Waters v. Markham

235 N.W. 797, 204 Wis. 332, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 347
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 7, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 235 N.W. 797 (Waters v. Markham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waters v. Markham, 235 N.W. 797, 204 Wis. 332, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 347 (Wis. 1931).

Opinion

Nelson, J.

It is undisputed that the plaintiff, at the time of the accident, was a guest of the Reverend Bruggink, the deceased. The legal relation existing between them was that of licensor and licensee and their respective rights and [337]*337liabilities were those incidental to such a relation as established by law. Greenfield v. Miller, 173 Wis. 184, 180 N. W. 834; O’Shea v. Lavoy, 175 Wis. 456, 185 N. W. 525; Cleary v. Eckart, 191 Wis. 114, 210 N. W. 267; Thomas v. Steppert, 200 Wis. 388, 228 N. W. 513. It is clearly the law of this state that an automobile host owes to his guest the duty of exercising ordinary care not to increase the danger to the guest which the latter assumes on entering the car, or to create a new danger. Cleary v. Eckart, supra; Poneitowcki v. Harres, 200 Wis. 504, 228 N. W. 126; Sommerfield v. Flury, 198 Wis. 163, 223 N. W. 408; Grandhagen v. Grandhagen, 199 Wis. 315, 225 N. W. 935.

“His duty extends only to refraining from increasing the danger which the guest assumes upon entering the automobile manned by the driver provided or from adding a new danger.” Cleary v. Eckart, supra, p. 120. The danger which the host is under obligation not to increase, is obviously the danger which may be anticipated and which is assumed by the guest upon entering the car. Sommerfield v. Flury, supra; Grandhagen v. Grandhagen, supra. On entering an automobile and accepting the hospitality offered, a guest accepts the automobile in the condition in which it exists and as then maintained by its owner. Cleary v. Eckart, supra.

The foregoing rules of law applicable to the relation of licensor and licensee are, however, subject to the proviso that the host does not fail in the duty of warning his guest as to any latent or concealed defect, in the nature of a trap, which is known to him but unknown to the guest, and which the host believes to be dangerous and which he realizes involves an unreasonable risk to his guest. O’Shea v. Lavoy, supra.

This court has often had before it cases involving the duty of a host to exercise ordinary care not to increase the [338]*338danger to his guest or to create a new danger, but it has not had occasion to pass upon the specific question involved in this appeal.

In O’Shea v. Lavoy, supra, the plaintiff therein sought to hold the defendant liable for damages resulting from a broken spring which had been repaired and which the owner had no reason to believe was unsafe. The court, upon the evidence in that case, held that the owner did not fail in the performance of any duty which he owed to his invited guests.

The precise question involved in this appeal as respects the defective tires has not been passed upon by this court. We have therefore given very careful consideration to this question to the end that a just rule of law may be declared. In Cleary v. Eckart, supra, p. 119, the following quotation from Patnode v. Foote, 153 App. Div. 494, 138 N. Y. Supp. 221, is found: “One who invites another to ride is not bound to furnish a sound vehicle or a safe horse. If he should have knowledge that the vehicle was unfit for transportation or the horse unsafe to drive, another element would arise, and he might be liable for recklessly inducing another to enter upon danger.” This rule, however, does not seem wholly satisfactory because the duty of a host is not thereby clearly defined.

In a carefully considered decision recently rendered by the New York court of appeals, Higgins v. Mason, 255 N. Y. 104, 174 N. E. 77, that eminent court, in discussing the grounds on which the liability of the defendant therein for a defect in his automobile could be predicated, said: “Mason would be liable only if he knew of the dangerous condition; realized that it involved an unreasonable risk; believed that the guests would not discover the condition or realize the risk; and failed to warn them of the condition and the risk involved.”

[339]*339It is our conclusion that an automobile host may be held liable for injuries to his guest, caused by a defective condition of his automobile, if he knew of such defect and realized, or should have realized, that it involved an unreasonable risk to his guest, and the defect was so concealed or hidden as not to be reasonably obvious or patent to the guest, and the defect and the risk' involved were in fact unknown to the guest, and the host failed to warn the guest as to the defective condition and the risk involved therein.

This rule seems to be eminently fair and just and fully to state the grounds upon which the liability of a host for injuries to his guest resulting from a defective condition of an automobile may properly be predicated. See Restatement of the Law of Torts, Tentative Draft No. 4, The American Law Institute, secs. 201, 210, 212, wherein the liability of the possessors of land to gratuitous licensees is discussed. The following synopsis is found on page 163 of the Draft:

“A possessor of land is subject to liability for bodily harm caused to gratuitous licensees by a natural or artificial condition thereon if, but only if, he
(a) knows of the condition and realizes that it involves an unreasonable risk to them and has reason to believe that they will not discover the condition or realize the risk, and
(b) invites or permits them to enter or remain upon the land, without exercising reasonable care
(i) to make the condition reasonably safe, or
(ii) to warn them of the condition and the risk involved therein.”

Consideration of the verdict as submitted to the jury compels the conclusion that the real and important issues in this action were not submitted to or passed upon by the jury. The special verdict submitted simply required the jury to find whether the Reverend Bruggink exercised or-[340]*340dinaty care in respect to speed, in respect to operating the car with the tires in the condition they were in, and in respect to control and management of his car.

Clearly the question as to speed, control, and management should have been so framed as to enable the jury to determine whether the deceased failed to exercise ordinary care which increased the danger. or added a new one to those which she assumed upon entering the car. Poneitowcki v. Harres, 200 Wis. 504, 228 N. W. 126; Sommerfield v. Flury, supra, and Grandhagen v. Grandhagen, supra.

The real question as to the tires was one relating to the condition of the car. The tires were a part of the car and entered into its condition as much as did the spring in O'Shea v. Lavoy, supra, or the accelerator in Hennig v. Booth, 4 N. J. Misc. Rep. 150, 132 Atl. 294. As clearly appears from the record herein, liability was sought to be predicated upon the old and defective tires.

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Bluebook (online)
235 N.W. 797, 204 Wis. 332, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waters-v-markham-wis-1931.