Bullock v. Dahlstrom

HOOD, Associate Judge. Plaintiff's automobile and defendant's taxicab were in a collision on Washington Circle. There is no
question that plaintiff's car was being operated in a proper manner and that the taxicab, which was proceeding in the wrong
direction on the circle, was being operated in a negligent manner. However, at the time of the collision defendant was not
in the taxicab and it was then being operated by a female Marine corporal. Her possession of the taxicab is explained by the
following facts found by the trial Judge. The corporal had entered defendant's taxicab as a passenger in Bethesda, Maryland, for the purpose of being taken to the
Greyhound bus terminal in Washington. Sometime before reaching the destination the passenger asked defendant for a cigarette
and he, having none, stated that he wished to stop and make a telephone call and at the same time would buy cigarettes for
her. Defendant stopped in front of a store on Twenty-first Street, a few blocks from Washington Circle, went into the store,
made his telephone call, purchased the cigarettes, and on returning to the street found that his taxicab was gone. He had
left the passenger in the cab and the key in the ignition; and, in his absence, she had driven the cab away and continued
driving it until the collision at the circle. The trial court expressly found that there had been no conversation between
the defendant and the passenger concerning her driving the taxicab and that he did not give her permission to drive it. On
these facts the trial court made a finding and entered judgment for the plaintiff.