Opinion

Brown v. Powell

  • 515 S.W.2d 901
Court
Texas Supreme Court
Filed
Nov 13, 1974
Status
Published
Cited by
2 cases
Authority
More cited than 47.1%

The opinion

ON APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF ERROR

PER CURIAM.

This is a wrongful death case. The decedent was killed in a one-car accident while riding as a guest of Michael Powell, the driver of the vehicle, who also lost his life in the accident. Suit was brought by the decedent’s parents, petitioners here, to recover from Michael Powell’s father, respondent, on the theory of negligent en-trustment. The jury found that Michael Powell was a reckless and incompetent driver, that this should have been known to respondent when he permitted Michael to drive the automobile, and that the accident was proximately caused by the gross negligence of Michael. It refused to find that respondent knew Michael was a reckless and incompetent driver when he permitted the latter to drive the vehicle. The trial court rendered judgment non obstante ve-redicto for respondent, and the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed, on the ground that there is no evidence to support the finding of gross negligence on Michael’s part. Tex.Civ.App., 508 S.W.2d 691 .

There can be no recovery against respondent here even if the accident was caused by the driver’s gross negligence, because petitioners have not established that respondent was guilty of anything more than ordinary negligence. The guest statute, Art. 6701b, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.Stat., shields the owner of an automobile from liability for ordinary negligence in the en-trustment of a motor vehicle to an operator whose guest is the injured plaintiff. Forgus v. Hodnett, Tex.Sup., 405 S.W.2d 337 . The application for writ of error is Refused, No Reversible Error.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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