Broecker

On the evening of December 19, 1931, the plaintiff was a passenger in a taxicab owned by the California Cab Company and driven by one of the persons constituting that company. As this taxicab was proceeding along Park Boulevard in the city of San Diego, a Cadillac rent car owned by the defendant Smith and driven by the defendant Bruce, and carrying two passengers for hire, bumped into the taxicab from the rear, causing injuries to the plaintiff. In this action which followed the owners and driver of the taxicab and the owner and driver of the rent car were jointly charged with negligence. The case was tried by the court without a jury and judgment rendered against Smith and Bruce, the owner and driver respectively of the rent car. From this judgment the defendant Smith alone has appealed.

The first point raised is that the respondent, through his then attorney, had compromised and settled his claim against those defendants who were owners of the taxicab and thereby released the appellant from liability. With respect to this matter the record presents an unusual situation requiring a rather lengthy recital of the facts. When the case came on for trial on November 25, 1932, the…