Court Opinion

ID: 9777018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:51:55.272038+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:46.110034
License: Public Domain

*224CARL R. GAERTNER, Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur with the majority opinion in that it holds husband’s claim for his own injuries was not barred by collateral estoppel and also, that his $50,000 settlement must be deducted from the judgment.
I concur with the minority opinion in that it would rule that husband’s derivative claim for loss of consortium is barred because of the defeat of the primary claim for wife’s injuries. I believe Missouri should adopt the Restatement (Second) of Judgements, § 48(2) (1982).
I dissent in part from each opinion.
Despite his deposition testimony, Webb told the police the collision occurred as he was turning and wife testified she saw Webb turning into them car in the middle of the intersection. This evidence supports a submission of failure to yield the right of way and of being on the wrong side of the road.
Husband testified he was driving straight through the intersection without turning right or left. Because of the offset of Hampton on the north and Germania on the south, driving straight through the intersection of necessity would cause him to be on the wrong side of the road at some point. I cannot accept the majority’s argument that the terms “straight” and “not right or left” do not mean “straight” and “not right or left”. There was evidence to support the submission of husband’s comparative fault for being on the wrong side of the road.
However, the record is devoid of evidence tending to show when either driver could have seen the other vehicle approaching in a position of danger of collision and whether either driver had the means and ability to thereafter take successful evasive action. In Thurman v. Anderson, 693 S.W.2d 806 (Mo. banc 1985) the Supreme Court held the absence of evidence that a party could have avoided the accident after he or she could have seen the danger was fatal to a lookout submission.
[T]o support a contributory negligence instruction on failure to keep a careful lookout, the evidence must support a finding that a driver had the means and ability to have avoided a collision. Means and ability include sufficient time and distance considering the movement and speed of the vehicles. There was no evidence to show that either party saw the other. There was no expert evidence on how far a car will travel at various speeds before stopping. Nor was there evidence to show the distance between the vehicles at material times.
Id. at 807.
Similarly, in Robinson v. Weinstein, 856 S.W.2d 337 (Mo.App.E.D.1993) this court held a comparative fault instruction based on the plaintiffs failure to keep a lookout was erroneous because of the absence of evidence that “she should have been aware early enough for her to take defensive action that defendant would not yield the right of way, as he was required to do.” Id. at 338.
It is argued that because husband was a ear length behind the northbound car in front of him he should have seen Webb and turned into the empty lane to his right. However, this does not indicate the distance between the vehicles when Webb started to turn. Moreover, if Webb continued to turn he would still collide with husbands car as it passed in the right lane.
Accordingly, I believe the submissions of failure to keep a lookout were erroneous and I would remand to the Circuit Court for a new trial.