155 So. 2d 698 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1963
The Travises, plaintiffs in the trial court,, appealed from an adverse summary final' judgment in an action for injuries sustained' by Reather Marie Travis while a passenger in an automobile driven by Irene Marie-Blackmon in a funeral procession.
Appellants contend that the-proofs adduced removed them from the operation of the guest statute, F.S.A. § 320.-59, so the trial court erred in granting the summary final judgment. We find that the trial court did not err in concluding as a matter of law that the nature of the services performed by plaintiff (gratuitously reading at a funeral home the obituary of a decedent who had for years been one of plaintiff’s neighbors when requested to perform such services by the defendant, a niece of the decedent and plaintiff’s beau
It is not contended that the negligence, if any, is anything other than simple negligence, but appellants contend that the following provision of the guest statute, to wit: “[T]he question or issue of negligence, gross negligence, and wilful or wanton misconduct * * * shall in all such cases be solely for the jury” mandatorily requires submission of the question to a jury. This contention is without merit. The quoted provision has been construed by the Florida Supreme Court to be sur-plusage which would not preclude the courts from passing upon the legal sufficiency of the evidence.
The remaining question presented for consideration is appellees’ cross assignment citing as error the trial court’s failure to tax the expense of the depositions against the plaintiff. Here only the depositions of the two parties were taken; the purpose was for discovery; the facts found were relatively simple and noncontroversial; and so the depositions were used to support a motion for summary judgment. Allowing the expense of depositions as taxable costs in a civil action rests in the sound discretion of the trial court.
There being no reversible error, judgment is affirmed.
. Sullivan v. Stock, 98 So.2d 507 (Fla.App. 1957).
. Cormier v. Williams, 148 Fla. 201, 4 So.2d 525 (1941).
.Section 58.13, Florida Statutes, F.S.A.