Opinion ID: 865338
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the trial court erred in refusing a

Text: PEREMPTORY INSTRUCTION TO THE PLAINTIFF. ¶13. The Court of Appeals found that the trial court erred in not granting a peremptory instruction (or a directed verdict) as to liability against Slayden and in favor of Tentoni, and thus remanded this case to the trial court for a new trial “to assess the proper damages.” Tentoni, 2006 Miss. App. 914, -7 (¶10). ¶14. We review a trial court’s refusal to grant a peremptory instruction de novo, giving the non-moving party the benefit of all reasonable inferences which may be drawn from the evidence. “If the Court finds that the evidence favorable to the non-moving party and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom present a question for the jury,” the peremptory instruction should not be granted. Windmon v. Marshall, 926 So. 2d 867, 872 (Miss. 2006) (quoting Entergy Mississippi, Inc. v. Bolden, 854 So. 2d 1051, 1055 (Miss. 2003)). “Additionally, this Court has held that a trial court should submit an issue to the jury only if 8 the evidence creates a question of fact concerning which reasonable jurors could disagree.” Id. ¶15. During the jury instruction conference at the conclusion of the presentation of the evidence, Tentoni, through counsel, submitted jury instruction P-12, which was given by the trial judge and designated as the trial court’s Instruction No. 10. This instruction will be set out verbatim later in this discussion, but suffice it to state here that this instruction was an “elements” instruction informing the jury that if the jury found certain facts to exist, including a violation of one or more of the rules of the road (statutes) by Slayden, then Slayden was negligent, and if the jury further found that such negligence was the proximate cause or a proximate contributing cause of the accident and resulting injuries suffered by Tentoni and her three children, then the jury must return a verdict in favor of Tentoni and her children and against Slayden. However, Tentoni argues that she was entitled to a peremptory instruction because she presented evidence which proved each and every element set out in Instruction No. 10 (and on which reasonable jurors could not disagree), and that she also established that Slayden was negligent as a matter of law. ¶16. Tentoni “bears the burden of producing evidence sufficient to establish the existence of the conventional tort elements of duty, breach, proximate causation, and damages.” Simpson v. Boyd, 880 So. 2d 1047, 1050 (Miss. 2004) (citing Palmer v. Anderson Infirmary Benevolent Ass’n, 656 So. 2d 790, 794 (Miss. 1995)). Tentoni argues that Slayden breached 9 his duty by violating four specific statutes. 10 Furthermore, Tentoni argues that Slayden’s medical expert, Dr. Lonson, admitted that at least some of the medical expenses incurred by Tentoni and her children were a result of the subject accident and were “reasonable and necessary” for the treatment of the injuries suffered. ¶17. Tentoni also argues that the proximate cause of Tentoni’s car leaving the roadway was clear and uncontradicted, as Slayden testified that he hit the Suzuki twice, which “shot her off to the right.” However, Tentoni’s own testimony contradicts this argument, as she testified that there was a third impact. Tentoni testified, inter alia, that Slayden moved over into her lane of travel and collided twice with her vehicle, with the second impact forcing her off the road, and as she was attempting to put her vehicle into park, another impact forced her vehicle down the embankment over logs and debris before colliding with a pine tree. While there is disputed testimony as to whether there were two or three impacts, we find this disputed evidence to be of no moment in today’s case. Extensive evidence was before the jury as to the conduct of the parties and the circumstances with which they were confronted as the parties’ vehicles and the eighteen-wheeler were southbound on I-55. It was for a properly-instructed jury to determine the traditional tort issues of duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. ¶18. Unquestionably, the jury heard extensive testimony concerning the injuries and damages allegedly suffered by Tentoni and her three children as a result of this accident. 10 These statutes are Miss. Code Ann. §§ 63-3-505, 63-3-603, 63-3-609, and 63-3-611 (Rev. 2004). 10 However, the extent of these damages was hotly contested by Slayden. The jury learned early on during the cross-examination of Tentoni by Slayden’s counsel that after the subject accident of January 1, 1999, Tentoni was involved in not one – not two – not three – not four – but five separate accidents, some of which resulted in further injuries to Tentoni. ¶19. We now return to the jury instructions, again remembering that Tentoni asserts that she was entitled to a peremptory instruction on both negligence and liability. We now set out verbatim the previously-mentioned jury instruction P-12, submitted by Tentoni’s counsel, which was given by the trial judge and designated as the trial court’s Instruction No. 10. The Court instructs the jury that the law of the State of Mississippi requires a driver of a motor vehicle to drive at a reasonable rate of speed for the conditions then and there existing; to keep and maintain a proper lookout for other vehicles using the roadway; and to maintain his or her vehicle under free and reasonable control and to drive in his lane of travel and to not change lanes until and unless he can do so safely; and if you believe from a preponderance of the evidence that Warren W. Slayden, while traveling south on Interstate 55 in the left hand lane at a time when the roadway was wet, either