McHarg v. Adt

Headnote

McHarg v. Adt, 163 App. Div. 782 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, entered September 26, 1911, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict in an action to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained through the negligence of defendant’s servant in operating an automobile in which plaintiff was riding, resulting in a collision between said automobile and a wagon.. Defendant’s wife, while riding in his automobile driven by a chauffeur in his employ, noticed a woman lying by the roadside badly injured. She went to the

injured woman’s assistance and directed the chauffeur to go in the automobile for a physician. In accordance with this direction the chauffeur procured the plaintiff, a practicing physician, to enter the defendant’s automobile and while conveying plaintiff to the place where the injured woman was lying the accident resulting in the injuries complained of occurred. Defendant claimed that his wife had no right to send the chauffeur for a physician, as such act had nothing to do with the concerns of the appellant or of his family, and that consequently he could not be held liable for any negligence of the chauffeur when acting under the orders of the wife on this occasion.