Court Opinion

ID: 9844677
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:06:28.802239+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:39.936556
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice,
dissenting.
In determining if the instant case presents one of those rare situations in which reasonable minds could not reach different conclusions, I believe the following additional details must be added to the majority’s somewhat terse summary of the facts. When Jerry Robinson, Jr. was six years old, his parents gave him a motorcycle. After his father had instructed him as to its operations, he was permitted to ride it through fields, gravel pits, on private roads and on public roads and highways to visit his grandparents and friends. At the time of the accident in question here, he was riding a larger motorcycle which had been given to him by his parents approximately three weeks prior to the accident. At the time in question, he was accompanied by his twelve-thirteen year old uncle, who had also possessed and had been riding motorcycles since he was six years old.
Jerry Robinson, Jr., the seven year old victim of these tragic circumstances, has no recollection of the accident. His uncle-companion did not see the actual accident. The only other evidence offered in opposition to the motion for summary judgment was that of Jerry Robinson, Jr.’s father, mother, and his uncle-companion. Each stated that they knew nothing and had been told nothing which would indicate that the defendant-driver was in any way negligent in his operation of the Westover vehicle. Hence, my view of the record indicates that regardless of any negligence of Jerry Robinson or its quantum, there has been no showing of any negligence on the part of the defendant-driver, nor have any facts been asserted from which an inference of his negligence could be legitimately drawn.
I find it impossible to reconcile the instant case with this Court’s recent decision in Potter v. Mulberry, 100 Idaho 429, 599 P.2d 1000 (1979). In Mulberry, the Potter vehicle was on a through highway approaching an intersection. The driver of the Potter vehicle testified only that she had seen the Mulberry vehicle stopped at the intersection awaiting vehicles to clear so that she might enter the through highway. Mulberry testified that she did not see the vehicle approaching on the through highway. I must disagree with the majority’s characterization of what the Court “concluded” in Mulberry, i. e., “that the uncontradicted evidence disclosed that the approaching driver had maintained a proper lookout.” Nowhere do I find such language or such a conclusion in Mulberry. The only statement of the Mulberry Court is:
“There is no evidence that Mrs. Potter was not observing traffic regulations as she proceeded down Jamestown Road. In fact, her uncontradicted testimony was that she was driving 5 to 10 miles per hour below the posted speed limit. There were no unusual weather or road conditions that would have necessitated driving at a slower speed. * * * Likewise, there is no evidence in this record which will sustain a jury finding of actions on the part of Mrs. Potter which could be considered as a proximate cause of the collision.”
*770Although I, along with Donaldson, C. J., dissented in Mulberry, I am required to accept such as the present law of Idaho. When the instant case is placed beside Mulberry, it is my opinion that both cannot stand. One of the two is wrong, and I would prefer that Mulberry be overruled.
In the instant case, plaintiffs are entitled to the benefit of the most preferential view of the facts and inferences arising therefrom. There are absolutely no “facts” which indicate any negligence on the part of the defendant-driver in the instant case. Although the driver of the vehicle on the through highway, just as in Mulberry, was entitled to rely upon a statute, I.C. § 49-730 [now codified as I.C. § 49-644] which required the plaintiff to yield the right-of-way to all persons approaching on the through highway, nevertheless there may be some slight inference arising from the facts that the driver of the oncoming vehicle failed to keep a proper lookout, since he might have been able to swerve and to avoid or at least slow down to avoid the more serious resulting consequences if he was keeping a proper lookout when the young boy on the motorcycle darted into his path.
If such be the rationale of the majority, then such is at clear odds with the comparable situation in Mulberry wherein the Court stated its ironclad rule of law that the driver on the through highway was entitled to assume that the entering vehicle would obey the statute and hence the driver of the vehicle on the through highway could not have been, as a matter of law, the proximate cause of the accident.
In Mulberry, the benefit of the factual view and the presumptions arising therefrom were identical to the case at bar. In Mulberry, the cause had been tried, the jury had returned a verdict for plaintiff, however attributing 40% of the negligence to the plaintiff. Plaintiff moved for a judgment n. o. v., contending plaintiff was guilty of no causative negligence, which motion was denied. This Court reversed. It is axiomatic that upon appeal all facts and the most favorable inferences arising therefrom must be construed in support of a jury verdict.
As aforesaid, I would either follow the dictates of Mulberry and affirm the summary judgment in favor of defendants or, in the alternative, overrule Mulberry and reverse the summary judgment.
DONALDSON, C. J., concurs.