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Maxwell v. Palmer12/22/2000
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clarke County, Arthur E. Gamble, Judge.
Plaintiff appeals following a trial in which the jury found plaintiff's decedent fifty-one percent at fault and defendants forty-nine percent at fault for the automobile accident in which the decedent's death occurred. AFFIRMED.
Plaintiff appeals following a trial in which the jury found plaintiff's decedent fifty-one percent at fault and defendants forty-nine percent at fault for the automobile accident in which the decedent's death occurred. Plaintiff contends (1) the jury verdict is not supported by sufficient evidence, (2) the verdict was a result of jury misconduct, (3) the jury wrongly based its verdict on the defendants' ability to pay, (4) the court erred in excluding testimony as to the driver's driving habits, and (5) the court erred in denying his claim for loss of enjoyment of life sustained after the loss of consciousness or death. We affirm.
Background Facts and Proceedings.
On August 6, 1997, Richard Maxwell was driving a pickup on Page Street, a gravel road in Clarke County. He approached the stop sign at the "T" intersection of Page Street with County Highway R-35. He intended to cross R-35 and enter a field where he was going to bale hay. Geoffory Palmer was driving a car owned by his father, Timothy Palmer, north on County Highway R-35. County Highway R-35 has no stop sign at the intersection in question. The parties dispute the speed at which Palmer was driving just prior to the accident, although it appears Palmer was speeding. The parties also dispute whether Maxwell stopped at the stop sign before pulling out in front of the Palmer vehicle. The Palmer vehicle swerved left, into the southbound lane, apparently to avoid Maxwell's pickup. Palmer's brakes locked. The cars collided. Maxwell died a short time later.
Plaintiff, one of Maxwell's five adult children and the administrator of his estate, filed suit on behalf of the estate. Plaintiff's amended and substituted petition included the following counts: (1) negligence on the part of Geoffory Palmer; (2) punitive damages; (3) negligent entrustment against Timothy Palmer as the owner of the car Geoffory was driving; and (4) loss of parental consortium on the part of Maxwell's five adult children.
Following the trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants, finding Maxwell fifty-one percent at fault and Geoffory Palmer forty-nine percent at fault. The court denied plaintiff's motion to vacate jury verdict and request for new trial. Plaintiff appeals.
Standard of Review. We review the district court's denial of a motion for new trial for abuse of discretion. Johnson v. Knoxville Community Sch. Dist., 570 N.W.2d 633, 635 (Iowa 1997); Ten Hagen v. DeNooy, 563 N.W.2d 4, 10 (Iowa App. 1997). In ruling on a motion for new trial, the court has broad but not unlimited discretion to determine if the verdict effectuates substantial justice among the parties. Iowa R. App. P. 14(f)(3); Vaughan v. Must, Inc., 542 N.W.2d 533, 542 (Iowa 1996). We review the trial court's exclusion of evidence and plaintiff's assertion the trial court erred in denying a damage claim for corrections of errors at law. Iowa R. App. P. 4.
Substantial Evidence to Support Jury Verdict.
Maxwell claims Geoffory Palmer violated several "rules of the road", all of which amount to negligence or negligence per se. Given these violations, and the testimony of Maxwell's expert witnesses as to the speed of Palmer's vehicle at the time of the accident, Maxwell contends insufficient evidence exists for a reasonably prudent juror to conclude Richard Maxwell was more at fault than Geof
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