Schwalbe V. Jones

In Brown v. Merlo (1973) 8 Cal. 3d 855 [106 Cal. Rptr. 388, 506 P.2d 212, 66 A.L.R.3d 505], we held that former section 17158 of the Vehicle Code, the so-called "guest statute," was violative of the equal protection guarantees of the United States and California Constitutions insofar as it precluded recovery by a nonowner "guest" against the driver or one legally liable for the conduct of the driver on account of personal injury to or death of the guest proximately resulting from the simple negligence of the driver. We expressly declined at that time to intimate an opinion as to the validity of the remaining portion of the statute, dealing with injury to, or death of, an owner riding as a passenger in his own vehicle.*fn1 Today we squarely confront the latter issue.