Court Opinion

ID: 9724652
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:06:48.21248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:03.590853
License: Public Domain

Allen, J.,
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. In view of the jury’s response to special questions propounded to them, I fail to see where the trial court’s error in informing the jury concerning the suit against the bar and the Clinton County Road Commission was prejudicial. In answer to ten special questions, the jury found Timothy Sherwood and Jeffrey Pratt negligent but then further found that their negligence was not the proximate cause of Mark Clery’s death. The jury found Mark Clery to have been negligent, found that negligence to have been the proximate cause of Clery’s death and attributed one hundred percent of the negligence proximately causing Clery’s death to him. Finally, the jury set plaintiff’s damages at $50,000.
How then could the trial court’s instructions have caused the jury to find that Timothy Sherwood or Jeffrey Pratt’s negligence was the proximate cause of death. Had the jury not so specifically answered the special questions and had the transcript not so clearly supported the jury’s finding that Clery caused his own death, I might agree that the court’s error was grounds for a new trial. The testimony shows that Clery’s blood alcohol content was .23 percent. The accident occurred *66when Clery himself lost control of his truck and went off the road. Prior to leaving the road, Clery passed witness Robert Earl at a speed of from 70 to 80 miles per hour, driving at "an incredible rate of speed” and "accelerating all the way.” Clery passed Earl by driving his truck on the right shoulder of the road, into the ditch and onto the grass by the side of the road. Earl further testified that he came across the accident approximately two minutes later and that he did not see anybody following or chasing Clery. Given these facts, it is unreasonable to perceive how the jury would have come to a different conclusion had the trial court refused to inform the jury regarding the dismissal of the tavern and road commission from the case.
Assuming, arguendo, that sans the trial court’s reference to dismissal of the suit against the bar and road commission the jury would have found defendants’ negligence the proximate cause of Clery’s death, the amount of the judgment makes the error harmless. Under Salim v LaGuire, 138 Mich App 334; 361 NW2d 9 (1984), the trial court would have been required to deduct the amount of the previous settlements from the total damages awarded by the jury. The prior settlements totaled $133,000, and the amount awarded plaintifff by the jury was $50,000. Thus, plaintiff would have received nothing even had the jury found that the defendants’ actions, rather than Clery’s, were the proximate cause of death.
For similar reasons, I find no reason to reverse on the second issue raised on appeal, vis.: that the trial court erred by granting defendant Pratt’s motion for a directed verdict. Even if error occurred, the error was harmless. As noted in considering the prior issue, the jury found that Pratt was negligent but also found that Pratt’s negligence was not the proximate cause of Clery’s *67demise. Furthermore, the jury specifically found that Timothy Sherwood did not engage in wilful and wanton misconduct. Sherwood admitted chasing Clery. If Sherwood’s admitted chasing of Clery was found not to be the proximate cause of Clery’s death, certainly Pratt’s alleged joining in the chase was not either. Additionally, I find the evidence that Pratt seriously chased Clery flimsy at best.
Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the lower court.