Bertling v. Oxweld Acetylene Co., 193 Ill. App. 7 (1915)

April 22, 1915 · Illinois Appellate Court · Gen. No. 20,175
193 Ill. App. 7

A. E. Bertling, Defendant in Error, v. Oxweld Acetylene Company, Plaintiff in Error.

Gen. No. 20,175.

(Not to be reported in full.)

Error to the Municipal Court of Chicago; the Hon. John J. Rooney, Judge, presiding.

Heard in the Branch Appellate Court at the March term, 1914.

Reversed and remanded.

Opinion filed April 22, 1915.

Statement of the Case.

The plaintiff was allowed to testify over the objection of the defendant that after the collision the chauffeur in charge of defendant’s automobile got out *8of his automobile and walked to where the plaintiff was standing by his own machine and said: “My steering knuckle broke and I couldn’t help it; send the bill to the Oxweld Company; I called the attention of my boss to the condition of the steering knuckle, and that it was defective; send in your bill to the Oxweld Company and they will fix it up all right.”

Abstract of the Decision.

Evidence, § 80 * —when declaration Toy employee not part of res gestw. Statement by chauffeur in charge of automobile colliding with another, attributing the collision to the defective condition of his steering knuckle, made after the collision and while plaintiff was standing beside his machine, held not part of the res gestee.

Upon a trial without a jury, plaintiff recovered judgment for $112.50, from which defendant brings error.

Sears, Meagher & Whitney, for plaintiff in error; Edwin Hedrick, Jr. and John W. McCarthy, of counsel.

George H. Fenn and William M. Lawton, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Scanlan

delivered the opinion of the court.