136 P. 642 | Or. | 1913
delivered the opinion of the court.
On or about the 1st day of October, 1911, the defendant was engaged in the business of storing and taking care of automobiles as a warehouseman for hire at Hood River, Oregon, and it carried on its business at two garages. One of them was situate at Columbia and Seventh Streets in the city of Hood River, and the other was located on the property of Charles P. McCan, about a mile southwest of said city. Both of these garages were owned and conducted by the defendant for hire.
On October 1, 1911, the plaintiff owned a Croxton-Keeton automobile. He was going east, and he made a contract with the defendant to store and keep said automobile for him for hire while he should be gone.
The complaint alleges that the plaintiff “delivered said automobile to the defendant and the defendant received the same for storage in its garage, located at Seventh and Columbia Streets in the City of Hood River, Oregon, and upon the express agreement that said automobile should be stored and kept therein, and that said automobile so delivered by the plaintiff to the defendant, as aforesaid, was at the time of said delivery and at all times thereafter, up and until.the time of the damaging thereof through defendant’s negligence, hereinafter referred to, of the value of $1,500; that said automobile was, upon said delivery by plaintiff to defendant, to be by the defendant safely and securely kept for the plaintiff in its said warehouse (garage) at Columbia and Seventh Streets and delivered to plaintiff, on demand, for compensation for such keeping of $3 per month, to be paid by plaintiff to defendant in the regular course of business, upon demand, by defendant therefor.”
The said complaint alleged also that the defendant, its servants and agents, carelessly and negligently, and without the consent or authority of the plaintiff, removed said automobile from its storehouse and garage at Seventh and Columbia Streets to its storehouse and garage located about one mile southwest of the City of Hood River, on the property of one Charles P. McCan, such negligent removal having been done by defendant, as aforesaid, shortly after the 1st day of October, 1911, and stored said automobile in said last-named storehouse and garage without the consent of the plaintiff; that, while said automobile was so stored in said last-named garage by defendant, the defendant, its servants and agents, carelessly and negligently permitted snow to accumulate, from day to day, for several days prior to the 12th day of January, 1912, upon the roof of said last-named garage where said automobile was stored, so that the roof of said garage and storehouse became so overloaded with said snow that said roof, by reason of said overloading thereon, by reason of said accumulation of snow and rain negligently permitted to accumulate on said roof, as aforesaid, on the 12th day of January, 1912, gave away and caved in, wrecking said building and falling upon the automobile of plaintiff stored therein, breaking the
The answer denies most of the allegations of the complaint and admits some parts thereof. It admits that said automobile was removed from one garage to the other, but denies that it was done without the consent of the plaintiff or that it was negligently done, and alleges that it was done in accordance with the agreement with the plaintiff. The answer admits that, while the automobile was in the garage to which it was removed, said garage collapsed, but denies that the collapse was caused by the weight of snow and rain upon the roof thereof, and alleges that said collapse was caused by reason of said building’s having been defectively planned and constructed, and that the defects therein were latent and unknown to the defendant and could not have been discovered by ordinary diligence.
The defendant alleges that, when said automobile was left with it by plaintiff, it was agreed'by the plaintiff and the defendant that it should be kept at said garage on the McCan farm, and that the defendant
The answer admits that the defendant received said automobile about October 1, 1911, and kept it at its garage in the city until about November 29, 1911, and then removed it to the other garage. The defendant admits also that the automobile was damaged by the collapse of the garage to the extent of $120.
The plaintiff claims that the car was to have been kept in the garage in the city. The defendant denies this and asserts that it was agreed that it was to be kept in the garage that collapsed. The answer admits that it was kept in,the garage in the city more than six weeks and then removed to the other garage.
Our code (Section 85, L. O. L.) provides that, in the construction of a pleading for the purpose of determining its effect, its allegations shall be liberally construed with a view of substantial justice between the parties litigant, and Section 97, L. O. L., declares that no variance between the allegations in a pleading and the proof shall be deemed material, unless it has actually misled the adverse party to his prejudice in maintaining his action or defense on the merits.
The real issues in the case were whether the defendant was guilty of negligence in permitting the snow to accumulate on the roof of the garage to such an extent as to cause the roof to fall on the automobile and crush it, or whether a latent defect in the plan or construction of the building was the cause of the injury to the car, and as to the amount of damages that should be found, if any.
The defendant excepted to the giving to the jury of the following charges:
*535 “(1) If you find that the contract was as claimed by defendant, viz., that the car was to be kept in the country garage, and at the owner’s risk, the plaintiff is still entitled to recover if defendant was guilty of negligence.
“(2) By negligence is meant the failure of the defendant to exercise that care in protecting plaintiff’s property that an ordinarily careful and prudent man would have exercised under the circumstances.
“(3) In deciding whether defendant exercised ordinary prudence, you must take into account the snowfall, the construction of the roof, and the fact that the attention of McCan, who was acting for defendant, was called to the amount of snow on the roof.
“(4) In case you find there was a latent defect in the construction, a defect which a man of ordinary observation would not have discovered in an examination of the building, still the plaintiff is entitled to recover if you find that the defendant was negligent in permitting the snow to remain on the roof, and that such negligence proximately caused the damage.”
The first charge excepted to by the defendant stated to the jury that, if the contract in this case was that the car was to be kept in the country garage at the owner’s risk, the defendant was liable for damages if
The court gave to the jury other proper instructions as to what the issues to be tried by them were; what degree of prudence the defendant was required to exercise in taking care of the automobile; as to the alleged latent defect in the plan and construction of the garage in which the automobile was when injured; in regard to the alleged accumulation of snow on the roof of the garage; as to the burden of proof being on the plaintiff to prove the negligence of the defendant by a “fair preponderance of the evidence,” etc. We believe that the jury was properly instructed, and that the instructions were fair to the defendant and covered all questions that were to be passed on by the jury.
The defendant requested the court to give the following charge, which was refused: “Before you can find a verdict for plaintiff in any event, you must believe from the evidence that the contract for storage provided for the car to be stored in defendant’s city or Columbia Street garage; that this contract was not canceled and still existed at the time the damage occurred; that without plaintiff’s consent the car was removed by defendant to its country garage, and, while therein stored, it was damaged because of defendant’s negligence in not properly caring for its safety.”
The gist of the action being the defendant’s negligence in permitting wet snow to accumulate upon the roof of the country garage to such an extent that it cáused the roof to fall on the car, crushing it, it was immaterial whether the defendant had agreed to keep the car in the city garage or whether the plaintiff consented to its being stored in the country garage or not. The court properly refused to give said requested charge. We find no error in the proceedings of the court below.
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Affirmed.