Opinion ID: 1320200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Res Ipsa Loquitur Instructions

Text: Appellants requested two res ipsa loquitur instructions which were properly rejected by the trial court. As this court stated in Hospital Ass'n v. Gaffney, 64 Nev. 225, 234-35, 180 P.2d 594, 599 (1947), the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is an exception to the general rule that negligence is not to be presumed, but must be affirmatively proved, and [t]he inference which the doctrine permits is grounded upon the fact that the chief evidence of the true cause, whether culpable or innocent, is practically accessible to the defendant but inaccessible to the injured person. If the circumstances do not suggest or indicate superior knowledge or opportunity for explanation on the part of the party charged, or if the plaintiff himself has equal or superior means of information, the doctrine will not apply. We find nothing in the circumstances of this case, other than the fact that the decedent was unavailable to testify, which would justify bringing the doctrine into play in this case. Nondefendant observers were present at every point in the events leading to the death of the decedent, and were fully available to testify. Since we are unwilling to extend the doctrine so as to apply it to virtually every wrongful death action, we therefore uphold the trial court's determination in this instance.