Opinion ID: 2610600
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: gross and wanton negligence

Text: The trial court gave the following instruction on gross and wanton negligence to the jury: Contributory negligence is not a defense and the defendants cannot avail themselves of the same where the negligence on the part of the defendant was gross or wanton negligence. As used in these instructions gross or wanton negligence indicates a reckless disregard for the rights of others or a reckless indifference to results. If you find, therefore, that the defendant's negligence was gross or wanton then contributory negligence, if any, on the part of the deceased, Mr. Wise, is no defense in this case. [Emphasis added.] The record shows this to be Plaintiff's Requested Instruction No. 2; the requested instruction cites no authority as a basis for the wording of the instruction. We have consistently held that an instruction on gross and wanton negligence can be given only where conduct meriting such an instruction is shown. Slight and inconclusive evidence is not enough, for as this Court stated in Butane Corp. v. Kirby, 66 Ariz. 272, 187 P.2d 325 (1947): Slight and inconclusive evidence borders on the realm of conjecture. A defendant should not be held guilty of reckless misconduct unless there is evidence, or justifiable inferences therefrom, reasonably tending to establish such reckless misconduct. 66 Ariz. at 287, 187 P.2d at 335. In that case we approved the following instruction defining wanton conduct: The word `wanton' as used in this instruction indicates a reckless disregard of the right of others or a reckless indifference to results. By `a reckless disregard of the rights of others or a reckless indifference to results,' as those words are used in this instruction, is meant the intentional doing of an act or failure to do an act which it is his duty to the other to do, knowing or having reason to know of facts which would lead a reasonable man to realize that the actor's conduct not only creates an unreasonable risk of bodily harm to the other, but also involves a high degree of probability that substantial harm will result to him. 66 Ariz. at 286, 187 P.2d at 334. The above holding has been cited as authority in several Arizona cases, one of the more recent of which is Nichols v. Baker, 101 Ariz. 151 at 153, 416 P.2d 584 at 586 (1966). In deciding an issue such as this, it is important to distinguish between ordinary negligence and gross and wanton negligence. This distinction is well-stated in the Restatement of Torts, Second, which uses the term reckless misconduct to refer to the same type of conduct which we have denominated above as gross and wanton negligence. At § 500, Comment g., the statement is made that: Reckless misconduct differs from negligence in several important particulars. It differs from that form of negligence which consists in mere inadvertence, incompetence, unskillfulness, or a failure to take precautions to enable the actor adequately to cope with a possible or probable future emergency, in that reckless misconduct requires a conscious choice of a course of action, either with knowledge of the serious danger to others involved in it or with knowledge of facts which would disclose this danger to any reasonable man.    The difference between reckless misconduct and conduct involving only such a quantum of risk as is necessary to make it negligent is a difference in the degree of the risk, but this difference of degree is so marked as to amount substantially to a difference in kind. A similar distinction was made in Alabam Freight Lines v. Phoenix Bakery, 64 Ariz. 101, 166 P.2d 816 (1946). In that case this Court first made a distinction between the rules of law applicable to cases involving ordinary negligence and cases involving gross and wanton negligence, and then went on to state that: The difference in rules applicable to the two classes of cases results from the difference in the nature of the conduct of the wrongdoers in the two kinds of cases. In the first case the wrongdoer is guilty of nothing worse than carelessness. In the last he is guilty of a willful, intentional wrong. His conduct is criminal or quasi criminal. If it results in the death of the injured person, he is guilty of manslaughter. [Citing cases.] The law is regardful of human life and personal safety, and, if one is grossly and wantonly reckless in exposing others to danger, it holds him to have intended the natural consequences of his act, and treats him as guilty of a willful and intentional wrong. 64 Ariz. at 110-111, 166 P.2d at 821. Keeping these definitions in mind, we will now review the facts of the instant case which are relevant to the determination of whether the conduct of defendant Sander merited the giving of the instruction on gross and wanton negligence to the jury. The record shows that defendant Sander backed a large dump truck approximately 300 feet. The estimates by witnesses at the trial as to the speed of the truck ranged from a low of about 3-4 m.p.h. to a high of about 12-15 m.p.h. During the time he was backing up, Sander was watching his rear-view mirrors very closely, looking from one side to the other, as evidenced in part by the fact that he backed between a man on a roller on one side of the truck and a man making compaction tests on the other side of the truck. Decedent Wise directed Sander where to dump and then began gathering up his tape measure which ran down the left side of Sander's truck and on for a distance behind and to the left of the truck. Wise was about halfway back from the front of the truck when it started moving backwards. He continued toward the back of it as it moved along until he cleared the rear end of it and then turned to his left and crossed over into the path of it. At this point he apparently moved into the blind spot directly behind the truck which could not be seen by the driver through the use of his rear-view mirrors. Wise then apparently stopped and bent over to uncover some of his tape measure and began pulling it from under the dirt. At this point he was only 4 or 5 feet ahead of the rear end of the truck, apparently facing away from it. The truck continued its movement backwards and struck Wise. He was knocked down and was run over by its wheels. Plaintiff's argument in support of the instruction on gross and wanton negligence rests basically on two main assertions involving evidentiary points: (1) That Sander drove his truck backward