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Lyons v. Walsh & Sons Trucking Co.9/10/2004
En Banc
Argued and submitted January 13, 2004.
Meagan A. Flynn, of Preston Bunnell & Stone, LLP, Portland, argued the cause and filed the brief for petitioners on review.
The decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the circuit court are affirmed.
This personal injury case arose out of a fatal automobile collision between a truck belonging to defendant Walsh & Sons Trucking (Walsh) and an Oregon State Police (OSP) vehicle. Plaintiffs are the parents and copersonal representatives of OSP Trooper Lyons, who was killed in the accident along with his colleague, OSP Sergeant Rector. Rector was driving the OSP vehicle. Plaintiffs brought a wrongful death action against Walsh. The case was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict for Walsh. Plaintiffs appealed, arguing to the Court of Appeals that the trial court had erred both in admitting certain evidence relating to Rector's fault in causing the accident and in refusing to instruct the jury in the manner that plaintiffs had requested respecting the way in which the jury could consider Rector's conduct. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Lyons v. Walsh & Sons Trucking Co., Ltd., 183 Or App 76, 51 P3d 625 (2002). We allowed plaintiffs' petition for review and now affirm, but for reasons other than those that the Court of Appeals stated.
We take our statement of the operative facts, together with the procedural history of the trial, from the opinion of the Court of Appeals:
"On September 2, 1997, OSP Trooper Chin was patrolling on Crescent Cutoff Road near Gilchrist when he saw a pickup truck skid through a T-intersection and crash down the embankment on the opposite side of the road. In response, Chin pulled his unmarked patrol car off to the side of the eastbound travel lane and activated the car's grille lights.
"At the same time, Trooper Lyons and Sergeant Rector were patrolling in the area. They learned about the accident and, with Rector driving their marked OSP Jeep Cherokee, approached the accident from the opposite (westbound) direction. Behind them, also traveling west, was a tractor trailer driven by defendant's employee, William Melillo. As the Jeep approached the accident scene, it began to slow and move gradually onto the westbound shoulder of the road. Melillo continued to approach at more than 50 miles per hour, but moved his truck to the left, partly over the yellow center line. At that point, Rector made a U-turn, turning in front of Melillo towards the opposite side of the road where Chin was parked. Melillo was unable to stop, and his truck struck the Jeep in a "T-bone" fashion. At the time of the collision, the Jeep's blue and red flashing lights were activated, as was its left turn signal. Both Lyons and Rector died as a result of the collision. Later laboratory tests revealed that Melillo had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the collision.
"In June 1998, plaintiffs brought this wrongful death action against defendant. Plaintiffs alleged that Melillo had been negligent in numerous particulars, including driving the truck at excessive speed under the circumstances, failing to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle, and driving under the influence of a controlled substance, and that Melillo's negligence had caused Lyons's death.
"Before trial, plaintiffs moved to prevent defendant from presenting any 'evidence, argument or information that asks the jury to attribute any fault for the accident to the actions of Sergeant Rector.' * * * In addition, plaintiffs sought to exclude, as 'unhelpful,' opinion evidence by various OSP experts that Rector's U-turn was the 'principal contributing factor'
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