Case Title: Shafer v. Gaylord

Citation: 176 N.W.2d 745

Docket Number: 

State: minnesota

Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Date: 1970-04-17T00:00:00Z

Document:
176 N.W.2d 745 (1970) Patricia SHAFER, by Milton Shafer, her father and natural guardian, and Milton Shafer, individually, Respondents, v. Gary GAYLORD, Appellant. No. 41250. Supreme Court of Minnesota. April 17, 1970. *746 Sullivan, McMillan, Hanft & Hastings, and William P. O'Brien, Duluth, for appellant. O'Leary, Trenti, Berger & Carey, Virginia, for respondents. Heard before KNUTSON, C. J., and MURPHY, OTIS, ROGOSHESKE, and SHERAN, JJ. MURPHY, Justice. This is an appeal from an order of the district court denying a motion for a new trial in a personal injury action. Defendant, Gary Gaylord, contends that the trial court erred in directing a verdict for plaintiffs. He argues that the trial court should have submitted the question of plaintiff Patricia Shafer's contributory negligence to the jury. The following is from the trial court's memorandum in which the facts are succinctly stated: In contending that the trial court erred in directing a verdict for plaintiffs, defendant relies upon overlapping defenses including the rescue doctrine and the emergency doctrine, as well as contributory negligence. He argues that the minor plaintiff's asserted negligence in falling from the truck to the pavement placed him "in the position of a rescuer, and to find him negligent as a matter of law when in the excitement and confusion of the moment he inadvertently moved the vehicle in a direction not intended" is to charge him with responsibility for "conditions and circumstances * * * which * * * were of the plaintiff's own making;" and if in the emergency thus created plaintiff was injured, the causal responsibility therefor was a question of fact for the jury to decide. 1. We cannot agree that the rescue doctrine, which has been developed for the benefit of the injured rescuer, is of aid to defendant here. The doctrine makes the original wrongdoer whose negligent conduct threatens harm to another liable to the rescuer who is injured as a result of an attempt to avoid such threatened harm. National Dairy Products Corp. v. Freschi (Mo.) 393 S.W.2d 48; McConnell v. Pic-Walsh Freight Co. (Mo. App.) 432 S.W.2d 292; Kelley v. Alexander (Tex.Civ.App.) 392 S.W.2d 790; Seipel v. Sevek, 53 N.J.Super. 151, 146 A.2d 705; Walsh v. West Coast Coal Mines, Inc., 31 Wash. 2d 396, 197 P.2d 233; Hawkins v. Palmer, 29 Wash. 2d 570, 188 P.2d 121. We find no way in which that doctrine has application to the facts in this case. 2. Nor do we think that the emergency rule aids defendant. That rule, as expressed in numerous decisions, provides that when an operator of a motor vehicle is suddenly confronted with an emergency through the negligence of another and not through his own negligence and is compelled to act instantly to avoid a collision or injury, he is not guilty of negligence if he makes such a choice as a person of ordinary prudence placed in such a position might make, even though he does not make the wisest choice. The law does not demand that accuracy of judgment which would be expected under other circumstances, and in such cases, even though he makes a mistake, he will not be deemed to have been guilty of negligence or contributory negligence unless his choice of action is that which no ordinary prudent person would have taken under similar circumstances. Schmitt v. Emery, 211 Minn. 547, 2 N.W.2d 413, 139 A.L.R. 1242; 7 Am.Jur.2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic, § 359; 8B *748 Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) § 4167b(17); Prosser, Torts (3 ed.) § 33. We agree with the trial court that the facts in this case deprive defendant of the benefit of the emergency rule. Before defendant committed the negligent act which produced the injury, he had ample opportunity for thought and reflection. It cannot be fairly said that defendant was in a position where he had to make a speedy decision without an opportunity to appraise the course of action he should take. 3. Defendant next contends that plaintiff's alleged negligence in falling from the truck, and the movement of the wheel over her leg, were all circumstances in a chain of jural causes constituting one transaction and that defendant's act of operating the truck in the wrong direction could not be an intervening act which would break the sequence of events. He argues that since there was a question of fact as to the issue of proximate cause and contributory negligence the issue should be left for the jury to decide. The trial court was of the view that two episodes took place, the first being the girl's fall, terminating in the predicament where her leg was caught or pinched by the truck tire. Defendant's examination of her predicament and the volitional act of operating the truck over her leg the trial court considered as a second episode which constituted an intervening, superseding cause. The following are the views of the trial court as expressed in his memorandum: We think the trial court's views are supported by our authorities. Moores v. N. P. Ry. Co. 108 Minn. 100, 121 N.W. 392; Robinson v. Butler, 226 Minn. 491, 33 N.W.2d 821, 4 A.L.R.2d 143; Sanders v. Gilbertson, 224 Minn. 546, 29 N.W.2d 357; Barrett v. Nash Finch Co., 228 Minn. 156, 36 N.W.2d 526; Tandeski v. Barnard, 265 Minn. 339, 121 N.W.2d 708; 13B Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) § 7005. In the more recent case of Kroeger v. Lee, 270 Minn. 75, 78, 132 N.W.2d 727, 729, we pointed out that an intervening, superseding cause is one having the following elements: Assuming that the girl's conduct in permitting herself to fall through the truck door was negligent, it cannot be fairly said under the circumstances that the operation of the truck over her leg followed as a natural and proximate result of that negligence. *749 We think that the trial court was correct in determining that the act of driving the truck over the girl's leg was an independent, volitional act which caused the injury. 4. Defendant next complains that the court erred in its instructions to the jury on the subject of damages. It appears that defendant feels the court should have instructed the jury to allocate damages between separate injuries resulting from the pinching of the soft tissue and the crushing of the bones by the weight of the truck. In disposing of this contention, the trial court made the following observation in his memorandum: We may assume that in making its determination as to damages the jury was aware of the minimal damages caused by the pinching of the soft tissue and, by their verdict, attempted to compensate for the real injury which resulted from the weight of the truck on plaintiff's leg. 5. In discussing the claim of defendant that the trial court erred in directing a verdict and should have permitted the jury to pass upon questions of contributory negligence and proximate cause, we are controlled by those authorities which lay down the rules which govern such a determination by the trial court. The rule has been stated in various ways. Lee v. Smith, 253 Minn. 401, 92 N.W.2d 117; Erickson v. Strickler, 252 Minn. 351, 90 N.W.2d 232; Majerus v. Guelsow, 262 Minn. 1, 113 N.W.2d 450; Simon v. Carroll, 241 Minn. 211, 62 N.W.2d 822; and 19 Dunnell, Dig. (3 ed.) §§ 9764, 9770a, 9843. In numerous cases we have said that a verdict may be directed only in those unequivocal cases where it clearly appears to the court on trial that it would be its manifest duty to set aside a contrary verdict as not justified by the evidence or as contrary to the law applicable in the case. Kolatz v. Kelly, 244 Minn. 163, 69 N.W.2d 649. In considering the application of this rule, it is of importance to note that the facts are not in dispute. Under the circumstances we cannot say that the court was wrong in being of the view that he would have been required to set aside a verdict for defendant in this case. Affirmed.