Myers v. Lowery

WASTE, P. J.

for herself, and on behalf of her assignors, brought this action against the defendants, copartners conducting the St. Catherine’s Hospital, in the city of Santa Monica. The action is one for damages, the amount of which is alleged to be the value of services during the time plaintiff and her assignors were ■ employed at said hospital, at the rate of fifteen dollars per week. The trial was had before a jury. A verdict was rendered for

[684]

plaintiff upon three counts. Judgment was entered accordingly, and defendants appeal.

[1]

In substance, the allegations of the complaint are that plaintiff and her assignors were induced by the defendants to enter the hospital and take up training there, upon the representations of the defendants that the said hospital was an accredited training school for nurses, which had met the requirements of the state board of health of the state of California, and that the graduates of said school were eligible for examination by, and registration with, the board; that relying upon these representations plaintiff and her assignors entered the hospital, and for varying periods of time were employed in caring for patients under treatment, without compensation; that they subsequently learned that the St. Catherine’s Hospital was not a training school for nurses, did not meet the requirements of the state board of health, was not an accredited training school, and its graduates were not eligible for examination or registration as nurses; that the training and instruction given the plaintiff and her assignors at the hospital were not such as would qualify them to take such examinations, and no record of any kind or nature was kept, as required by law, showing the qualifications of the nurses in training, or their efficiency in their work, nor was said hospital properly equipped in other respects for a training school for nurses; that plaintiff and her assignors have endeavored to procure entrance to various other hospitals conducting training schools for nurses that are properly accredited, but have been refused admission for the reason that no credit could, or would, be given for the time expended by them in said St. Catherine’s Hospital.

There was evidence in support of these allegations. It is admitted by appellants that the representations, as alleged, were made, and it is further conceded by them that the course of training at the hospital was insufficient to meet the requirements of the state board. They contend, however, that the representations were not material, were but the statements of matters of opinion, honestly believed and expressed by the defendants, and that there was no evidence to the contrary. This position of appellants finds no support in the record. The act to promote the better education of nurses and the better care of the sick in the state, providing for and regulating the examination and registration