Kadow v. City of Los Angeles

DORAN, J.

This is an appeal by defendants City of Los Angeles and Roy E. Smith from a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, for damages for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Defendant Smith, a police officer of the City of Los Angeles, during the period in which the accident occurred was assigned to the vice squad on the so-called “Valley Division”

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at Van Nuys, working out of Captain Thornberg’s office at the Central Station in Los Angeles. For use in connection with Smith’s duties a Ford automobile, owned by the City of Los Angeles, was permanently assigned to him; the car was kept at his home in North Hollywood when not in use. Smith’s duties, for the most part, consisted of “touring” in the Valley Division from Mulholland Drive to Sunland, Tu junga and Chatsworth. Approximately five per cent of his investigating work arose from reports or specific complaints ; the balance of his work consisted in going from location to location, making investigations in various neighborhoods to determine the character of new residents, visiting schools and clubs, and making the acquaintance of those people who might give information as to undesirable conditions. The tours usually lasted from the time Smith checked in at the Central Station, by telephone, in the morning, until he checked out, also by telephone, at night. In answer to the question: “What are your hours on duty?” Smith replied, “We make our own hours. . . . We work whatever hours that we can to accomplish the duties we have.”

The collision involved herein occurred in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 9, 1936, at about 6:15 o’clock P. M., in the vicinity of Sunset and Griffith Park Boulevards, between the city-owned automobile driven by defendant Smith and an automobile owned and driven by plaintiff Clarence Kadow, in which his wife, Florence Kadow, was riding.

The evidence reveals that on the day of the accident Smith reported in to the Central Station at 9 o’clock in the morning; that, accompanied by one Sergeant McMullen of his detail, he performed the required duties in the valley until 2:45 o ’clock in the afternoon; that Smith then drove McMullen to his home in Los Angeles; and that he thereafter visited the pistol range at Elysian Park in Los Angeles, where a barbecue was being given by the Police Post of the American Legion for visiting Legionnaires of the police department and police officers from outside towns in California. Earlier in the day one James E. Clementine, a lieutenant of the Los Angeles Police Department, who was second in command at the Van Nuys Station but not directly connected with the vice squad, visited Smith at the latter’s home. During the course of their conversation defendant Smith informed Clementine that he expected to take McMullen home at 3 o’clock