Court Opinion

ID: 9845734
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:27:08.540842+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:20.497217
License: Public Domain

*216JUSTICE COMPTON,
dissenting in part.
In my opinion, the trial court did not err in granting the instruction in question.
A party is entitled to an instruction based upon her theory of the case when that theory is supported by the evidence. In this case, a review of the defendant’s whole testimony convinces me that she was entitled to have the jury told, in the language used in the instruction, that if it believed from the evidence that the defendant momentarily looked into her rear view mirror and that in so doing she acted reasonably under the circumstances, then she was not negligent in not looking ahead for the period reasonably necessary to look into the mirror.
I reject the majority’s characterization of the instruction, which is not a finding instruction, as placing “a judicial imprimatur on selective evidence.” In effect, this is an argument that any instruction that mentions evidence in any way to support a party’s theory of the case renders an instruction erroneous. I cannot subscribe to such a view.
Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.