Court Opinion

ID: 9854766
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:13:45.05709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:22.187559
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellant Delta Air Lines, Inc., moves for a rehearing on Division 2 of our opinion. We affirm our decision that the evidence presented at trial did not authorize a charge on the decedent’s duty to exercise ordinary care, contributory negligence, comparative negligence, and avoidance. However, we should point out that our decision in Division 2 was based on the evidence presented in the original trial of the case. This case is being remanded for retrial. We cannot now decide whether the evidence upon a retrial of the case will authorize charges on the decedent’s duty to exercise ordinary care, contributory negligence, comparative negligence, and avoidance.
Appellee Garmon, administratrix, moves for a rehearing on Division 3 of our opinion. In that division, we reversed the case and granted Delta a new trial based on an erroneous charge to the jury. Garmon urges this court to reconsider whether or not the charge was harmful in *152light of the evidence and the charge as a whole. We affirm our original holding. The erroneous charge invaded the province of the jury concerning a central issue in the case — Delta’s duty to exercise ordinary care under certain stated circumstances. Delta was entitled to a jury determination regarding the standard of ordinary care applicable under the circumstances. Because Delta’s standard of ordinary care related directly to its ultimate liability to Garmon, this particular charge could not be determined to have been harmless. Accordingly, the erroneous charge requires the grant of a new trial.