Court Opinion

ID: 9666448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:15:31.925849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:28.877633
License: Public Domain

SPAIN, Justice,
dissenting.
With respect, I dissent. In my opinion, the trial court properly instructed the jury with regard to appellee’s duties under the evidence of record. It is conceded by all that the collision between the ear and the bicycle occurred in the two-lane roadway, not on the one-lane bridge or its approach. Consequently, there was no reason to instruct the jury that appellee had a duty to yield the right-of-way to the bicyclist in the area of the one-lane approach. Moreover, such an instruction completely ignored the provisions of the county ordinance requiring a bicycle to be ridden within five feet of the edge of the roadway, a major incursion into the “right-of-way.”
The majority’s synopsis of the evidence also fails to mention the undisputed critical testimony of the appellee that the bicyclist apparently did not see her automobile as it approached and veered to its right. She stated that, because of this, she steered sharply left and locked her brakes. Appellant’s decedent finally noticed her, at which time he steered sharply to his right in an effort to get back into his lane. These statements explain why the impact occurred just over the center line slightly in the cyclist’s lane. They also explain to this writer why the jury found that Ms. Pierce failed to perform one of her duties (to operate her vehicle on the right side of the center line) but that such failure was not a substantial factor in causing the collision. (She could not have avoided the bicycle even if she had been completely on her side of the roadway.)
I also do not believe that the misconduct of appellee’s counsel, though clearly reprehensible, was sufficiently prejudicial to warrant a reversal. Like the Court of Appeals, I attach great weight to the refusal of the trial judge to declare a mistrial and, even more importantly, to grant a new trial even after the jury’s verdict in favor of the defendant became known.
WINTERSHEIMER, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.