Case Title: Shows v. Donnell Trucking Co.

Citation: 631 So. 2d 1010

Docket Number: 1921627

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1994-01-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
631 So. 2d 1010 (1994)
Jack D. SHOWS, as executor of the Estate of Mary E. Shows Moore, deceased
v.
DONNELL TRUCKING COMPANY and Jimmy Glenn Nolin.
1921627.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
January 28, 1994.
William J. Baxley and Randy James of Baxley, Dillard, Dauphin & McKnight, Birmingham, for appellant.
*1011 Charles E. Vercelli, Jr. and Steven A. Higgins of Nix, Holtsford & Vercelli, P.A., Montgomery, for appellees.
INGRAM, Justice.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on April 11, 1991, Mary E. Shows Moore was driving her car in the northbound lane of Troy Highway, a four-lane, divided highway in Montgomery, Alabama. The weather on that evening was clear. For no apparent reason, Moore suddenly veered through the median and into the southbound lane of the highway. She collided with the side of a tractor-trailer truck owned by Donnell Trucking Company and driven by Jimmy Nolin. Moore was killed in the accident. Subsequently, Jack Shows, Moore's brother and executor of her estate, filed a wrongful death action against Donnell Trucking and Nolin, alleging negligence and wantonness. The trial court entered a summary judgment in favor of Donnell Trucking and Nolin on both the negligence count and the wantonness count.
The dispositive issue is whether Shows produced substantial evidence to defeat Donnell Trucking and Nolin's properly supported motion for summary judgment.
A motion for a summary judgment may be granted only when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), A.R.Civ.P.; Southern Guar. Ins. Co. v. First Alabama Bank, 540 So. 2d 732, 734 (Ala.1989). Once the moving party makes a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists, then the burden shifts to the nonmovant to present evidence creating a genuine issue of material fact. Grider v. Grider, 555 So. 2d 104 (Ala.1989). This Court reviews the record in a light most favorable to the nonmovant and must resolve all reasonable doubts against the movant. Wilma Corp. v. Fleming Foods of Alabama, 613 So. 2d 359 (Ala.1993).
Rule 56 is read in conjunction with the "substantial evidence rule," § 12-21-12, Ala. Code 1975, for actions filed after June 11, 1987. See Bass v. SouthTrust Bank of Baldwin County, 538 So. 2d 794, 797-98 (Ala. 1989). In order to defeat a defendant's properly supported motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff must present substantial evidence, i.e., "evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved." West v. Founders Life Assurance Co. of Florida, 547 So. 2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989).
In support of their motion for summary judgment, Donnell Trucking and Nolin submitted numerous documents and presented affidavits from witnesses to the accident. Nolin submitted his own affidavit. Further testimony was submitted from witnesses to the accident, including Jack Claude Tindle and Terrance Martin Hoffman. Tindle viewed the accident from his place of employment, which was located on Troy Highway. Hoffman was driving directly behind the truck when the accident occurred. An affidavit from an investigating police officer was also submitted.
In his affidavit, Nolin stated:
Tindle stated in his affidavit:
Hoffman, who was driving a vehicle directly behind the tractor-trailer truck, testified to the following:
The police officer who investigated the accident stated the following in his affidavit:
In opposition to the summary judgment motion, Shows submitted the results of Nolin's alcohol breath test taken after the accident; it showed a .055% reading. The results were not authenticated, and no witness testified to the accuracy of that reading, so the trial court struck that evidence. Shows also produced portions of Nolin's personnel file from Donnell Trucking in an attempt to show that Nolin had once been intoxicated on the job, specifically once while backing up to a loading dock. However, the documents from Nolin's file did not identify Nolin as the driver who had been intoxicated; further, the incident described in those documents had occurred three months after the accident involving Moore. The trial court struck this evidence also. Shows also submitted the police investigative materials relating to the accident.
Shows argues that the summary judgment was improper because, he claims, Nolin had the "last clear chance" to avoid the accident. See Zaharavich v. Clingerman, 529 So. 2d 978 (Ala.1988).
However, Shows produced no evidence that Nolin had an opportunity to avoid the accident through the exercise of reasonable care, as required by the theory of "subsequent negligence," or "last clear chance." Zaharavich, supra. Nolin testified that he *1013 lost sight of Moore's car as he drove past her and that her car collided with his trailer. The evidence supports Nolin's statement. It appears clear from the evidence presented by Donnell Trucking and Nolin that Nolin could have done nothing to avoid the collision with the vehicle driven by Moore, who, that evidence indicates, swerved across the median and into Nolin's lane for no apparent reason. Simply stated, Donnell Trucking and Nolin made a prima facie showing that Nolin was unable to avoid the accident, and Shows submitted no evidence to the contrary.
Shows further contends that the summary judgment was improper because, he argues, Nolin's breath test and his personnel records indicate that Nolin was acting wantonly at the time of the accident. Again, Shows's argument is without merit. The trial court correctly struck both the test results and the personnel records as inadmissible. Neither the results nor the records were authenticated. As we have noted, Donnell Trucking and Nolin made a prima facie showing that Nolin did nothing to cause the accident and could have done nothing to prevent it. Shows offered no admissible evidence to rebut that showing. Clearly, there is no indication that negligence or wantonness on the part of Nolin caused the accident. See Lynn Strickland Sales & Service, Inc. v. Aero-Lane Fabricators, Inc., 510 So. 2d 142 (Ala.1987).
When a party opposing a properly supported motion for summary judgment offers no substantial evidence to contradict that presented by the movant, the trial court must consider that evidence uncontroverted, with no genuine issue of material fact existing. Voyager Guaranty Ins. Co. v. Brown, 631 So. 2d 848 (Ala.1993). Further, mere conclusory allegations or speculation that fact issues exist will not defeat a summary judgment motion, and bare argument or conjecture does not satisfy the nonmoving party's burden to offer substantial evidence to defeat the motion. Crowne Investments, Inc. v. Bryant, [Ms. 1920619, October 29, 1993] (Ala. 1993).
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, HOUSTON and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.