Opinion ID: 2037525
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Heading: Unreasonable Failure to Avoid Injury.

Text: Coker claims second error in the trial court's giving of Instruction No. 18. This instruction informed the jury that Coker was under a duty to exercise reasonable care for his own safety by taking action to avoid injury. Coker contends that this instruction does nothing more than restate the general duty to exercise ordinary care, and that unreasonable failure to avoid injury is merely specific conduct for which a jury might find Coker contributorily negligent. Abell-Howe argues that Instruction No. 18 embodies the doctrine of avoidable consequences expressly adopted by the Iowa legislature in the Iowa Comparative Fault Act, § 668.1. We agree with the defendant that the phrase unreasonable failure to avoid an injury incorporates the doctrine of avoidable consequences in our comparative fault scheme, but we find this doctrine inapplicable to the facts in this case. Instruction No. 18 tracks verbatim Iowa Uniform Civil Jury Instruction 400.8Unreasonable Failure to Avoid an InjuryDefined. It states: A party is required to exercise reasonable care for their own safety. This means that if, in the exercise of ordinary care under the circumstances, a party could have taken some particular action to avoid an injury, then they are under a duty to take such action. The drafters of the uniform instructions cite only Iowa Code section 668.1 of the comparative fault chapter and Rinkleff v. Knox, 375 N.W.2d 262 (Iowa 1985), as authority for Iowa Uniform Civil Jury Instruction 400.8. The Iowa Comparative Fault Act is modeled largely after the Uniform Comparative Fault Act. The language of Iowa Code section 668.1, which defines fault, is taken directly from the Uniform Act. The term fault includes unreasonable failure to avoid an injury or to mitigate damages. Iowa Code § 668.1(1), Uniform Comparative Fault Act § 1(b), 12 U.L.A. 44 (Supp.1992). The official comments to the Uniform Act have some persuasive influence in determining what our legislature intended by the language in our comparative fault act. Slager, 435 N.W.2d at 352 (examining official comments of Uniform Act to determine whether dramshop actions are included under Iowa Comparative Fault Act). The official comment to section one of the Uniform Act, referring to the phrase unreasonable failure to avoid an injury or mitigate damages, states the doctrine of avoidable consequences is expressly included in the coverage [of the definition of fault]. 12 U.L.A. 44, 45 (Supp.1992). The avoidable consequences doctrine is that a party cannot recover damages that result from consequences which that party could reasonably have avoided. See 22 Am.Jur.2d Damages § 495, at 579 (1988); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 918(1) (1977). Like contributory negligence, avoidable consequences is the review of the reasonableness of the plaintiff's conduct as a defense in a negligence action. Both doctrines examine the plaintiff's duty to care for his own interests and require the plaintiff to exercise only the standard of care of the reasonable person under the circumstances. Yet, contributory negligence and avoidable consequences are distinct: [C]ontributory negligence is negligence of the plaintiff before any damage, or any invasion of his rights, has occurred.... The rule of avoidable consequences comes into play after a legal wrong has occurred, but while some damage may still be averted, and bars recovery only for such damages. W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 65, at 458 (5th ed. 1984). The difference between the two theories is time related. A plaintiff is contributorily negligent when unreasonable behavior before or simultaneous with that of the defendant is a contributing cause of his injuries. Avoidable consequences, on the other hand, occur after the defendant's negligence, but before an injury results. The avoidable consequences doctrine is akin to mitigation of damages when the plaintiff must attempt to reduce damages after the injury has occurred. See R.E.T. Corp. v. Frank Paxton Co., 329 N.W.2d 416, 419-22 (Iowa 1983). The facts of Rinkleff, 375 N.W.2d at 263-64, cited by the drafters of the Iowa Uniform Civil Jury Instructions, illustrate this distinction. In Rinkleff, the plaintiff rented scaffolding to be used to paint the walls of an automobile warehouse. In assembling the scaffolding, the plaintiff discovered that both the cross braces of the scaffolding were the wrong length and no casters had been furnished for the legs of the end frames. The plaintiff proceeded to assemble and use the scaffolding despite its defects. After the plaintiff fell from the scaffolding and sustained a broken wrist, he brought suit against the renter of the scaffolding equipment. The defendant rental company alleged that the plaintiff was negligent in failing to inspect the equipment prior to using it. The plaintiff requested that the trial court instruct the jury that he had no duty of inspection before using the scaffolding. We held that the trial court properly refused the requested instruction. Rinkleff, 375 N.W.2d at 265-66. Although in Rinkleff we made no formal distinction between contributory negligence and avoidable consequences, we recognized that the plaintiff had a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid harm to himself, even though the defendant's negligence had already occurred, to wit, supplying defective scaffolding. Rinkleff, 375 N.W.2d at 265. In the present case, all of Coker's acts or omissions alleged by Abell-Howe to be negligent occurred prior to or simultaneous with the defendant's negligence. Abell-Howe alleges nothing that Coker should have done after he approached Moore and Moore struck him that could have avoided his injury. The factual specifications listed in the jury instructions for Coker's unreasonable failure to avoid injury illustrate that Coker and Moore acted simultaneously: failing to maintain a lookout by approaching Ernest Moore from behind while the latter was unfastening the chain binder; failing to protect himself from a known danger involved with the use of a cheater bar; and failing to have proper protective equipment while being involved in a dangerous activity. These are merely specifications for Coker's alleged contributory negligence, and are not unreasonable failure to avoid injury under the avoidable consequences doctrine. We hold that the Iowa legislature adopted the avoidable consequences doctrine as an element of fault in Iowa Code section 668.1. A separate instruction on an unreasonable failure to avoid an injury may be warranted in those cases in which the plaintiff could have acted to avoid injury after the defendant's alleged negligence occurred. When appropriate under the facts, Iowa Uniform Civil Jury Instruction 400.8 should advise the jury that it applies only to the plaintiff's alleged fault occurring in time after the act of fault alleged against the defendant. In cases in which the plaintiff's failure to avoid injury occurs prior to or simultaneous with the defendant's negligent acts or omissions, the allegation is nothing more than contributory negligence, and a negligence instruction is all that is required. The trial court erred in giving Instruction No. 18 regarding unreasonable failure to avoid injury.