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Jordan v. Neff12/28/2001
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Douglas R. Russell, Judge.
Plaintiff appeals following trial on her personal injury action in which the jury found the defendant was not negligent in the automobile accident that caused the plaintiff's alleged injuries.
The plaintiff, Karla Jordan, appeals following a trial on her personal injury action in which the jury found the defendant, Duane Neff, was not at fault in an accident in which she claimed she suffered injuries. Because we find the district court correctly denied Jordan's motion for summary judgment and her motion for directed verdict, we affirm.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
On January 24, 1998, defendant Duane Neff was driving north on Gilbert Street in Iowa City. The road, although not marked for four lanes of travel, did accommodate two lanes in each direction. Neff was in the left hand "lane", when he decided to return to the grocery store from which he just been shopping. He moved into the right lane, but did not observe that a car driven by Steve Warner was in that lane, attempting to pass his vehicle. Warner noticed the Neff vehicle attempting to enter his lane and reacted by swerving his vehicle to the right and over the curb. The Neff and Warner vehicles never came in contact with each other, and Neff's vehicle took Warner's place in the right lane. The plaintiff, Karla Jordan, had been following the Warner vehicle in the right lane. Shortly after Neff's lane change, Jordan's vehicle struck Neff's vehicle in the rear. Jordan claimed to have suffered $24,000 in medical expenses as a result of injuries suffered in the collision.
Jordan subsequently brought this action against Neff. Prior to trial, Jordan filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of Neff's fault. The court denied the motion, finding that Neff's fault could not be determined as a matter of law because Jordan's actions may have contributed to the accident. After the close of evidence, the court also denied Jordan's motion for directed verdict regarding Neff's fault. Following the trial, the jury returned a verdict finding that Neff was not at fault in the accident. Jordan appeals. She contends the court erred in (1) refusing to grant partial summary judgment regarding whether Neff was at fault in the accident, and (2) refusing to grant a directed verdict on Neff's fault. Jordan seeks a new trial.
II. Summary Judgment.
We review a summary judgment ruling for correction of errors of law. Shriver v. City of Okoboji, 567 N.W.2d 397, 400 (Iowa 1997). Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. We will review the record before the district court to determine whether an issue of material fact exists, and if not, whether the district court properly applied the law. Id. The facts are reviewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Id. Even if the facts are undisputed, summary judgment is not appropriate if reasonable minds can draw different inferences from the evidence. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Pflibsen, 350 N.W.2d 202, 205 (Iowa 1984). Generally, questions of negligence are for the jury; only in exceptional cases should they be decided as a matter of law. Iowa R. App. P. 14(f)(10).
Jordan asserts the district court erred in refusing to grant her partial summary judgment motion regarding the fault of Neff. In particular, her motion sought to establish that there was no genuine issue of material fact regarding Neff's conduct and that Neff's negligence in some degree could be determined by the court as a matter of law. Her motion di
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