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Bonds v. Emerson3/19/2002
This cases arises out of an automobile accident which occurred on February 16, 1997, on Highway 70 West near the City of Brownsville. That morning, Melvin Bonds ("Mr. Bonds"), an investigator with the Haywood County Sheriff's Department, an employee of Appellee Haywood County, received a call that another police officer needed assistance. Mr. Bonds left his home in his unmarked police cruiser, and headed west on Highway 70, at speeds of close to 100 miles per hour. Mr. Bonds testified that, when he left his home in his cruiser, he activated his blue lights and siren. However, one independent witness testified that Mr. Bonds was only using his siren intermittently, and two other independent witnesses testified that they heard no siren right before the crash.
At the same time Mr. Bonds was driving down Highway 70, the Appellant, Erica Emerson ("Ms. Emerson"), who was 16-years old at the time, had pulled her truck into a large, private driveway on Highway 70 in order to turn around. Ms. Emerson testified that she looked for traffic approaching from either direction on Highway 70, and then pulled out of the driveway. Ms. Emerson testified that she didn't see Mr. Bonds' cruiser before the impact.
Ms. Emerson claims that she didn't hear a siren before the accident, and on this point, there is conflicting evidence as to how loudly Ms. Emerson was playing her car radio at the time. Under oath, Ms. Emerson admitted that the radio was playing at the time of the accident, but she claims she had turned it down before re-entering the roadway. Other witnesses at trial claimed the radio was playing loudly after the accident occurred, and that someone at the scene turned it off.
Mr. Bonds' cruiser struck Ms. Emerson's truck in front of the driveway. The force of the crash knocked Ms. Emerson's vehicle to a final resting point 75 feet from the point of impact. Mr. Bond's vehicle left 204 feet of skid marks. Experts for both sides calculated Mr. Bonds' speed at 99 miles per hour, and one expert opined that, if Mr. Bonds had been traveling at 80 miles per hour, he would have been able to avoid the accident.
On February 16, 1998, Mr. Bonds and his wife, Virginia, filed a complaint against Mike and Vickie Emerson, parents of Erica Emerson, and Erica Emerson (the "Emersons"). On April 20, 1998, the Emersons filed a complaint against Mr. Bonds individually, and against Haywood County. The parties agreed to consolidate the cases, and the order consolidating the cases set the matter as a bench trial, and dismissed the claim against Mr. Bonds, individually. At the bench trial in this matter, held November 7, 2000, the trial court announced its findings from the bench, which we quote:
I find that the defendant, Erica Emerson, was negligent in that she failed to keep a proper lookout for other traffic properly upon the roadway. And I find that because of that, she failed to give the right of way to the plaintiff, Melvin Bonds, Junior, whose vehicle had the right of way as he traveled on a thorough (sic) highway.
I find that that negligence was also the proximate cause of the collision as well as the injuries and damages sustained by both her and Mr. Bonds. I find that the appropriate T.C.A. statutes did require that she do that.
I find that had she been keeping a proper lookout, she would have scene (sic) the approaching vehicle; that her view was unobstructed for approximately 1,200 feet; and that even with Mr. Bonds traveling at an agreed upon speed of 99 miles per hour, she still had several seconds within which she could have and should have scene (sic) his vehicle.
I find that the evidence is inconclusive as to whether or
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