Opinion ID: 1191687
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Any Error Was Harmless

Text: We find that Lyons has little cause to complain of the sudden emergency instruction because the jury decided the issue in his favor. To the question Was Midnight Sun's employee, David Jette, negligent? the jury answered YES. The jury finding of negligence indicates that the jury concluded David Jette was driving negligently or responded inappropriately when Ms. Hunter-Lyons entered the traffic lane and, thus, did not exercise the care and prudence a reasonable person would have exercised under the circumstances. However, Lyons's claims were defeated on the basis of lack of causation. Although the jury found Jette to have been negligent, it also found that this negligence was not the legal cause of the accident. Duty, breach of duty, causation, and harm are the separate and distinct elements of a negligence claim, all of which must be proven before a defendant can be held liable for the plaintiff's injuries. See Alvey v. Pioneer Oil-field Servs., Inc., 648 P.2d 599, 600 (Alaska 1982) (listing elements of negligence in context of motion for summary judgment as duty, breach of duty, injury, and cause ). The sudden emergency instruction addresses only the standard of care imposed on all people to act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances. The instruction could not have infected the jury's finding that Jette was not the legal cause of Ms. Hunter-Lyons's death. Further, we cannot say that the jury's finding of lack of causation was unreasonable. [2] There was evidence presented at trial from which the jury could reasonably have drawn the conclusion that even though Jette was driving negligently, his negligence was not the proximate cause of the accident. Midnight Sun introduced expert testimony to the effect that the primary cause of the accident was Ms. Hunter-Lyons's action in pulling out of the parking lot in front of an oncoming truck. Terry Day, an accident reconstruction specialist testified that, depending on how fast Ms. Hunter-Lyons was moving, the accident could have happened even if Jette had been driving within the speed limit. Midnight Sun also introduced expert testimony to the effect that Jette responded properly to the unexpected introduction of an automobile in his traffic lane. Although all of this testimony was disputed by Lyons, a reasonable jury could have concluded that Ms. Hunter-Lyons caused the accident by abruptly pulling out in front of an oncoming truck, and that David Jette's negligence was not a contributing factor. [3] With the element of causation lacking, even the most egregious negligence cannot result in liability.