drove his vehicle at a greater rate of speed than was reasonable under the conditions then and there existing, and/or that he failed to keep and maintain a proper lookout for other vehicles using the roadway, and/or that he failed to maintain his vehicle under free and reasonable control and/or that he failed to stay in his lane of travel and moved over into plaintiff’s lane of travel and that as a result of the aforesaid, he lost control of his vehicle and came over into plaintiff’s lane of travel and collided with the plaintiff, then he is guilty of negligence, and if you further believe from a preponderance of the evidence that such negligence, if any, was the proximate cause or a proximate contributing cause of the accident in question and the injuries suffered by Jackie Tentoni, Melanie Tentoni, Jonathan Tentoni, and Phillip Tentoni, if any, then you should find for the plaintiffs and against the defendant, Warren W. Slayden. (Emphasis added). 11 ¶20. In considering Instruction No. 10, the jury had to find by a preponderance of the evidence that Slayden breached his duty to Tentoni and her children and that this breach of duty was the proximate cause or a proximate contributing cause of the accident and any injuries suffered by the Tentonis. Additionally, Slayden, through counsel, submitted jury instruction D-12A, to which Tentoni’s counsel had no objection; therefore, the trial judge gave jury instruction D-12A and designated it as the trial court’s Instruction No. 8. This instruction stated: The charge laid by the Plaintiffs against Mr. Slayden is one of negligence. You cannot presume that Mr. Slayden was negligent. The Plaintiffs may recover on the charge of negligence against Mr. Slayden only if it is sustained by a preponderance or greater weight of the credible evidence, and it is not the duty of Mr. Slayden to disprove the charge, but, rather, the law casts the burden of proof upon the Plaintiffs; and such charge of negligence must be sustained by a preponderance of the credible evidence. Therefore, if the Plaintiffs have failed to prove that Mr. Slayden acted unreasonably, then your verdict must be in his favor. Further, even if you find that Mr. Slayden failed to act reasonably, your verdict must be in his favor unless the Plaintiffs prove that his failure caused the accident. In other words, if you conclude that the accident was unavoidable in any event, then you must return a verdict in Mr. Slayden’s favor. (Emphasis added). Obviously, it can reasonably be inferred from the evidence, the jury instructions given, and the jury verdict, that the jury deemed Slayden’s hydroplaning to have been unavoidable on his part, thus exonerating him of all liability for any resulting injuries allegedly suffered by Tentoni and her children, notwithstanding the first and second impacts which Slayden admitted had occurred.11 Also, on this point, the investigating officer, state 11 As Slayden testified at trial, when he was in the left lane alongside Tentoni after Tentoni and Slayden had successfully passed the eighteen-wheeler, Slayden was in essence 12 trooper Billy McClurg, testified that he gave no citation as a result of this accident “due to the rain, I mean this happens. Anytime it rains this happens on Interstate 55.” ¶21. Returning to the Court of Appeals’ opinion in the case sub judice, we respectfully disagree with that court’s application of Barkley to this case. We find, as did Judge Southwick, that Barkley “very much is limited to its facts, in part because there is so little from which the measure of neglected care can be discerned.” Tentoni, 2006 Miss. App. LEXIS 914,  (¶26). In Barkley, the plaintiff was driving on two-lane Highway 98, being followed by the defendant driver of an eighteen-wheeler tractor-trailer rig. As the truck driver attempted to pass the plaintiff on a stretch of Highway 98 which had recently been asphalted, he lost control of his truck, and even though there was no contact between the two vehicles, the defendant’s actions forced the plaintiff off the highway, causing the accident and resulting injuries. However, unlike today’s case, in Barkley, by the time of the accident, both drivers had passed a road sign cautioning travelers that this portion of the highway “was slippery when wet.” Barkley, 450 So. 2d at 417. As we noted earlier, Judge Southwick, in preparing his dissent in today’s case, was not satisfied with a mere study of our opinion in Barkley, so he likewise retrieved and studied this Court’s record in Barkley. Tentoni, 2006 Miss. App. LEXIS 914, -13 (¶20) (Southwick, J. dissenting). We agree with Judge confronted with a dilemma – increase his speed (above what he thought was a safe speed in rainy conditions) in order to pass Tentoni; decrease his speed and fall in behind the eighteenwheeler causing his vehicle (windshield) to be heavily sprayed with rain/water by the eighteen-wheeler; or, maintain the same speed and simply continue traveling in the left lane alongside Tentoni’s vehicle, which was in the right lane. 13 Southwick that this Court’s decision in Barkley “indicate[d] that it was the slippery and wet new asphalt . . . a condition for which a warning sign had been placed and seen by the defendant, that caused the defendant to lose control.” Id. at (¶20). Likewise, contrary to the facts of Barkley, in which the defendant was suddenly confronted with a warning sign and wet new asphalt, a condition that deserved immediate remedial action, in today’s case, Slayden had been engaged in similar conduct under similar conditions for possibly fifty or sixty miles. Judge Southwick’s independent research also revealed that “[n]o Supreme Court opinion in the over-twenty years since Barkley was decided applied it to find that someone was negligent