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Zempel v. Slater12/6/2005
R.J. Slater appeals the judgment entered after the jury's verdict in favor of Richard and Elizabeth Zempel on their negligence claims arising out of a collision between Slater's car and Richard Zempel's motorcycle. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
This accident occurred on a clear, sunny day in October at the intersection of Route B and Seeburger Road in St. Charles County. The terrain in that area is flat, and the fields at that intersection were cleared on the day of the accident. Richard Zempel and his 11-year old son were traveling in the eastbound lane of Route B on a motorcycle, and Slater was traveling south on Seeburger Road in his car. Slater had a stop sign, but there were no traffic signals applicable to Zempel. Slater testified that he was very familiar with this intersection and knew there was a stop sign on Seeburger Road but not on Route B. Photographs taken from a point just before and just past the stop sign on Seeburger Road depicted an unobstructed view of Route B. But Slater testified that the photographs did not show that, on the day of the accident, there was traffic and glare from the setting sun. Nevertheless, Slater agreed that he could see "some distance" down, and stated that he had a "sufficient view" of, the eastbound lane of Route B.
Slater testified that he stopped "long before" he got to the stop sign and looked to the left and the right many times. There was a lot of traffic, and after some of the traffic cleared, he advanced past the stop sign, but not onto the paved portion of Route B, and again looked left and right many times. Slater remained stopped just past the stop sign until the traffic cleared. He testified that he had a "sufficient view" of the eastbound lane, then he looked to the westbound lane again and, seeing that all was clear, proceeded at about five miles per hour through the intersection, continually glancing left and right as he crossed Route B. When he was leaving the intersection, there was a crash. He agreed that a portion of his car was still in Zempel's lane at the time of the collision, but Slater said that he never saw the motorcycle and had no explanation for why he had not.
The first officer to respond to the accident testified that Zempel's motorcycle was lying in the eastbound lane of Route B with extensive front-end damage and that there was a skid mark starting 84 feet, 10 inches from the intersection and ending at the motorcycle. Slater's car was off the road against a telephone pole. Over Slater's counsel's objection, the officer discussed a diagram attached to his police report depicting the "area of impact;" it showed Slater's car positioned in the middle of the intersection with half of the car in the westbound lane and half in the eastbound lane of Route B. Slater's counsel also objected to questions in which the officer was asked to indicate where the impact occurred, and Zempel's counsel withdrew those questions. But the officer did testify that he had determined the area of impact based on the motorcycle's skid mark. On cross-examination, Slater's counsel asked the officer further questions about his determination of the point of impact. The officer first explained that the motorcycle hit the car partly on the passenger-side door and partly on the front fender. The officer agreed with Slater's counsel that, based on where the car was hit and the officer's measurements, at least the front three and half feet of Slater's car was through the intersection when the motorcycle first made contact with it. On re-direct, the officer further explained that, based on the length of Slater's car, it was still blocking the entire eastbound lane of Route B at the point that Zempel's motorcycle and the car co
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