Opinion ID: 2330330
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Presumption of Due Care

Text: [¶ 51] Appellant also offered an instruction which would have informed the jury that she was presumed to have been using due care when she was injured. Such instructions have been given in certain wrongful death cases because the decedent cannot testify. DeJulio, 715 P.2d at 186-87; Gish v. Colson, 475 P.2d 717 (Wyo.1970). Appellant cites no authority for the proposition that such an instruction should be given in a case involving a living plaintiff and eyewitnesses to her fall from the horse. [¶ 52] In any event, Appellees abandoned their defense of contributory fault before the case was submitted to the jury. Moreover, because the jury found that the fall that caused Appellant's injuries was the result of an inherent risk of horseback riding, it did not reach any issue of negligence. This claimed error therefore could not have affected the outcome of the case, and cannot be a basis for overturning the jury's verdict. DeJulio, 715 P.2d at 186-87; Nalder, 254 F.3d at 1176.