Court Opinion

ID: 9725455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:48:30.719047+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:15.379716
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
The jury found that Donovan was negligent and that Conover was not negligent. On the record before us and under the instructions given, the jury could have found that Donovan, which had been in direct contact with NSP concerning this project and had been on the jobsite for the duration of the project, knew or should have known that the pole might be defective and that it had not been inspected for heart rot. The jury could have concluded that Conover, who was on the jobsite for the first time on the day of the injury and who could see that work on the pole had been done, could not reasonably have been expected to know that the pole might be defective and that it had not been properly inspected.
The evidence would not support a finding that Conover was contributorily negligent as a matter of law. “We have said repeatedly that it is only where the evidence of contributory negligence is so clear as to leave no room for an honest difference of opinion among reasonable men that the court can enter upon the province of the jury to direct a verdict for the defendant.” Krueger v. Knutson, 261 Minn. 144, 153, 111 N.W.2d 526, 532 (1961) (citations omitted).
The trial was properly conducted. We have found no errors of law occurring at the trial prejudicial to respondent. Damages are not claimed to be excessive. I can find no reason to sustain the order for a conditional new trial even as to liability and would reverse with directions to enter judgment upon the verdict.