as a matter of law.” Id. at , ¶23. This poignant fact goes not unnoticed by us, and we see no reason to apply Barkley to this record to reverse the trial judge’s denial of Tentoni’s peremptory instruction. ¶22. Shields v. Easterling, 676 So. 2d 293 (Miss. 1996), involved a one-vehicle accident in which a truck pulling a U-Haul trailer hit a patch of ice on a bridge, causing the truck momentarily to slide. The truck driver regained control and reduced his speed; however, a few miles down the road the truck hit another patch of ice, causing the truck and trailer to jackknife and then flip, resulting in injuries to one of the passengers. Likewise in Shields, a case resulting in a jury verdict for the defendant, this Court found that the trial court properly denied the plaintiff’s peremptory instruction since the record established that it was a jury question as to whether the truck driver’s speed caused the accident. Id. at 295. ¶23. The Court of Appeals, in the case sub judice, found Shields to be distinguishable, stating that the truck driver in that case “recognized that the bridges were icing over and took 14 precautionary measures. Since he had a minor incident, he slowed down. It was a jury question as to whether it was reasonable for him to foresee that he would nevertheless have a major incident at the slower speed he chose. In the case sub judice, however, Slayden recognized the danger but did not slow his speed.” Tentoni, 2006 Miss. App. LEXIS 914,  (¶9). The “danger” to which the Court of Appeals was referring was “the danger[] of hydroplaning.” Id. at  (¶7). However, the danger of hydroplaning always is present for all motorists traveling in the rain on a heavily-traveled highway such as Interstate 55. In today’s case, the record reveals that Slayden may have been trailing Tentoni for as many as fifty to sixty miles, presumably at a fairly constant rate of speed, without incident. Under the circumstances then and there existing, as revealed in the record, we know of no reason for Slayden to believe he suddenly would hydroplane. Given the other options of either speeding up to what he believed to be an unsafe speed in order to pass Tentoni, or dropping back behind the eighteen-wheeler and enduring the heavy spray generated by the tractortrailer rig, Slayden’s decision to maintain the status quo and remain beside Tentoni in the left-hand, south-bound lane of Interstate 55 was not an unreasonable act, as obviously found by the jury in its verdict.12 Thus, we find Shields to be applicable to our case today. ¶24. Likewise, in Shields, we approved an “unavoidable accident” jury instruction similar to Jury Instruction No. 8 (submitted as instruction no. D-12A) which the trial judge granted 12 Since the Court of Appeals opined Slayden should have reduced his speed, we are left with the unanswered question of how much Slayden should have reduced his speed to avoid hydroplaning. 15 in today’s case. Shields, 676 So. 2d at 296. Also in Shields, this Court cited our prior decision in McCollum v. Randolph, 220 So. 2d 310, 312 (Miss. 1969). In McCollum, we stated: Appellants next complain of a jury instruction granted at appellee’s request which is referred to in the brief as an “unavoidable accident” instruction. A reading of this instruction reveals that it correctly informs the jury that its verdict should be for the defendant if it should find from the evidence that the defendant had been guilty of no negligence which had proximately caused or proximately contributed to the injury and death of [decedent]. The instruction concludes by saying that in such an event (a factual finding by the jury that no negligence on defendant’s part had proximately caused or contributed to the injury and death) the occurrence, insofar as the defendant was concerned, was an unavoidable accident for which he was not liable. We do not think the instruction incorrectly stated the applicable law nor that it was capable of misleading the jury, especially when read with the rather liberal instructions granted appellants which submitted to the jury all of the theories of negligence relied upon for recovery. Id. at 312. ¶25. Finally, being firmly convinced, for the reasons stated, that the trial judge properly allowed the jury to resolve the issues of negligence and liability, based on the evidence before the jury and the applicable law, and remembering always, as the jury was instructed in this case, that the jury had the “prerogative to determine what weight and what credibility will be assigned the testimony and supporting evidence of each witness in this case,” (Instruction No. 1 [C-1]), we are again reminded of what this Court stated in Culbreath v. Johnson, 427 So. 2d 705, 708 (Miss. 1983). Even though these words were directed toward the chancellor, sitting as the fact-finder without a jury, they certainly are applicable to any and all fact-finders, whether judge or jury: 16 [As to] the matter of the credibility of the testimony of [the witnesses], [t]he trial judge saw these witnesses testify. Not only did he have the benefit of their words, he alone among the judiciary observed their manner and demeanor. He was there on the scene. He smelled the smoke of battle. He sensed the interpersonal dynamics between the lawyers and the witnesses and himself. These are indispensable.” Id. at 708. Likewise, the jury in our case today had the opportunity to hear the testimony of the various witnesses, and also to observe their demeanor. This was certainly true as to Warren Slayden; and this was certainly true as to Jackie Tentoni. ¶26. For all these reasons, we find that the trial judge did not err in denying the plaintiff’s peremptory instruction on the issues of negligence and liability. We thus find no merit in this issue.