Sgheiza v. Jakober

MILLER, J.,

pro

tem.

This is an appeal from a judgment for $5,000 in favor of respondent, the mother and sole heir of Vito Sgheiza, her son, who was killed in an automobile accident September 14, 1931, at the intersection of two highways in Sonoma County. At the time of the death of Vito Sgheiza he was twenty-nine years of age and unmarried. He had for years contributed twenty dollars a month and some groceries towards his mother’s support, and helped her on her little farm of thirteen acres. The plaintiff had a life expectancy of 17.52 years at the time of the death of her son.

At the time of the accident and resulting injuries to the deceased he was riding in an automobile driven by his brother, and Matilda Jakober, a minor of the age of sixteen years, was driving another automobile, belonging to, and' in which her father, Carl B. Jakober, was riding. The minor’s application for a driver’s license was signed by both her father, Carl B. Jakober, and her mother, Matilda Jakober. Some years before the accident the minor’s mother and father were divorced, and the exclusive control of the minor was awarded to and remained in the father.

The lower court found that the defendant driver was guilty of negligence that proximately caused the accident and resulting death. Such negligence being imputed to the signers of the application of the minor for a driver’s license, judgment went against the three defendants.

There are two appeals before us: one by Carl B. Jakober and his daughter, Matilda, in which they urge as grounds for reversal that the court erred in denying their demand for a jury trial, and that the damages awarded were excessive ; the other appeal is by Matilda Jakober, the mother of the minor, and her chief contention is that because she was not required by the statute to sign the minor’s application, inasmuch as she did not have the custody of her daughter, she was a mere volunteer who signed without consideration, and, hence, incurred no liability by reason of her having signed such application.

Under the statute as it now exists, the application of a minor for a driver’s license can only be granted when

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