England v. Hospital of Good Samaritan

WOOD, J.

Defendant prosecutes this appeal from an order of the trial court granting plaintiff’s motion for a new trial after a jury had returned a verdict in defendant’s favor. While plaintiff was a patient in the hospital conducted by defendant, on October 16, 1935, he was burned by hot water bottles negligently placed upon his body by a nurse in the employ of defendant and the action was commenced to recover damages for the injuries thereby caused. The action has been tried twice. After plaintiff had finished the presentation of evidence upon the first trial the court granted defendant’s motion directing the jury to return a verdict in favor of defendant. An appeal was taken and the judgment was reversed by this court.

(England

v.

Hospital of the Good Samaritan,

16 Cal. App. (2d) 640 [61 Pac. (2d) 48].) Defendant’s application that the cause be heard and determined by the Supreme Court was denied. Upon the second trial the jury’s verdict was in favor of defendant, whereupon the court granted a new trial, resulting in the present appeal.

In commencing their argument counsel for defendant requests the court to “give serious consideration and study to the contentions herein advanced because of the importance to the many charitable institutions throughout the state. ...” We are not unmindful of the importance of the decision to the many hospitals in California which are

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operated on the same general plan as defendant’s hospital. Neither are we unmindful of the importance of the decision to the large number of patients who, being well able to pay for hospital care and not deeming themselves proper objects of charity, engage and pay for hospital accommodations in institutions actually earning a profit, little suspecting that they are considered the recipients of charity and that the institutions supplying accommodations to them are doing so under the claim that they are exempt from liability for the negligence of their employees on the ground that they are charitable institutions.

Plaintiff maintains that the order granting the new trial may be sustained on account of errors of law occurring at the trial, particularly referring to erroneous instructions given by the court at the request of defendant and the refusal of the court to give instructions requested by plaintiff. The court refused to give plaintiff’s requested instruction 4, as follows: “You are instructed that the defense of non-liability because of its charitable character is unavailable to defendant, if you find from the evidence that plaintiff had no knowledge or belief that defendant claimed to be or was a charitable institution, and further provided you find that plaintiff paid its regular rates to defendant from which it derived a profit.” Evidence was presented showing that plaintiff had no knowledge or belief that defendant claimed to be a charitable institution, that he paid for the accommodations and services at the regular rate charged, and that the hospital earned a profit during the year in which plaintiff was a patient. Upon the former appeal in this case this court said: “We cannot hold that one who, without knowledge that a hospital claims to be a charitable institution and therefore exempt from liability, applies for admission and is received as a patient, paying the regular rates at which the hospital derives a profit, is without redress for injuries occasioned by negligence on the part of the employees of the hospital on the theory that he is accepting the benefits of charity from a benefactor. Our conclusion is in line with the decision in the Stewart case