Opinion ID: 1610222
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether unavoidable accident jury instructions should have been given.

Text: ¶ 9. An unavoidable accident is an occurrence which was not intended, and, which, under all the circumstances, could not have been foreseen or prevented by the exercise of reasonable precautions. Buford v. Riverboat Corp. of Mississippi-Vicksburg, 756 So.2d 765, 770-71 (Miss. 2000) (quoting William L. Prosser, § 29, at 140 (4th ed.1971) (footnote omitted)). An unavoidable accident instruction should be used with caution. Buford, 756 So.2d at 770. ¶ 10. Here, the accident was avoidable. Even if Powe's knee had not locked up, Powe was guilty of negligence because he was going too fast under the circumstances (a bend in the river, other boat traffic, and people on jet skis), and he did not have the boat under proper control. Furthermore he was operating the boat without using the kill switch. A reasonably prudent boat driver should have known that he would be encountering the wakes of other boats and should have operated the boat in such a manner that the boat was able to negotiate the wakes without incident. Singletary testified that the force of hitting the other boat's wake almost threw him off the boat and pinned him against the passenger side of the boat. It is therefore clear that the boat was not under proper control. ¶ 11. Nor can Singletary benefit from an unavoidable accident instruction. As discussed in the next issue, the jury should have been instructed to consider whether Singletary was negligent in failing to supervise Powe properly.