Opinion ID: 1402025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: excessive speed charge

Text: Cantrell argues the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial judge's refusal to give her requested charge regarding excessive speed. We disagree. The trial judge refused to give the following charge requested by Cantrell: It is without legal significance that speed was a contributing factor in placing the vehicle at a particular location on the favored road when the emergency arose, since [the] driver of such vehicle had the legal right to occupy that portion of the road. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding the trial court correctly refused to find as a matter of law that the accident was inevitable. Clark, 332 S.C. at 444, 504 S.E.2d at 611. Cantrell asserts the Court of Appeals erred because the instruction correctly stated a principle of law that applied in her case. Cantrell relies primarily on Horton v. Greyhound, 241 S.C. 430, 128 S.E.2d 776 (1962). In Horton, a Greyhound bus that was exceeding the posted speed limit collided with an oncoming pickup truck when the truck suddenly swerved into the bus's lane in order to pass another vehicle that had stopped to make a lefthand turn. The collision killed the pickup's driver and passenger. The passenger's estate filed an action against the bus company and its driver. This Court affirmed a directed verdict for the defendants. The Court reasoned the collision was inevitable because, even if the bus could have stopped short of the collision point, it likely would have occurred anyway. Although there was evidence of negligence (speeding) by the defendant, it was one of the rare cases in which that evidence was insufficient to raise a jury question on whether the defendant's speed caused the accident. Horton, 241 S.C. at 441, 128 S.E.2d at 782. The Court has reached a similar conclusion in other cases. [3] We recently made it clear that a judgment as a matter of law pursuant to Horton and its progeny is proper only in the exceedingly rare case when the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, shows that the speed of a vehicle could not have contributed to the cause of the accident. Of course, in most automobile accident cases, speed creates imponderable issues of time and distance which must be resolved by the jury. Tubbs by Duren v. Bowie, 308 S.C. 155, 158, 417 S.E.2d 550, 552 (1992) (quoting Blanding v. Hammell, supra ). In explaining its decision, the Horton Court stated the fact that speed was a contributing factor in placing the bus at a particular location on the highway when the emergency arose is without legal significance, because the [bus] had the legal right to occupy that portion of the highway. Horton, 241 S.C. at 439, 128 S.E.2d at 781. It is from this language that Cantrell drew her request for a jury charge. All of the above cases involve the propriety of a judgment as a matter of law based on Horton. Cantrell's argument, however, focuses upon the propriety of a jury instruction drawn from Horton. An appellate court will not reverse the trial court's decision regarding jury instructions unless the trial court abused its discretion. Dalon v. Golden Lanes, Inc., 320 S.C. 534, 541, 466 S.E.2d 368, 372 (Ct.App.1996); Smith v. Ridgeway Chemicals, Inc., 302 S.C. 303, 307, 395 S.E.2d 742, 744 (Ct.App.1990). An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's ruling is based on an error of law or, when grounded in factual conclusions, is without evidentiary support. Fontaine v. Peitz, 291 S.C. 536, 354 S.E.2d 565 (1987). When instructing the jury, the trial court is required to charge only principles of law that apply to the issues raised in the pleadings and developed by the evidence in support of those issues. Tucker v. Reynolds, 268 S.C. 330, 335, 233 S.E.2d 402, 404 (1977). Furthermore, the trial court is required to charge only the current and correct law of South Carolina. McCourt by McCourt v. Abernathy, 318 S.C. 301, 306, 457 S.E.2d 603, 606 (1995). It is error for the trial court to refuse to give a requested instruction which states a sound principle of law when that principle applies to the case at hand, and the principle is not otherwise included in the charge. Sanders v. Western Auto Supply Co., 256 S.C. 490, 497, 183 S.E.2d 321, 325 (1971). However, the trial court is not required to instruct the jury on a principle of law that is irrelevant to the case as proved. Greenville Housing Authority of City of Greenville by Carlton v. Massey, 281 S.C. 618, 622, 316 S.E.2d 722, 724 (Ct.App.1984) (citing Clarke v. Swearingen, 6 S.C. 291 (1875)). Moreover, even if the trial court erred in failing to give a requested instruction, the requesting party also must show that the error was prejudicial to warrant reversal on appeal. Miller v. City of West Columbia, 322 S.C. 224, 471 S.E.2d 683 (1996); McCourt, 318 S.C. at 306, 457 S.E.2d at 606. We conclude that Cantrell's proposed instruction was improper and irrelevant in this case because the speed of her vehicle plainly was of legal significance in deciding the cause of the accident. The trial judge properly denied Cantrell's requested instruction, as well as her directed verdict motion. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Anderson, it was for the jury to decide whether the accident was caused by Cantrell's speed, Anderson's decision to turn left in front of Cantrell's oncoming vehicle, or the acts of both drivers. The Horton line of cases is inapplicable. We never have indicated that a Horton charge such as the one requested by Cantrell is necessary or appropriate. In fact, we doubt Cantrell's proposed instruction could ever be presented as a sound principle of law to a jury in any collision case. Cantrell essentially asked the judge to tell the jury that, as a matter of law, it did not matter whether she was speeding because her speed could not have caused the accident. A judge who instructed the jury in that fashion would be deciding the very issue presented to the jurywhether a litigant's negligent speeding was the legal and proximate cause of an accident. In addition, a judge under our comparative negligence system would be telling the jury to ignore a party's speeding when resolving the proportion of fault attributable to each party. Such a charge would be improper for both reasons. In the exceedingly rare case when it is without legal significance that speed was a contributing factor in a collision, and the record contains no evidence of other negligent or wrongful acts by the speeding driver, the judge may grant a litigant's directed verdict motion under Horton and its progeny. There would be nothing for the jury to resolve because, as a matter of law, any excessive speeding could not have caused the accident. Accordingly, we hold the Court of Appeals properly affirmed the trial judge's rejection of Cantrell's proposed instruction.