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Yardman v. San Juan Downs Inc.8/23/1995
gent, and that Plaintiff should he awarded $400,000 in damages. Because of the $300,000 limitation imposed under former Section 41-4-19(A)(2) of the Tort Claims Act on the amount of damages that could be awarded, the trial court reduced Plaintiff's damage award to $300,000.
DEFENDANTS' APPEAL
1. Jury Instructions
8. Defendants' initial issue raised on appeal involves first, a claim of error arising out of the trial court's denial of a requested instruction tendered by Defendants, and second, a challenge to a jury instruction submitted by Plaintiff which was given by the trial court over Defendants' objection.
(a) Instruction Re Voluntary Exposure to Known Danger
9. Defendants' answer to Plaintiff's complaint denied any negligent acts or omissions on its part and raised as an affirmative defense that "the injuries, if any, complained of by Plaintiff occurred as a direct and proximate result of Plaintiff's own negligent conduct, which precludes Plaintiff's recovery herein or reduces it by that percentage extent attributable to his own negligence in accordance with the law of comparative fault."
10. At trial, Defendants tendered a proposed jury instruction based on SCRA 1986, 13-302C (Repl. 1991), stating that Defendants denied any negligence on their part and that Plaintiff himself was negligent in two respects. Defendants' requested instruction stated in part that Defendants "had the burden of proving at least one of the following contentions: 1. That [Plaintiff] was careless or inattentive in the manner in which he rode his horse[, and] 2. That [Plaintiff] was aware of or had reason to know of the type of rail used at San Juan Downs." The trial court refused Defendants' tendered instruction but did give another instruction which covered Defendants' claim that Plaintiff was "careless or inattentive in the manner in which he rode his horse."
11. Defendants contend on appeal that the trial court erred in refusing their tendered instruction that required the jury to consider both of its comparative negligence theories and its claim that Plaintiff was negligent in riding a horse at the track when he was "aware of or had reason to know of the type of rail used at San Juan Downs." Defendants rely in part on ), in support of their claim that the trial court should have permitted the jury to compare Plaintiff's fault, if any, in riding at the track when, purportedly, he knew or should have known that the track rail constituted a hazard and voluntarily exposed himself to a known danger. In Thompson, similar to the factual situation involved in the instant case, the plaintiff was a jockey who was injured when she fell from a horse and was thrown against the track rail. In her cross-appeal, Thompson argued that the trial court erred in apportioning negligence based on the defendant's assertion that she voluntarily assumed the risk inherent in falling or being thrown from a horse in such manner so that she struck the track rail.
12. The Thompson Court held: "Plaintiff. . . also challenges the trial court's findings on the apportionment of negligence. There is ample evidence in the record to support the trial court's apportionment of negligence. See ." . Judge Alarid, speaking for the Court, also noted:
In her cross-appeal, plaintiff argues that she should not have been held to be negligent to any extent. . . . As we have already pointed out, there was evidence from which the trial court [sitting without a jury] could and did conclude that plaintiff voluntarily encountered a known danger. Plaintiff's rejoinder is that she was economically coerced into riding at defendant's track, because if she was to pursue her
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