Opinion ID: 1766554
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Long's Agreement to Cooperate and Testify

Text: ¶ 18. Long's agreement to cooperate and testify is relevant to his credibility as a witness and may properly be inquired into on cross-examination by defense counsel. During the trial, defense counsel, on cross-examination of Long, admitted into evidence the settlement agreement, which contained Long's agreement to cooperate with the Hoods and testify at trial. However, he questioned Long about only the existence of the settlement and the amount of the settlement. He did not ask Long about the agreement to cooperate and testify, presumably because there was no need toHoods' attorney had already informed the jury of the agreement, once during voir dire and again on direct examination of Long. On remand, defense counsel is entitled to cross-examine Long regarding his agreement to cooperate and testify.
¶ 19. The plaintiffs requested and were granted instruction P-7H that instructed the jury that defendant John Payne's violations of the posted traffic laws on the exit ramp constituted negligence as a matter of law. The aforementioned instruction also stated that [i]f you find that John Payne's negligence and failure to comply with this regulation was the sole proximate cause or proximate contributing cause of the Plaintiff's Doris Hood's injury, then your verdict shall be for the Plaintiff, Doris Hood. ¶ 20. The trial court also granted defendants' instruction DP-19 and defendants' unnumbered instruction. Instruction DP-19 stated: The Court instructs the jury that if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that John Payne, as he reached the end of the exit ramp, increased his speed in the acceleration lane until reaching cruising speed, yielded to the approaching vehicle of John Long, and gave a proper signal to indicate that he intended to merge into the main flow of traffic, then John Payne adhered to the standard of care for a reasonable and prudent driver under the circumstances and your verdict should be for the Defendants, John Payne and Massengil Trucking Service, Inc. (emphasis added). The unnumbered instruction read as follows: The Court instructs the jury that Highway 45 in this instance was a favored roadway and John Payne had a duty to yield the right-of-way to John Long's vehicle as it traveled on Highway 45 since it was approaching so closely on said highway as to constitute an immediate hazard. If you find from a preponderance of evidence that (1) John Payne's vehicle, prior to and during the time of the subject accident, at no time entered the outside (easternmost) lane on Highway 45 and (2) that John Payne otherwise made no overt action which would have indicated to a reasonable driver on Highway 45 that said driver was about to be deprived of his privilege of the immediate use of the highway, then John Payne yielded the right of way and your verdict should be for the defendants, John Payne and Massengil Trucking Service, Inc. (emphasis added). ¶ 21. The plaintiffs argue that the aforementioned three jury instructions are conflicting and confusing. Specifically, they contend: [s]uch instructions are antagonistic to one another and are simply incapable of being read in harmony for they tell the jury that they must find one thing while, at the same time, telling them that they may find a totally inapposite conclusion. Put another way, a person can not [sic] be negligent and not negligent at the same time while engaging in the same activity. This Court has clearly articulated the standard we are to follow when assessing whether there has been a submission of legally erroneous instruction: [O]n appellate review, we do not isolate the individual instruction attacked, but rather we read all of the instructions as a whole. Defects in [a] specific instruction do not require reversal where all instructions taken as a whole fairly although not perfectlyannounce the applicable primary rules of law ... Where it may be fairly charged that one or more instructions may have been confusingly worded, we should not reverse if other instructions clear up the confusing points ... On the other hand, where we find two or more instructions in hopeless and substantive conflict with each other, we often reverse. Strickland v. Rossini, 589 So.2d 1268, 1273 (Miss.1991) (quoting Payne v. Rain Forest Nurseries, Inc., 540 So.2d 35, 40-41 (Miss. 1989)). ¶ 22. Clearly, instruction P 7H should not have been given. No accident occurred on the exit ramp, and Payne's exceeding the ramp speed per se could not cause Hood's injury as a matter of law. Furthermore, even assuming instruction P-7H was warranted, the instructions as a whole are in hopeless and substantive conflict with each other. Instruction P-7H informed the jury that Payne's violations of the speed limit constituted negligence as a matter of law, while instruction DP-19 informed the jury that if Payne accelerated to cruising speed, yielded to Long, and turned on his signal, then he was not negligent. The unnumbered instruction informed the jury that it could find Payne had not breached his duty to yield. Stated simply, the jury was instructed that it must find Payne negligent and, at the same time, that it could find that Payne was not negligent. These instructions are incapable of being read in harmony. ¶ 23. In Elam v. Pilcher, 552 So.2d 814 (Miss. 1989), the trial court submitted to the jury the question of the defendant's negligence, while at the same time instructing the jury that the defendant was negligent as a matter of law. This Court held that this was reversible error. Id. at 817. Likewise, we cannot say that the conflict that existed in the instructions did not prejudice Smith. It cannot be determined from the verdict of the jury, which found no liability on the part of Payne, whether the jury disregarded instruction P-7H. It is possible that the jury considered instruction P-7H and still determined causation to be lacking. ¶ 24. This Court finds that the verdict was the result of an improperly instructed jury. Not only was instruction P-7H improperly given, but the instructions as a whole were contradictory and confusing. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court must be reversed and this case remanded for a new trial.