Opinion ID: 1721959
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Nature of Danger

Text: Sedlak also complains that in its preliminary instructions, the district court informed the jury that Miller claimed not only that Sedlak had been negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout, but that the danger was open and obvious. Sedlak urges that the preliminary instruction concerning the obviousness of the danger was improvident, as, in accordance with Sedlak's motion for a directed verdict on that issue, the instructions following the evidence informed the jury only that Miller claimed that Sedlak had been negligent in failing to maintain a proper lookout. But in the context of this case, the concept of lookout is inextricably intertwined with the obviousness of the condition for which the lookout was to be maintained. Thus, the preliminary instructions in this regard were not in conflict with those given at the close of the evidence. Rather, the preliminary instructions expressed the same concept in more than one way. While duplication might in some instances in and of itself prejudice a party, it cannot be said to have done so in this case, for there is nothing in the duplication which misled the jury. The controlling rule is that all the jury instructions must be read together, and if, taken as a whole, they correctly state the law, are not misleading, and adequately cover the issues supported by the pleadings and the evidence, there is no prejudicial error necessitating a reversal. Hamernick v. Essex Dodge Ltd., 247 Neb. 392, 527 N.W.2d 196 (1995); Scharmann v. Dayton Hudson Corp., 247 Neb. 304, 526 N.W.2d 436 (1995); Sindelar v. Canada Transport, Inc., 246 Neb. 559, 520 N.W.2d 203 (1994).