Court Opinion

ID: 9667616
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:50:54.381633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:39.310858
License: Public Domain

*205Krivosha, C.J.,
dissenting.
I find that I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion in this case. I agree with the majority’s conclusion that: “Where the facts presented to sustain an issue are such that but one conclusion can be drawn when related to the applicable law, it is the duty of the court to decide the question as a matter of law and not submit it to a jury.” My difficulty with the majority’s opinion, however, is its conclusion that the evidence in this case was such that reasonable minds could reach but one conclusion to the effect that the hospital should have expected Syas to have seen the defect and to have protected himself accordingly.
The evidence, as pointed out by the majority opinion, discloses that Syas stopped his car in the second lane opposite the entrance and about 12 feet from his daughter, left the car, looked toward his daughter, took two steps, slipped and fell to the roadway, and was injured. He attempted to rise, and slipped and fell again. I am unable to conclude how it can be said, as a matter of law, that the hospital could have reasonably expected that Syas would have discovered the danger. I find it not at all unreasonable to believe that Syas, concerned about the welfare of his recently injured daughter, might not have been able to discover the danger in just two steps. That is not to say that his failure to see the danger establishes negligence on the part of the hospital, but only to suggest that it created a question of fact. When different minds may reasonably draw different conclusions from the same facts as to whether they establish negligence or contributory negligence, such issues should be submitted to the jury. See, Beck v. Trustin, 177 Neb. 788, 131 N.W.2d 425 (1964); Buie v. Beamsley, 171 Neb. 181, 105 N.W.2d 738 (1960). In Moats v. Lienemann, 188 Neb. 452, 454, 197 N.W.2d 377, 379 (1972), we said: “Tn determining the question of whether the evidence is sufficient to submit the issues of negligence and contributory negligence to the jury, a party is entitled *206to have all conflicts in the evidence resolved in his favor and the benefit of every reasonable inference that may be deduced from the evidence, and if reasonable minds might draw different conclusions from a set of facts thus resolved in favor of a party, the issues of negligence and contributory negligence are for a jury.’”
I would have submitted the issues of negligence and contributory negligence to the jury. For that reason, I would have reversed and remanded.
White, J., joins in this dissent.