Torts & Personal Injury - Assignment 4: Question



Torts & Personal Injury - Assignment 4: Question

Introduction

In this paper the case related to the personal injury is analyzed. In this case the passenger got hirt due to negligient driving of the driver and he sued the driver for negligience tort ob the other hand the driver claimed to eb safe under Arkansas Automobile Guest Statute. In this paper claims of both people will be analyzed under the law along with the examples of certain cases.

The Case

This case is related to Torts & Personal Injury laws. In this case, Vince was offered a ride to his destination by Bill. Bill asked Vince to share his contribution for the fuel. In response to that, Vince handed Bill a $10 currency note as his contribution. At a point during the drive, Bill failed to see the stop sign and kept on moving and collided with a massive Ford pickup. This caused severe injuries to Vince. Vince, in reaction sues Bill but Bill claims that he is protected by the Arkansas Automobile Guest Statute.

The Law: Guest Statute

Guest Statute is a state law that defines standards of care for a car driver towards a non-paying passenger (Stout, 2011; Scoles, 2004). Though, there are variations in state laws, the core concept of this law is that no legal suit can be brought by a social passenger against the driver in the case of a mishap or accident, unless there is a gross negligence on the part of the driver only if he could have anticipated that his negligence in any manner could set the passenger in serious danger (Roberts & Cusimano, 2010; Batten, 2011). Some examples are: over speeding, driving in drunk state, taking risky turns and chances, driving a car being aware of the fact that the brakes are not functioning properly, driving recklessly and not listening to the afraid passenger for being careful, nor letting him go out of the car (Scoles, 2004; Roberts & Cusimano, 2010).

Possibility of Bill's protected by a guest statute

'Guest Statute' is only applicable on the 'non-paying passengers'. This law forbids a car passenger from bringing lawsuit against the driver for injuries suffered in the event of an accident. These state laws are only applicable on the “non-paying passengers” (Batten, 2011; Stout, 2011). This means that these laws are not applicable on the passengers travelling in buses, taxis or other public transportation for which they pay some amount of money. That in this case, Bill is not protected by a "guest statute" due to the fact that he received from Vince an amount of $10 in the name of contribution for the fuel expense (Stout, 2011; Scoles, 2004). This means that Vince was not a 'non-paying' passenger as he actually paid for the ride. Therefore it can be concluded that Bill is not protected by the 'guest statute'.

Cases #1 Roberson v. Roberson, 1937, 193 Ark. 669, 101 S.W.2d 961

Issue

Wife sued her husband against the recovery for personal injuries caused to ...