Court Opinion

ID: 9643805
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:40:54.117119+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:04.072538
License: Public Domain

Bois, J.,
dissenting: Although I agree that the trial judge erred in permitting the jury to decide whether the parties’ accident fell within the risk of danger which the speed-limit and following-distance statutes sought to avoid, I find the error harmless. See Vigitron, Inc. v. Ferguson, 120 N.H. 626, 630, 419 A.2d 1115, 1118 (1980).
It was clear at trial that the major purpose of the statutory provisions was to prevent motor vehicle accidents, like the one at issue. The speed limit statute expressly states that “speed shall be so controlled as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any... vehicle....” RSA 265:60, I. In my opinion, no juror could have found the plaintiff’s alleged injury outside the risk which the statutes sought to avoid. The plaintiff’s interests, therefore, were not prejudiced when the jury decided this issue.
Furthermore, I cannot see how the jury could have been misled by the instruction, which, although improperly submitted to the jury, was in itself a clear and correct statement of the law. See Faust v. General Motors Corp., 117 N.H. 679, 686, 377 A.2d 885, 889 (1977) (jury has generally been deemed to have been misled where the *648charge contains an incorrect statement of law or omits an essential element of the case). For these reasons, I would affirm the jury’s verdict.