Floyd T. Stanturf v. Donald Sipes

By his fourth amended petition plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages in an amount exceeding $400,000. The trial
court entered summary judgment for defendants and plaintiff has appealed. We shall set forth a brief statement of the events and circumstances giving rise to plaintiff's claim for damages which we
have determined from a consideration of the allegations of the petition, and from various depositions and exhibits before
the trial court. After visiting with his children in Trenton, Missouri, on February 26, 1962, plaintiff started to drive back
to Mercer, Missouri, a distance of approximately thirty miles. The temperature was in the neighborhood of zero degrees. When
plaintiff had traveled about two miles he developed a "terrible headache" and "started blacking out." He stated in his deposition
that he had been taking some medicine and that this may have been the cause of his condition. He stopped his automobile, but
apparently left the lights on. During the night he regained consciousness but could not start his automobile because the battery
had run down. He remained in the automobile until the next morning when he obtained transportation on a school bus to Trenton,
and he went to the home of his eldest daughter. She called Dr. Oliver Duffy who determined that plaintiff's feet had been
frozen. He administered some treatment and told plaintiff that he would "have to have medical treatment," and that he would
try to get him admitted to the Wright Memorial Hospital located at Trenton. The next morning Dr. Duffy returned and told plaintiff
that he could not get him admitted to the hospital unless plaintiff paid in advance a $25 admittance fee which plaintiff did
not have.