Opinion ID: 864925
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: ¶5. On February 9, 1994, a severe ice storm struck the Mississippi Delta causing extensive damage. The ice storm caused trees to fall and limbs to snap, as well as downing power lines throughout the area. The area involved was roughly one hundred fifty miles long and fifty miles wide, stretching from DeSoto County to the Sharkey County line and eastward through Leflore County. In total, the storm affected an area of approximately 5,200 square miles. ¶6. There were hundreds of miles of downed power lines including over 25,000 poles and hundreds of miles of downed transmission lines. Numerous towns, cities, and untold thousands of individuals throughout the area went without power for weeks. Even on the date of the accident, five days after the storm commenced, there remained nineteen cities and towns without power and 45,000 Entergy customers in Washington County alone without power. Approximately 2,500 additional electrical power workers from other companies and surrounding sister states were sent in to help with this disaster. Additionally, thousands of volunteers were involved in helping with cleanup and repair in the various affected communities. For the first time ever, Entergy lost steel structure transmission poles. Over 100 transmission line structures alone had to be repaired by specialized crews. A priority system was initiated for restoring power: hospitals, water systems, municipal services, sheriff’s and police offices, sewer systems, then all others. Helicopter surveys conducted by Entergy revealed that approximately 80% of a twenty mile stretch of transmission lines, running from Indianola to Greenville, were flattened to the ground. The same survey, however, did not reveal any problem with the site at issue because, as the testimony revealed, a sagging line could not be detected from the air as easy as a flattened line lying on the ground. 3 ¶7. Before the accident occurred on February 14, 1994, at approximately 3:30 p.m. former Deputy Sheriff Tony Sullivan testified that he observed a sagging transmission line over North Main Street in Leland, Mississippi. Sullivan also testified that he informed a man about the sagging line who was sitting in a truck with the MP&L (Entergy’s predecessor) logo on its side. ¶8. Public travel advisories existed throughout the area warning drivers of downed power lines and other open and obvious hazards. Ignoring those warnings, McFarland drove his employer’s eighteen-wheeler into the Mississippi Delta during the night time. At approximately 7:00 p.m as McFarland traveled at a speed of no more than 15 miles per hour in the severely devastated area, he struck the dead transmission line which sagged approximately eight feet above the roadway. ¶9. The following issues are before us: I. Did the Court of Appeals Err When it Applied a High Standard of Care to Entergy? II. Did the Trial Court Err by Granting Entergy’s Motion for Jnov? III. Do the Appellate Courts Have Jurisdiction to Determine Whether a Trial Court’s Grant of a New Trial Is Appropriate When a Trial Court Concurrently Enters a Jnov and a Conditional Grant of a New Trial, and the JNOV Is Reversed on Appeal? IV. Whether the Trial Court Erred by Granting, in the Alternative, Entergy’s Motion for New Trial. 4