 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Nilsson v. Bierman12/29/2003
at the court's instructions on burden of proof, negligence and proximate cause were "lost on the jury." We presume that jurors follow the court's instructions, however. See State v. Fortier, 146 N.H. 784, 793 (2001).
D. Chellman v. Saab-Scania
The defendant mistakenly relies upon Chellman v. Saab-Scania AB, 138 N.H. 73, 81 (1993). Chellman was a products liability case in which the manufacturer had asserted, as an affirmative defense, that the driver's misconduct caused his car accident. Id. at 76, 81. The plaintiffs admitted that the driver's speed exceeded the speed limit. Id. at 81. The trial court instructed the jurors that if they found that the driver "violated the statutory speed limit and that his speed caused or contributed to cause the accident, then his speed was misconduct as a matter of law and they should determine the extent of his misconduct." Id. We held that these instructions took the question of whether the driver's speed was reasonable and prudent away from the jury. Id.
By contrast, in this case, whether the defendant exceeded the speed limit was disputed. Further, the court's instructions made clear that the jury was to determine whether the defendant's speed was reasonable and prudent under the circumstances. In making this determination, the court instructed the jury to examine a number of factors, including traffic, weather and highway conditions.
Consistent with the court's instructions, the jury could have found the defendant's speed reasonable, under the circumstances, even if it violated the statutory speed limit of thirty miles per hour. See RSA 265:60, II(b) (1993); RSA 259:118 (1993). For instance, the jury could have believed the testimony of a former State trooper who testified that, in his opinion, traveling at thirty-five to forty miles per hour would not have been unreasonable given the traffic, weather and highway conditions that existed at the time of the accident. He explained that, in his experience, "on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of the summer, very light traffic, very light if any pedestrian traffic, I certainly don't think 40 was unreasonable if that was indeed the speed."
These instructions, unlike those in Chellman, did not remove the question of whether the defendant's speed was reasonable and prudent from the jury's consideration. Viewed as a whole, these instructions, unlike the Chellman instructions, permitted the jury to find that even though the defendant's speed exceeded the speed limit, his speed was reasonable under the circumstances.
E. Failure to Define "Prima Facie"
The defendant argues that the trial court's instructions were particularly misleading because they did not define the phrase "prima facie evidence." While we agree with the defendant that it would have been preferable for the court to have defined the phrase, see id., when viewing the instructions as a whole, we cannot say that its failure to do so failed to adequately explain the law so as to mislead the jury. Transmedia Restaurant, 149 N.H. at 457. Viewed as a whole, the instructions adequately informed the jury that whether the defendant's speed was reasonable and prudent was more than just a function of whether it complied with the statutory speed limits.
Affirmed.
BROCK, C.J., and NADEAU, DALIANIS and DUGGAN, JJ., concurred.
|