Opinion ID: 2211581
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: submission of contributory negligence issue

Text: Even though our disposition requires that this case be remanded for a new trial and we need not reach all of the errors assigned by Nickell, we nonetheless consider Nickell's assertion that contributory negligence was improperly submitted to the jury, since the issue has recurred once and is likely to recur upon remand. Nickell contends that the district court erred in submitting the issue of contributory negligence to the jury because Russell adduced no evidence which would allow a juror to conclude that his lying down in the road concurred with Russell's negligently failing to stop or turn. We begin our analysis by noting that a plaintiff is contributorily negligent if (1) the plaintiff fails to protect himself or herself from injury, (2) the plaintiff's conduct concurs and cooperates with the defendant's actionable negligence, and (3) the plaintiff's conduct contributes to the plaintiff's injuries as a proximate cause. Baldwin v. City of Omaha, 259 Neb. 1, 607 N.W.2d 841 (2000); Humphrey v. Burlington Northern RR. Co., 251 Neb. 736, 559 N.W.2d 749 (1997). A defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law under the slight-gross comparison of § 25-21,185 for actions accruing before February 8, 1992, if he or she proves that (1) a plaintiff's contributory negligence was more than slight as a matter of law or (2) the defendant's negligence was not gross in comparison to the plaintiff's negligence as a matter of law. See Harrison v. Seagroves, 250 Neb. 495, 549 N.W.2d 644 (1996). However, if reasonable minds might draw different conclusions from the facts adduced at trial, the issues of negligence and contributory negligence are for the jury. Humphrey v. Burlington Northern RR. Co., supra ; Harrison v. Seagroves, supra . We have previously affirmed the district court's directing a verdict in favor of Nickell on the issue of Russell's negligence, Nickell I, and that remains the law of this case. The question presented by Nickell's assignment of error is whether evidence was adduced at trial from which reasonable minds could draw different conclusions as to Nickell's contributory negligence. We conclude that such evidence was adduced and that the issue of Nickell's contributory negligence was properly submitted to the jury. The record before us readily reveals evidence very similar to that relied upon by this court in Nickell I. Nickell testified that he lay down on the side of the road after he became tired of standing. Further, Nickell maintained that while he was concerned about traffic, he was concerned only about traffic from the west, or the opposite direction from which Russell emerged. We said in Nickell I, and we reiterate in this case that [c]ommon sense dictates that generally it is ... negligent to lie down on or beside the road, oblivious to the dangers of traffic. When substantial evidence shows that the plaintiff contributed to the collision, the issue of contributory negligence should be considered by the jury. 247 Neb. at 127, 525 N.W.2d at 212. Nickell, however, asserts that his negligence was only passive, therefore creating a condition, while Russell's negligence was the moving and effective cause of the accident, thereby rendering the latter the sole proximate cause of his injuries. Nickell's argument in this regard misconstrues our proximate cause jurisprudence and is without merit. We explained in Sacco v. Carothers, 253 Neb. 9, 17-18, 567 N.W.2d 299, 306 (1997), that a proximate cause is a cause that produces a result in a natural and continuous sequence, and without which the result would not have occurred. (Emphasis in original.) Accord Baldwin v. City of Omaha, supra . The jury could have reasonably inferred from the evidence at trial that Nickell's voluntarily lying down on the side of the road led to his personal injury in a natural and continuous sequence of events. Of course, Nickell's negligence alone could not have resulted in the injuries he sustained as a result of the accident, as evinced by the district court's instruction to the jury that Russell was negligent as a matter of law. However, Nickell's assertion that Russell's negligence was an efficient intervening cause, breaking the causal connection between Nickell's original negligence and his injury is incorrect; [t]he doctrine that an intervening act cuts off a tort-feasor's liability comes into play only when the intervening cause is not foreseeable. Sacco v. Carothers, 253 Neb. at 15, 567 N.W.2d at 304. As previously explained, Nickell's testimony indicates that he was aware of the risks posed by traffic traveling upon West Princeton Road, yet he lay down along the side of the road anyway. It was sufficiently foreseeable that Nickell's lying on the side of the road could result in his being struck by traffic traveling thereon. To constitute want of due care on Nickell's part, it is not necessary that he should have anticipated the exact harm which occurred; it is sufficient that Nickell knew or should have known that substantial injury was likely to result from his act. See Baldwin v. City of Omaha, 259 Neb. 1, 607 N.W.2d 841 (2000). Thus, sufficient evidence was adduced upon which a jury could have based the conclusion that Nickell's contributory negligence was active at the time of the collision; his contention that the contributory negligence issue should not have been submitted to the jury is without merit. We need not consider Nickell's other assigned errors.