Heath v. Keyser

[878]

DORAN, J.—

In an action for damages for personal injuries plaintiff appeals from a judgment entered on a directed verdict for defendant.

From the agreed statement in lieu of a reporter’s transcript, it appears that defendant owned and operated a parking lot in downtown Los Angeles; that about 8 p. m., October 17, 1944, “Plaintiff and her daughter were on their way by auto to a lecture at the Trinity Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, which lecture was scheduled to commence at 8 p. m. Defendant’s parking lot was immediately west of this auditorium. Plaintiff’s daughter drove the automobile into defendant’s parking lot at about 8 p. m. The auto entered the parking lot by way of the westernmost driveway at Ninth Street, driving north, and at a point approximately 20 to 30 feet north inside the lot the daughter made a right turn facing the car easterly, and came to a stop a short distance east of the driveway by which they had entered.

“While the motor was running and the headlights lighted, plaintiff and her daughter alighted from the automobile, plaintiff getting out on the right side and the daughter getting out on the left side, and each of them walked towards the rear of their automobile.

“When the daughter reached a point approximately one or two feet to the rear of the auto at its left side, the defendant walked up to the daughter and the daughter said to defendant: ‘I left the key in the car; will you park the car for me?’, and the daughter handed defendant some money, part of the parking fee, and asked plaintiff if she had the balance of the fee, whereupon defendant walked over to plaintiff who had stopped at a point approximately several feet to the right side and four to five feet to the back of the auto, to wait for her daughter. As defendant walked over to where plaintiff was standing, another auto drove onto the lot from Ninth Street, and defendant pointed to the northwest in the parking lot (to the rear and to the left of the plaintiff’s automobile) and said to plaintiff’s daughter, ‘You park the car right over there yourself. ’ Plaintiff heard her daughter reply that she and plaintiff were in a hurry. Plaintiff did not see her daughter after that, and did not know that her daughter was going to park the car.

“Plaintiff, in looking in her purse for the balance of the parking fee, turned partially around so that she was facing the light at the station, and her back was then to the auto