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Munns v. Swift Transportation Co.11/6/2002
river involved in an accident with an animal to remain indefinitely at the scene "until he has fulfilled the requirements of the law" was not within the contemplation of the legislature when it enacted the statute. According to Swift, Instruction 31, which is a negligence per se instruction, was improperly given to the jury.
Whether a statute provides a negligence per se circumstance has recently been addressed by this Court. To constitute negligence as a matter of law, the statute must (1) clearly define the required standard of conduct; (2) the statute or regulation must have been intended to prevent the type of harm the defendant's act or omission caused; (3) the plaintiff must be a member of the class of persons the statute or regulation was designed to protect; and (4) the violation of the terms of the statute must have been the proximate cause of the injury . Ahles v. Tabor, 136 Idaho 393, 395, 34 P.3d 1076, 1078 (2001), citing Sanchez v. Galey, 112 Idaho 609, 617, 733 P.2d 1234, 1242 (1986). In Ahles, we reversed the district court's finding of negligence per se, holding the standard of conduct described in the statute in question to be vague and requiring statutory interpretation to discern the intent of the statute, which was not subject to but one clear meaning. Id.
Idaho Code section 49-1301(1) directs the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident to immediately stop and to remain at the scene until he has fulfilled the requirements of law. The statute prescribes the duty owed by the drivers in an accident to each other, presumably to allow information gathering concerning the accident. However, the statute qualifies "an accident" by limiting it to one "resulting in only damage to a vehicle which is driven or attended by a person." In the case before us, where the property damage caused by the accident was to the front bumper of Swift's truck and to a runaway horse, the applicability of the statute is not obvious. The inherent ambiguity in the statute precludes a conclusion that Swift Transportation Co., Inc., and its driver were negligent as a matter of law for violating the statute by not remaining at the scene of the accident with the horse. Moreover, a second, subsequent accident with the then dead horse was not the harm sought to be prevented by the statute. Thus, because the four-part test of Sanchez v. Galey has not been met, we conclude that I.C. ยง 49-1301(1) cannot be held to define conduct that would give rise to negligence per se under the facts of this case. We hold that Instruction 31 should not have been given to the jury.
Next, we examine whether the instruction was harmless error. Only where the instruction misleads the jury or prejudices a party is the giving of an instruction reversible error. Student Loan Fund of Idaho, Inc. v. Duerner, 131 Idaho 45, 951 P.2d 1272 (1997).
When a jury verdict is rendered on the basis of incorrect instructions, the appropriate remedy is the granting of a new trial. Walton v. Potlatch Corp., supra.
In DeGraff v.Wight, 130 Idaho 577, 944 P.2d 712 (1997), the giving of an instruction containing an erroneous statement of the law regarding an owner or occupier's duty to a trespasser was held to be reversible error sufficient to justify vacating the verdict and remanding for a new trial. Id. at 580, 944 P .2d at 715. The Court in DeGraff relied upon Salinas v. Vierstra, 107 Idaho 984, 695 P.2d 369 (1985), where the Court held that the erroneous statement of law was not cured by the other instructions and that " t entirely too plausible that the jury may have reached its verdict based on or guided by the erroneous instructions." Id. at 991, 695 P.2d at 376.
The special verdict form i
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