Loope v. Greyhound Lines, Inc.

MUSSELL, J.

Plaintiffs allegedly sustained injuries and property damage on February 2, 1947, which they claimed were caused by the negligence of the defendant Greyhound Lines, Inc. and its driver, Oscar LeRoy Perkins.

Defendants’ demurrer to the complaint, setting up the statute of limitations (Code Civ. Proc., § 340, subd. 3) as a bar to the complaint, was sustained with leave to amend. An amended complaint containing five causes of action was filed and in each cause of action it was alleged, among other matters, “that between the dates of February 2, 1947, and February 1,

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1948, said defendants were absent from and outside the jurisdiction of the State of California for more than twenty (20) days. ’ ’ The defendants then filed a demurrer to the amended complaint again setting up the statute of limitations as a bar and also filed a motion to strike the quoted allegations from the complaint. The trial court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend and made no ruling on the motion to strike. From the judgment of dismissal which followed, plaintiffs have appealed.

In the first cause of action in the amended complaygtejd is alleged, among other things, that on February 2, lyS^*he defendant Oscar LeRoy Perkins was, with the consejin and permission of the defendants, driving the defendants’ Greyhound bus in a general westerly direction along the Pacific Coast Highway at and near its intersection with Westminster Boulevard; that at said time plaintiff Edward T. Loope was driving plaintiffs’ automobile in a general easterly direction across the said intersection; that said Oscar LeRoy Perkins so carelessly, recklessly and negligently drove said bus so as to cause it to collide with plaintiffs’ automobile, in consequence of which negligence plaintiff Edward T. Loope sustained bodily injuries, to his damage in the sum of $40,000.

The second cause of action reincorporates all of the charging allegations of the first cause of action and then alleges that the negligence of the defendants caused plaintiffs’ automobile to be damaged and demolished, necessitating repairs in the sum of $800 and the loss of clothing in the reasonable value of $20.

The third cause of action includes all of the charging allegations in the second cause of action and then alleges that plaintiffs obtained medical, surgical and hospital aid in the sum of $350 and that the plaintiff Edward T. Loope lost seven weeks of employment at the sum of $85 per week.