Opinion ID: 1656373
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Wal-Mart

Text: Ms. Chapman's first point on appeal is that the jury verdict in favor of Wal-Mart was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Her second point on appeal is that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her motion for a new trial as to Wal-Mart because the verdict was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence and thus insufficient to support the judgment. Because the trial court's denial of appellants' motion for new trial is the basis of both arguments, we will address these points together. We will affirm a circuit court's denial of a motion for new trial if the verdict was supported by substantial evidence. Thomas v. Olson, 364 Ark. 444, 220 S.W.3d 627 (2005). Substantial evidence is evidence which goes beyond suspicion or conjecture and is sufficient to compel a conclusion one way or the other. Dovers v. Stephenson Oil Co., 354 Ark. 695, 700, 128 S.W.3d 805, 808 (2003). It is only where there is no reasonable probability that the incident occurred according to the version of the prevailing party or where fair-minded persons can only draw a contrary conclusion that a jury verdict should be disturbed. Id. (citing Pineview Farms, Inc. v. A.O. Smith Harvestore, Inc., 298 Ark. 78, 765 S.W.2d 924 (1989)). We have noted that, generally, a defense verdict will always be supported by substantial evidence because the plaintiff has the burden of proof, and the jury is the sole judge of the credibility of witnesses and the weight and value of the evidence. Thomas, supra (citing Webb v. Bouton, 350 Ark. 254, 85 S.W.3d 885 (2002)). [N]o matter how strong the evidence of a party, who has the burden of establishing negligence and proximate cause as facts, may comparatively seem to be, he is not entitled to have those facts declared to have reality as a matter of law, unless there is utterly no rational basis in the situation, testimonially, circumstantially, or inferentially, for a jury to believe otherwise. Morton v. American Med. Int'l, Inc., 286 Ark. 88, 90, 689 S.W.2d 535, 537 (1985) (quoting United States Fire Ins. Co. v. Milner Hotels, 253 F.2d 542 (8th Cir.1958)). We added in Morton that we were not aware of any Arkansas case in which a verdict for a party not having the burden of proof was set aside in a negligence case solely because it was not supported by substantial evidence. Id. Moreover, we view any evidence introduced in the light most favorable to the appellees. Gibson Appliance Co. v. Nationwide Ins. Co., 341 Ark. 536, 20 S.W.3d 285 (2000). Ms. Chapman argues that Wal-Mart acted negligently in locating a children's carousel on the sidewalk immediately adjacent to and outside of an area that Wal-Mart determined needed protective devices. The testimony indicated that, during a remodel of the store in 1992, Wal-Mart placed a barrier of bollards  a line of fourteen eight-inch steel and concrete columns planted four to six feet apart  in front of the entrance to the store. There were no bollards in front of the carousel. Ms. Chapman relies upon the testimony of appellants' expert, Theresa Hendy, to support her argument. Ms. Hendy testified that Wal-Mart was negligent in its placement of the carousel or in not extending the bollards to protect it. Ms. Chapman argues that bollards would have substantially reduced the likelihood that Ms. Fett's car would have entered the play area and struck the Chapman children. Ms. Chapman references the following testimony of Ms. Hendy: They might have had time to get the children out of the way if there had been an additional bollard. They might be able to grab the child and move far enough away. They would have had a better chance. Ms. Hendy also testified on cross-examination that she was not an engineer and had never testified in a runaway-vehicle or sudden-acceleration case. She testified that a bollard has to withstand a 10,000-pound impact at two feet above the pavement, and that 10,000 pounds of force for a bollard equates to a car traveling at thirty-five miles per hour. She then said that if a car ran into a bollard head on at thirty-five miles per hour it probably would stop it. Finally, she testified that she did not know whether additional bollards would have stopped or slowed the car down enough to allow for an escape under the circumstances present in this case. Wal-Mart cites the testimony of Jack Ridenour, Ford's accident reconstructionist, who opined that a car traveling thirty miles per hour would have produced about 130,000 pounds of force. Thus, he testified, in order to stop Ms. Fett's car, which was going at least that fast, the bollards would have had to withstand over 130,000 pounds of force. This was in direct conflict with Ms. Hendy's testimony that bollards should have been erected around the carousel that could withstand a 10,000-pound impact. Wal-Mart's senior staff architect, Douglas Bryant, testified that the bollards were in an apron design in front of the entrance to discourage cars from driving in the area immediately adjacent to the front doors of the store. He said that the bollards provided a buffer zone to pedestrians allowing them to adjust from leaving the store into navigating the parking lot. He claimed that the bollards were not designed to stop a runaway vehicle. Ernie Peters, Wal-Mart's traffic engineering expert, testified that Wal-Mart's store design met or exceeded the standard of care with respect to pedestrian safety: No laws, design standards, or building codes required the erection of bollards. He testified that the bollards in front of Wal-Mart cannot withstand a 10,000-pound impact and would not have stopped Ms. Fett's car in this case. After reviewing the testimony, we find that there was ample evidence in this case for a jury to conclude either that Wal-Mart was not negligent for failing to place bollards in front of the children's carousel or, that if it was negligent for such a failure, that its negligence was not the proximate cause of the death of Nathaniel Chapman and injury to Jonathan Chapman. Appellants failed to convince the jury of an essential element of proof. Given the conflicting testimony, we cannot hold as a matter of law that the jury was incorrect. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the appellees, we find that there is substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict and that the circuit court did not err in denying appellants' motion for new trial.