Kingwell v. Hart

The question for our decision is whether or not plaintiff Ella Kingwell “voluntarily assumed” the risk of injury, suffered when the car in which she was a passenger left the highway, after its driver, defendant Lloyd Hart, fell asleep.

After a trial without a jury, the court answered this question in the affirmative, and entered judgment dismissing the action. Plaintiffs have appealed.

The court found the following facts: Plaintiff Ella Kangwell and defendant Ruby Hart are sisters. Prior to April 3, 1952, their father, Albert J. Hagen, a man approximately seventy years of age, had been ill and…