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Munns v. Swift Transportation Co.11/6/2002
2002 Opinion No. 129
Order denying motion for new trial in personal injury action, reversed. Case remanded.
This is a personal injury action arising from the collision of Glen Munns' car with a dead horse on the road. The horse had been hit and killed by a truck belonging to Swift Transportation Co., Inc. Following trial, Swift Transportation and its driver who had killed the horse were found 80% at fault for Munns' accident. Swift moved the district court for a new trial. The district court denied Swift's motion for a new trial as to both liability and damages, but conditionally directed a remittitur of part of the damages as an alternative to ordering a new trial on the issue of damages only. On appeal, Swift challenges the district court's memorandum decision denying a new trial on the issues relating to the special verdict and the jury instructions. Munns and his wife, Elaine Munns, (hereinafter "Munns") cross-appeal from the district court's decision to grant a remittitur reducing the damage award and denying some of Munns' claimed costs. For the reasons stated below, we reverse the order denying a new trial and we remand the case for a new trial on the questions of both liability and damages.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Munns was traveling southbound on Highway 20 from Rexburg to Idaho Falls in the early morning hours of October 10, 1997, when he collided with a dead horse on the highway. Although Munns was familiar with the road, he failed to see the dead horse in the road because of the dark, rainy conditions. Munns' vehicle struck the horse, flipped onto its roof and slid down the road in an upside down position. Munns suffered an L-4 compression fracture of his spine and had to be extricated from the car by emergency personnel.
The owners of the horse, Wade and Linda Zollinger, had delivered the animal to Tadd and Tamara Jenkins as a replacement for another horse that belonged to the Jenkins and had just recently died. Tadd Jenkins' father, Tim Jenkins, arranged for Zollinger to deliver the horse to a pasture at the Jenkins facility. After the horse was delivered by Zollinger, Tim Jenkins checked on the horses in the pasture and secured the pasture's two gates. During the night of October 10, 1997, however, three horses got out of the pasture, and the Zollinger horse was hit and killed by a semi-truck driven by a Swift Transportation Co., Inc., employee. The driver reported the accident but left the horse on the roadway. Tim Jenkins testified that when he returned to check the gates after learning of the accident, it was obvious to him that someone had undone the wires holding one of the gates shut, allowing the gate to open and the horses to escape.
Munns, joined by their insurer, Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co., brought suit against Swift Transportation Co., Inc., the Zollingers, and Tadd and Tamara Jenkins, seeking damages for injuries suffered in the accident. The district court dismissed the Zollingers on their summary judgment motion, and the case went to trial against the remaining defendants. The jury completed a special verdict form, assessing liability in the following proportions: 10% to Glenn Munns, 80% to Swift Transportation Co., Inc. and its driver, 0% to Tadd and Tamara Jenkins and 10% to Tim Jenkins. Although Tim Jenkins was not a named party in the suit, the jury determined that he held some responsibility to Munns, for his part in securing the gate to the pasture.
The jury awarded damages to Munns and to Farm Bureau. Following the verdict, Swift Transportation Co., Inc., filed a motion for new trial pursuant to I.R.C.P. 59(a), asserting three separate grounds: (1) that the district court shou
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