Monroe

Plaintiff Nellie G. Monroe (wife) appeals from the order granting a summary judgment in favor of her husband Charles H. Monroe (husband) in an action for damages for personal injuries she sustained in an automobile accident. The wife, a passenger, was injured when the vehicle driven by her coowner husband collided with another vehicle. She charges the husband with negligence, causing her injuries.

Based upon the admitted facts of coownership, the express language of Vehicle Code section 17158 and the authority of Schwalbe v. Jones, 16 Cal.3d 514 [ 128 Cal.Rptr. 321 , 546 P.2d 1033 ], the trial court found no triable issue of fact and held the wife was precluded, as a matter of law, from recovery of personal injury damages from her coowner-driver husband when the charge was simple negligence.

Discussion

Vehicle Code section 17158 provides: “No person riding in or occupying a vehicle owned by him and driven by another person with his permission has any right of action for civil damages against the driver of the vehicle or against any other person legally liable for the conduct of the driver on account of personal injury to or the death of the owner during the ride,…