangerous instrumentality even in the hands of a most careful and prudent operator. Uniformity of law in many respects exists relative to recognized rules of the road. Sections 5626, 5628 and 5633 of the Code of 1935 are but examples:

[463]*463Section 5626: “Upon all highways of sufficient width, except upon one way streets, the driver of a vehicle shall drive the same upon the right half of the highway * *
Section 5628: “Drivers of vehicles proceeding in opposite directions shall pass each other to the right, each giving to the other at least one-half of the main traveled portion of the roadway as nearly as possible.”
Section 5633: “* * * the driver of a vehicle intending to turn to * * * the left shall approach such intersection in the lane for traffic to the right of and nearest to the center line of the highway and in turning shall pass beyond the center of the intersection, passing as closely as practicable to the right thereof before turning such vehicle to the left * * * >>

Momentary inadvertence or mere negligence, as each term is defined and understood in law, is eliminated as a ground for recovery. Gallegher v. Davis, 7 W.W.Harr. 380, 183 A. 620; Law v. Gallegher, 9 W. W. Herr. 189, 197 A. 479; Biddle v. Boyd, 9 W.W.Harr. 346, 199 A. 479. Thus, a violation of any or all of the preceding sections may constitute negligence per se, but such a violation in and of itself would not constitute a willful or wanton disregard of the rights of others. Much more is required under the Guest Statute; that is, if the acts complained of be willful, then the element of actual intent to cause injury must appear, or, if the acts complained of be a wanton disregard of the rights of others, then the conduct must be such as exhibits a conscious indifference to consequences in circumstances where probability of harm to another within circumference of the conduct is reasonably apparent although harm to such other is not intended.

From the allegations contained in the complaints we find no willful disregard of the rights of the respective [464]*464plaintiffs insofar as Rippon is concerned. If a cause of action exists, it must be predicated upon Rippon’s wanton disregard of the plaintiff’s rights.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 A.2d 422, 44 Del. 458, 5 Terry 458, 1948 Del. Super. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tyndall-v-rippon-delsuperct-1948.