Court Opinion

ID: 9712476
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:54:54.853284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:12.492043
License: Public Domain

ROBB, Judge,
concurring in result in part with opinion.
I respectfully concur in the result reached by the majority as to the issue of the incurred risk instruction.
Wallace contends on appeal that the trial court erred in giving an instruction to the jury on the defense of incurred risk. I agree.
The trial court gave the following instruction over Wallace's objection:
A person incurs the risk of injury if she knew of a danger, understood the risk involved, and voluntarily exposed herself to such danger.
In deciding whether the plaintiff incurred the risk, you may consider the experience and understanding of the plaintiff; whether the plaintiff had reasonable opportunity to abandon the course of action; and whether a reasonable person would have abandoned the course of action.
If you decide that plaintiff incurred the risk of some or all the injuries claimed, then the plaintiff's conduct is negligent.
Appendix to Appellant's Brief at 39.
The affirmative defense of incurred risk requires evidence of a plaintiffs actual knowledge and appreciation of the specific risk involved and voluntary acceptance of that risk. Kostidis v. General Cinema *204Corp. of Indiana, 754 N.E.2d 568, 571 (Ind.Ct.App.2001). One of the prongs for determining whether an instruction was erroneously given is whether there is evidence in the record to support giving the instruction. See id. at 570. In this case, I do not believe there was evidence to support giving the instruction.
Wallace testified that there was not a rail on the right side of the stairwell as she went up, only a rail in the middle of the stairs to her left. Tr. 108-04. She moved to the rail to ascend the stairs and when she got near the top, she saw her daughter and moved back to the right and the wall to talk with her. Then a bell (presumably the fire alarm) rang and students started coming down the stairs. Wallace said to her daughter, "Let me move out of the way before I get knocked down," and she moved up a couple of steps to the landing, where she stood against the wall. Tr. 104. I believe this evidence demonstrates that Wallace knew and appreciated the danger of falling or being otherwise injured if she stayed on the steps, away from the railing, with an ailing foot, and with students coming down the stairs. I do not believe this demonstrates any actual knowledge or appreciation on Wallace's part that there was a danger of her being injured by moving to a place where she thought she would be on steady ground and out of the way of the students. I also do not believe this demonstrates any knowledge or appreciation that someone would instruct her to move and physically turn her around and move her toward the steps. For this reason, I do not believe that there was any evidence in the record to support giving an instruction on incurred risk.
However, as the majority has noted, errors in instruction are harmless and do not require reversal where the verdict would have been no different had the jury been properly instructed. Smock Materials Handling Co. v. Kerr, 719 N.E.2d 396, 402 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). Because Wallace's cause of action was against a school, comparative negligence does not apply, and any contributory negligence on Wallace's part would bar her recovery. If, in fact, the jury's verdict was based upon its assessment that Wallace had incurred the risk, the jury also would have undoubtedly found that Wallace's conduct constituted contributory negligence and the verdict would have been the same even if the incurred risk instruction had not been given. Under these circumstances, I agree that the result would not have differed if the erroneous instruction had not been given, and therefore, I concur in the result reached by the majority that reversal is not warranted.
In all other respects, I concur with the majority opinion.