Facts: Petitioner Merle McUne filed suit against respondent Al Fuqua in the Superior Court for Yakima County after sustaining injuries in an automobile accident while riding as a passenger in Fuqua’s car. Although the jury returned a verdict for McUne, the trial court granted Fuqua’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict as it ruled that Washington Revised Code §46.08.080, which prohibits non-paying guests riding as passengers from recovering damages from the owners and operators of motor vehicles as a result of automobile accidents, barred McUne’s action and that newly discovered evidence suggested that McUne’s injuries were attributable to a preexisting condition. McUne appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.

Question(s): Does §46.08.080 bar McUne’s action?

If not, was a new trial proper given the emergence of new evidence?

Conclusion: Justice Hamley’s opinion for a unanimous Court held that McUne’s action was not barred by §46.08.080 as the question of whether McUne’s agreement to pay for gasoline for Fuqua’s car constituted payment for transportation was a question properly submitted to the jury, which found that this agreement constituted a benefit in the material or business sense. The Court also ruled that while new medical evidence impeaching McUne’s testimony regarding his injuries was admissible, it was admissible only with regard to the issue of the amount of damages awarded.

Docket No. 32327

Petitioner: Merle McUne

(Counsel: Elery A. Van Diest and Blaine Hopp, Jr.)

Respondent: Al Fuqua

(Counsel: Kenneth C. Hawkins and Milton P. Sackmann)

Decided: Friday, February 20th, 1953

Vote: 5-0

Opinion: 42 Wn.2d 65 (1953)

Court: Grady1 Court (1953-1954)

Grady

Mallery

Schwellenbach

Hill

Hamley

Donworth

Finley

Weaver

Olson