Court Opinion

ID: 9703715
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:06:00.039969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:51.433583
License: Public Domain

*188Dissenting Opinion by
Me. Justice Bok :
I think that the jury should -have passed on the behavior of Liuzzo and McKay.
Plaintiff’s decedent is entitled to the presumption, unless it was rebutted by evidence, that he used due care. Whether there was such evidence and whether it was credible was for the jury.
There are several points of difference about the conduct of McKay. According to the State trooper, McKay told him that Nice’s car passed him and slowed down; that McKay, going 40 to 45 miles per hour, pulled out to pass Nice or get out of his way; that as he got alongside, Nice speeded up and left McKay on the outside lane; that McKay signalled and got back on the right lane; that Nice lost control, spun around, and stopped; that McKay tried to miss Nice and almost did, but one wheel hit Nice at the right bumper and spun him around; that McKay was then hit in the rear; and that at the moment of impact he was going 15 miles per hour. It will be noticed that in this statement McKay made no mention of a cloud of dust or of his moving a second time into the fast lane. The inference is also made that the thing that turned Nice around was his being hit by McKay.
Nice told the trooper that he passed a tractor-trailer and another car; that as he then went to his right he went into a spin and came to a stop on the passing lane; and that as he was going to get out of his car he was hit in the rear and spun around.
On the stand McKay’s version was substantially different. It was that Nice passed him but swerved back in too closely so that McKay had to brake; that Nice went on a little farther and slowed; that McKay pulled out to pass but when alongside Nice the latter speeded up, leaving McKay in the passing lane; that he pulled in to the right lane and went on down the mountain to the curve; that when he entered the curve *189he saw a cloud of dust across the road ahead; that as he went on a bit farther he could see Nice’s car moving on the shoulder of the road; that he signalled and moved into the passing lane again; that Nice swerved across both lanes right in front of McKay and headed back towards him; that he almost missed Nice but hit his rear bumper and stopped; and that when he hit Nice he was going two to four miles per hour. He added that he was stopped for two or three minutes before being hit by plaintiff’s decedent, but he later changed this to two or three seconds.
Thus for the first time we hear from McKay about the cloud of dust, and Nice’s emergence from it headed back west, and McKay’s second excursion into the fast lane. The discrepancies between the two versions are obvious.
If the jury believed the first version, that McKay went into the fast lane only once, they could have found negligence in his remaining in the slow lane and failing to avoid Nice although he had part of one lane and the shoulder in which to do so. If they believed the second version it was for them to evaluate the emergency, and McKay’s going twice from one lane to the othei’, and how far down the mountain he drove before trouble developed.
There is a large question mark on McKay’s credibility and distinct work for the jury to do in determining what actually happened and in assessing negligence. And whether McKay was struck minutes or seconds after stopping would bear on Luizzo’s contributory negligence.
The case should have been allowed to proceed to verdict.
Mr. Chief Justice Jones and Mr. Justice Mtjsmanno join in this dissent.