 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Boggs v. Lay3/8/2005
ns for over ten years between ADM and the Mexico Department of Public Safety regarding the problem of trucks lining up on the street and blocking driveways. The truck drivers' actions of blocking the plaintiff's driveway were not wholly independent and unrelated to ADM's conduct, but rather, flowed from ADM's actions. Further, the trucks not only blocked the plaintiff's driveway, but also restricted his vision up and down the street, and of meal hauler Lay who was driving down the wrong side of the street to pass the parked trucks, as he had been instructed to do by ADM. The truck drivers' actions of blocking the plaintiff's driveway did not interrup t the chain of events set in motion by ADM, but rather, instead, contributed to the events leading to the plaintiff's injuries. And thus, accordingly, the truck drivers' actions did not constitute an intervening cause so as to sever the causation between ADM's conduct and the plaintiff's injury. The trial court did not err in denying ADM's motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict. ADM's point is denied.
For its next point on appeal, ADM alleges the trial court erred in submitting Instruction Number 15, the verdict director against ADM. ADM alleges the instruction erroneously assumed as true the disputed issue of whether ADM had control over Holt Street sufficient to give rise to any duty owing to plaintiff including the duty set out in the instruction to use care to made the street safe for use by members of the public.
Whether a jury was properly instructed is a question of law which this Court reviews de novo. Harvey v. Washington, 95 S.W.3d 93, 97 (Mo.banc 2003); Hosto, 51 S.W.3d at 142. The purpose of a verdict-directing instruction is to hypothesize propositions of fact to be found or rejected by the jury. Lasky v. Union Elec. Co., 936 S.W.2d 797, 800 (Mo.banc 1997). A verdict-directing instruction must require the jury to find all the necessary elements of a plaintiff's case except for uncontroverted facts. Cline v. William H. Friedman & Associates, Inc., 882 S.W.2d 754, 763 (Mo.App. E.D. 1994). When a fact material to a plaintiff's case is conceded or undisputed, its inclusion under an approved jury instruction is not mandatory. Sheehan v. Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. Co., 103 S.W.3d 121, 127 (Mo.App. E.D. 2002). It is reversible error, however, for a verdict-directing instruction to assume a disputed fact. Lasky, 936 S.W.2d at 800; Harvey, 95 S.W.3d at 97. Which facts are ultimate facts must be determined on a case-by-case basis, and depends on the specific theory of negligence presented by the plaintiff. Ostrander v. O'Banion, 152 S.W.3d 333, 336 (Mo.App. W.D. 2004) citing Stalcup v. Orthotic & Prosthetic Lab, Inc., 989 S.W.2d 654, 658 (Mo.App. 1999).
ADM contends that the instruction impermissibly assumed the disputed fact of whether ADM had control over Holt Street. More specifically, ADM argues that, if its alleged control over Holt Street could have been the source of a duty on ADM's part, then the disputed question of whether ADM actually exercised control should have been submitted to the jury. ADM complains it was found liable without any finding by the jury that ADM controlled traffic on Holt Street. ADM's argument misses the mark. Plaintiff's theory in this case was that ADM had created a dangerous condition on Holt Street. The duty asserted in this case was not a duty that arose by virtue of control; rather, it was a duty that arose by virtue of a hazardous condition. The disputed issue here is whether ADM, by its actions, had created a hazardous condition, not whether ADM had control over Holt Street.
The verdict director in this case tracked the provisions of M.A.I. 22.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Missouri Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|