Court Opinion

ID: 9553028
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:20:59.673036+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:33.376334
License: Public Domain

Johnson, J.
(dissenting) — I have no disagreement with the majority on the law of CR 51(f). I do disagree, however, with the majority’s application of the rule in this case. Under the majority’s hypertechnical reading of CR 51(f), an undisputed trial court error, raised and preserved at trial, goes uncorrected, and a plaintiff is prevented from arguing his or her theory of negligence to the jury.
The issue here is not, as the majority suggests, whether Zwarg sufficiently apprised the trial court of her reliance on Spokane Municipal Code (SMC) 11.17.300. Rather, the issue is whether Zwarg sufficiently apprised the court of the basis for her objection to the court’s refusal to give her proposed jury instruction. See Walker v. State, 121 Wn.2d 214, 217, 848 P.2d 721 (1993) ("The pertinent inquiry on review is whether the exception was sufficient to apprise the trial judge of the nature and substance of the objection.”) (quoting Crossen v. Skagit Cy., 100 Wn.2d 355, 358, 669 P.2d 1244 (1983)).
This standard is easily satisfied here. Zwarg requested a jury instruction that the Ernst sign should have had a 10-foot vertical clearance above the sidewalk grade. The Spokane Municipal Code provides that "every sign must maintain a clear vertical distance of ten feet above a sidewalk”. (Italics mine.) SMC 11.17.300(A). In support of her proposed instruction, Zwarg directed the trial court to the sign ordinance provisions of the code. Specifically, she directed the court to SMC 11.17.210(A), which, in turn, cross-references SMC 11.17.300. Moreover, Zwarg presented expert testimony from a forensic engineer who directed the court to SMC 11.17.210 and SMC 11.17.300, and who *343explained that the Ernst sign violated the sign provisions of the code because the vertical clearance over the sidewalk was less than the 10 feet required.
Whether the sign violated the vertical clearance standards in the SMC was purely a question of law. It is the duty of the trial court to determine questions of law. Ball v. Smith, 87 Wn.2d 717, 722-23, 556 P.2d 936 (1976). Under these facts, it is difficult to fathom how the trial court concluded the sign code did not apply in this case. Yet, somehow, even though the trial court indicated it reviewed the entire sign code, which consists of only a few pages, it nevertheless erroneously interpreted the ordinances and denied Zwarg’s instruction. The trial court’s error prevented Ms. Zwarg from arguing her theory that Ernst was negligent because it maintained a sign in violation of the Spokane Municipal Code.
Under these facts, the trial court was sufficiently apprised of the basis for Zwarg’s objection, and thus this error was properly preserved on appeal. Accordingly, I would affirm the Court of Appeals and would remand for retrial.
Utter and Brachtenbach, JJ., concur with Johnson, J.