## Facts

- Jeanette Cohen rode as a nonpaying guest in an automobile driven by Joseph A. Petty; Petty’s wife sat in front and Cohen and her sister sat in back.
- During a recreational drive outside Washington, D.C., the car suddenly swerved off the road, struck a culvert abutment, and hit an embankment, ejecting Cohen and her sister and injuring Cohen.
- Cohen alleged Petty negligently operated the car, including driving at a reckless and excessive speed and losing control.
- Cohen and her sister estimated the car’s speed at roughly 35–45 miles per hour.
- Immediately before the crash, Cohen heard Petty say he felt sick and then heard Petty’s wife react with alarm; the car left the roadway moments later.
- Petty and his wife testified, without contradiction, that Petty unexpectedly fainted at the wheel, had never had a similar episode, and had no warning or reason to anticipate it.
- The trial court directed a verdict for Petty after the evidence, concluding Cohen had not shown actionable negligence.

## Issues

1. Whether a driver is negligent for injuries to a guest passenger when the driver loses control due to a sudden illness that was not reasonably foreseeable.
2. Whether the trial court properly directed a verdict for the driver where the evidence of sudden, unanticipated incapacitation was uncontroverted.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the directed verdict for Petty.
- It held that a driver who is suddenly stricken by an illness he has no reason to anticipate, and which makes control impossible, is not chargeable with negligence.
- It concluded that, on this record, no reasonable jury could find actionable negligence because the undisputed cause of the loss of control was unforeseeable incapacitation.

## Legal Principles

- Negligence requires proof of actionable fault; the plaintiff bears the burden to present evidence from which a jury may reasonably find a breach of reasonable care.
- A sudden, unforeseeable physical incapacitation that renders a driver unable to control the vehicle excuses liability when the driver had no reason to anticipate the episode.
- If the evidence establishes unforeseeable incapacitation as the cause of the accident and there is no evidence of prior notice or warning signs, the case may be removed from the jury by directed verdict.
- Foreseeability is central: liability may arise if the driver knew or should have known of a condition creating a risk of sudden incapacitation before choosing to drive.

## Conclusion

The court held that Petty was not negligent as a matter of law because the uncontroverted evidence showed he fainted without warning and without reason to anticipate the episode, making a directed verdict proper and barring recovery by his guest passenger.


Cohen v. Petty, 65 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1933)