Court Opinion

ID: 9470593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:10:33.258112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:00.079131
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent. Although I agree. with the court’s determination that the trial court improperly submitted instruction 41 to the jury, I believe that the erroneous instruction, when read in conjunction with all of the other jury instructions, did not prejudice the Water Works.
The jury instructions properly set out all the elements that the Water Works needed to prove in order to recover from either or both defendants on a negligence theory. (Instruction 32). The court properly defined negligence as, “the failure to use ordinary care under the circumstances in the management of one’s person or property, or of agencies under one’s control.” (Instruction 33). Moreover, the court properly defined “ordinary care” as, “that care which a reasonably prudent person would exercise in the management of his own affairs, in order to avoid injury to himself or his property, or the persons or property of others.” (Instruction 36). Finally, in instruction 42, to which the Water Works does not assign error, the trial court properly instructed the jury that, “the law of Iowa provides that if a person who has been injured or damaged was himself negligent and such negligence was a proximate cause of his injury or damage, then he cannot recover from another.” The court also instructed the jury that the burden of proving contributory negligence rested upon the defendant.
Instruction 41 did not, in itself, allocate duties to the parties. When read in the context of the other instructions, I do not believe that instruction 41 prejudiced the Water Works. Accordingly, I dissent from section III of the court’s opinion discussing instruction 41. I would affirm ihe judgment of the district court.