339 So. 2d 720 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1976
Appellants, defendants in the trial court, appeal from a final judgment rendered on a jury verdict favorable to appellee, plaintiff in the trial court, contending that their motion for directed verdict should have been granted.
The accident giving rise to this controversy occurred in the State of Alabama, requiring application of Alabama law. Ap-pellee was a passenger in an automobile owned and operated by appellant Bell and
Appellee has cross-appealed, contending that she was a paying passenger, thereby rendering the guest statute inapplicable and that the trial judge erred in granting appellants’ motion for directed verdict as to appellee’s guest passenger status. No useful purpose will be served by a lengthy recitation of the evidence. Suffice to say that our examination of the record, briefs and oral arguments reveals that there was no evidence upon which a jury could have found appellee to have been a paying passenger; therefore the learned trial judge was eminently correct in granting a directed verdict on that issue.
Affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions that judgment be entered for appellants, defendants in the trial court.