for a distance which was excessive in light of the fact that he was in a construction area where others were working; and (2) That Sander drove his truck backward at an excessive and reckless speed. As to the first point, the record indicates that the truck Sander was driving was about 60 feet in length. Even if Sander drove the truck the full 300 feet claimed by the plaintiff, that distance amounts to only about five times the length of the truck. From the evidence it appears that the layout of the construction site was such that Sander and other drivers dumping gravel in the same area had to make a sharp right turn in order to get back on the Black Canyon Highway, and that they had therefore developed the practice of backing their trucks up after dumping their loads of gravel in order to be able to make a wider turn in approaching the highway, thereby being better able to merge into the flow of traffic on the highway. As to the fact that Sander was driving his truck in a construction area in which others were working, we point out simply that he was driving in an open area at the construction site where heavy equipment is in operation constantly and where workmen are instructed to look out for their own safety. We are therefore of the opinion that the records fails to show substantial evidence in support of plaintiff's assertion that Sander drove his truck backward for a distance which, considering that he was in a construction area where others were working, was excessive. As to the second evidentiary point on which plaintiff's argument rests (i.e., the claim that Sander drove his truck backward at an excessive and reckless speed), the estimates of the speed of the truck given by witnesses at the trial ranged from a low of about 3-4 m. p. h. to a high of about 12-15 m.p.h. A representative of the company which manufactured the truck testified that the maximum speed of that particular year and model of truck, in the gear in which it was being driven at the time of the accident, was 7.6 m.p.h. The highest estimates of the speed of the truck  12 to 15 m.p.h.  were given by the two men between whom defendant Sander backed his truck just prior to hitting decedent Wise. One man was operating a vibrator roller along a course parallel to and to the left of and behind Sander's truck. Because he was facing away from Sander's truck and because of the noise of the motor which powered his roller, he did not see or hear Sander's truck until it went by him on his left side. The other man was making compaction tests on the roadbed behind and to the right of Sander's truck. He was squatting or kneeling and did not see or hear Sander's truck coming. It passed him a few moments after it passed the man on the roller. Both men at the trial estimated the speed of Sander's truck to be about 12-15 m.p.h. As to the testimony of the witness who had been making compaction tests at the time of the accident, defense counsel at the trial read back to the witness the testimony he had given in a deposition which was taken about 11 months after the accident and about 14 months before the trial. The material read from the deposition tended to discredit certain of the testimony given by the witness at the trial, particularly as to his estimate of the speed of Sander's truck. With this in mind, we are inclined to give little credence to the claim of the plaintiff that defendant Sander was traveling at a speed of 12 to 15 m.p.h. There is another matter which also causes us to be so inclined. The evidence indicates that decedent Wise jogged along the side of the truck, turned and crossed over into its path, and bent over to pull his tape out of the dirt. He was therefore apparently moving faster than the truck, which plaintiff claims was moving along at 12 to 15 m.p.h. The fastest runners today run the mile in four minutes, or about 15 m.p.h. It takes a good athlete to be able to run the quarter-mile in a minute, which would also be about 15 m.p.h. These are runners who have trained hard for that purpose, and who run with light clothing and shoes, and on a smooth, flat track. At the time of the accident Wise was 51 years old and was trotting along on a rough surface consisting of gravel and rocks which had been put down for a roadbed. From this line of reasoning we reach the conclusion that it is unlikely the truck was moving at the high rate of speed claimed by the plaintiff. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the record shows little evidence in support of the assertion by the plaintiff that Sander drove his truck backward at an excessive and reckless speed. The central question is whether the record shows substantial evidence of gross and wanton negligence so as to justify the giving of the instruction. If such evidence is not shown by the record, then it was reversible error for the instruction to have been given. Butane Corporation v. Kirby, supra, 66 Ariz. at 287, 187 P.2d at 335. We are of the opinion that while the record may indicate ordinary negligence on the part of defendant Sander, it hardly shows gross and wanton negligence as defined by this Court. The evidence presented is not sufficient to show a reckless disregard of the rights of others such as would not only create an unreasonable risk of bodily harm to another, but also involve a high degree of probability that substantial harm would result. In any event, this is precisely the type of slight and inconclusive evidence bordering on the realm of conjecture which this Court in Nichols v. Baker, supra, 101 Ariz. at 153, 416 P.2d at 586, warned against as a basis for instrucing on gross and wanton negligence. The trial court's error in instructing on gross and wanton negligence is particularly serious because there was sufficient evidence presented at the trial to raise the issue of contributory negligence and to warrant the giving of an instruction, which the court did, as discussed earlier in this opinion. The effect, then, of giving the unwarranted gross and wanton negligence instruction was to allow the jury to remove from their consideration the evidence of decedent's contributory negligence, thereby seriously prejudicing the defendants. We therefore hold that the instruction on gross and wanton negligence given to the jury by the trial court was not warranted by the evidence and it was reversible error for the instruction to be given. For the reasons set forth above, the case is reversed and remanded for a new trial. STRUCKMEYER, V.C.J., and HAYS, J., concur.