Opinion ID: 2276108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Purpose of Sudden Emergency Qualification

Text: The common-law doctrine of sudden emergency attempts to explain to a jury how to judge the allegedly negligent conduct of a person, plaintiff or defendant, who is suddenly confronted with an emergency situation that allows no time for deliberation. [13] The sudden emergency doctrine does not excuse fault; it defines the conduct to be expected of a prudent person in an emergency situation. [14] In Harris v. Thompson, [15] our predecessor court noted the purpose for including the sudden emergency qualification in instructions: [W]hen a defendant is confronted with a condition he has had no reason to anticipate and has not brought on by his own fault, but which alters the duties he would otherwise have been bound to observe, then the effect of that circumstance upon these duties must be covered by the instructions. [16] In Kentucky, sudden emergency qualifications have been approved in automobile collision cases in which the defendant driver has encountered a patch of ice on the roadway or children or animals darting into the roadway. [17] Kentucky also recognizes that other situations such as other vehicles, swooping airplanes or falling boulders, could conceivably create an emergency for a driver that would justify a sudden emergency qualification. [18] In explaining why the qualification need be given in cases where a driver encounters an ice patch, our predecessor court stated: While the driver must take into consideration the slippery condition of the highway, ... if the evidence shows that the accident resulted from a condition of the road and not from any negligence of the driver, no liability results, since it is common knowledge that an automobile may skid on a slippery highway without any negligence on the part of the operator. [19]