Sweet v. Austin

This is an action by Charlotte Sweet, a minor, against Robert F. Austin, the operator of a filling station, to recover for injuries suffered in the collision of a car driven by her mother in which she was a passenger and a car driven by Fred Yerxa. The case reaches us on appeal from the direction of a verdict for the defendant at the close of the plaintiff’s case.

Our decision turns on the responsibility of the defendant for the negligence of Yerxa on one or more of these grounds: (1) that the defendant was negligent in permitting and causing the operation of the car by Yerxa; (2) that Yerxa…