Opinion ID: 2467395
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Directed verdict or judgment n.o.v.

Text: In reviewing a court's refusal to direct a verdict or grant judgment n.o.v. in favor of a defendant, the evidence should be viewed most favorably to the position of the plaintiff and the verdict, recognizing that it would have been error to have directed a verdict or granted judgment n.o.v. if the evidence was such that fair-minded persons could have drawn different conclusions. Butler Mfg. Co. v. Hughes, 292 Ark. 198, 729 S.W.2d 142 (1987); Ferrell v. Whittington, 271 Ark. 750, 610 S.W.2d 572 (1981). From the testimony the jury could have concluded that Ray Dawson, Dewey Fulton's employer, sent another employee to Fulton to tell him to unload a dump trailer filled with gravel. Fulton protested that it would be too dangerous to unload the trailer at the current temperature, which was 16° because the gravel would be frozen and likely to unload unevenly, causing the trailer to overturn. Fulton attempted to perform the task as he knew Dawson's temper to be such that if he refused he would be fired. Fulton had obtained the load of gravel in Little Rock. The tractor pulling the trailer had become disabled on the way back to Marianna, which resulted in the gravel sitting unprotected for a number of days, absorbing precipitation which added to the moisture present in the gravel when it was loaded. Dawson knew the danger in raising one end of a 32-foot trailer under what he referred to as strange conditions. Fulton knew the danger too, because he had turned the same trailer over previously. When he arrived at the scene where the trailer was parked, Fulton operated the dump controls which were located on the outside of the tractor. He raised the trailer once, and it did not unload. Other employees told him that as he had lowered it the gravel broke loose, so he tried again, and the trailer turned over. Fulton was thrown some twenty feet from the cab and fractured his pelvis, pubic bones, and a portion of his sacrum or tailbone. He also sustained a concussion and remained hospitalized from February 6 until February 24. At an April 26 follow-up visit, X-rays revealed a painful separation fracture of two bones in his wrist which led to surgery on August 3 to fuse his wrist. As a direct result of the immobilization of the wrist following surgery Fulton's shoulder became frozen. As treatment for this painful condition he was anesthetized and manipulation of the shoulder was performed. Also as a result of the injury of February 6 Fulton developed pulmonary emboli (blood clots) which led to additional hospitalization and treatment. The negligence alleged against the appellants is that Dawson required Fulton to perform a dangerous act under conditions he knew to be too hazardous, and that the equipment supplied to Fulton by Dawson and Diamond Woods, Inc., was faulty and known to be so by Dawson. The jury could reasonably have concluded it was negligence for Dawson to have sent Fulton to dump gravel from a 32-foot trailer in 16° weather when it was likely that the gravel was frozen and stuck together in a manner so as not to unload evenly. Likewise, the jury could have concluded it was negligence to have supplied defective equipment. There was testimony from Doyle Wheeler, who was qualified as an expert trucker, to the effect that a trailer which had previously turned over, as had the one in question, would undoubtedly be bent or twisted. That testimony was augmented by evidence that after one such upset, the trailer was placed by the appellants over a ditch in an attempt to mash the kink out of it with a front end loader. It was the witness's conclusion that even a trailer which was twisted only slightly would tend to expel its load unevenly and thus tend to overturn. Additionally, the jury could have concluded that the lever operated to raise the trailer was defective in that it was necessary to hold it continuously while unloading to prevent the trailer from coming down. There was evidence from which the jury could have concluded that the appellants were not negligent, but we need not discuss it because we find the evidence we have recited was sufficient to support the jury's finding. Much of the argument of the appellants is devoted to pointing out Fulton's awareness of the danger. We no longer apply the assumption of risk doctrine, but permit the jury to compare negligence pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 16-64-122 (1987). W.M. Bashlin Co. v. Smith, 277 Ark. 406, 643 S.W.2d 526 (1982). We find no error.