Court Opinion

ID: 9682205
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:07:40.016017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:38.078091
License: Public Domain

WALKER, Justice
(dissenting) in which REAVLEY, J., joined.
I respectfully dissent, because in my opinion there is no evidence to support a finding that any negligence of respondent was a proximate cause of the accident. As pointed out in the majority opinion, the problem here is not one of piling presumption upon presumption. It is only by piling assumption upon assumption, however, that the Court is able to say that the evidence supports an inference that the accident probably would not have occurred if petitioner had not been permitted to ride Crowbar. This approach should make it fairly easy to find evidence of proximate cause in any case. In this instance:
(1)The majority first assume that the calf did not turn to the right and into Crowbar’s legs, thereby causing the fall. According to Danny Beebe’s testimony, the calf was running between the two horses before the accident. It was not in front of them. It was not behind them. The two horses were on a collision course, and they were “gaining on the calf.” This means that things were beginning to get rather crowded for the calf, which certainly had every opportunity to be aware of its predicament. With the horses and their riders looming above it on either side and the distance between them rapidly closing, continued running in the same direction offered little promise of either freedom or safety. In view of all the circumstances and since Crowbar did'fall, it seems quite likely that the calf attempted to extricate itself by turning to the right. That this occurred is entirely consistent with all the facts established by the evidence, and the record is completely silent as to what the calf did or did not do just prior to Crowbar’s fall.
(2) The majority further assume that Crowbar did not stumble. While there is testimony that the terrain was flat, horses as well as people occasionally stumble over their own feet. This may seem rather unlikely in the ordinary case, but we do not have an ordinary case here. It is clear from the evidence that unless the calf turned to get out of the way, Crowbar was about to run into or step on it. He may well have stumbled over the calf or he may have stumbled in his efforts to avoid running into the calf.
(3) The majority further assume that petitioner recognized the danger in time to avoid the accident by reining to the right if he had been riding a suitable horse. There is not a scintilla of evidence from which can be inferred that he probably did or probably did not. For aught that appears in the record, petitioner may have been watching the calf so intently that he did not realize the horses were about to collide.
(4) The majority further assume'that petitioner attempted to rein Crowbar to the right. There is no proof of this. Danny did not know what petitioner did. Bunk Farley expressed the opinion that petitioner would have reined his horse away in an effort to avoid a collision, but this answer was given in response to a hypothetical question as to what petitioner would have done where two horses were running together, toward each other, and there was going to be a collision if the riders did not rein off. In ruling on an objection to the question, the trial court made it clear that the answer was admitted for a very limited purpose:
COURT: He’s asking the question — as I view the question — would this young man have — from the knowledge of this witness, would this young man normally have reined the horse. He’s not saying he did or he didn’t. And it’s true that the depositions show that the other person there didn’t know what happened. He’s not saying — he’s just saying, did he have the ability, the *760knowledge as a cowboy to rein away. Now, he can ask that question. I’m not letting him ask questions about whether he did or he didn’t. I’m just asking, would he have possessed the capabilities of a cowboy to have done that. That’s all I’m permitting.
If the answer is now to be used as proof that petitioner probably did rein to the right, it is necessary to assume, as does the Court here, that the only problem was the fact that the two horses were on a collision course. If Crowbar had stumbled, an experienced rider would doubtless have attempted to pull his head up. If the calf had turned to the right and was attempting to run in front of Crowbar, petitioner would have reined to the left if he thought that was the best way to avoid the calf. The accident could thus have been caused by Crowbar’s response to a left rein rather than his failure to respond to a right rein. It could have been caused by petitioner’s failure to recognize the danger or by Crowbar’s stumbling or by his being tripped by the calf. On the present record one hypothesis is as likely as the other, because we simply do not know and cannot reasonably determine from the evidence what probably caused the accident.
(5) The majority finally assume that the accident probably would not have occurred if petitioner had been riding another horse. This would be a reasonable inference if the assumed facts mentioned above had been proved. On the present record it is at the top of the heap of assumptions, because it must rest on facts assumed by the Court but not established or.fairly inferable from the evidence.
I agree that it is well to eliminate volenti as a separate defense to be considered by the jury in ordinary negligence cases. There are, however, exceptional situations where it should be retained as a device for use by the court, and in my opinion these exceptional situations should be staked out on a case-by-case basis. For example, there are certain “implied consent” cases that do not involve “knowing and express oral or written consent to the dangerous activity or condition” but in which there should be no recovery even though the plaintiff’s conduct might be regarded as reasonable under the circumstances. See Restatement, Second, Torts § 496 C.
I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals.