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Talbott v. Roswell Hospital Corp.6/22/2005
Roswell Hospital Corporation (the Hospital) appeals from a judgment in favor of Kim and Bonnie Talbott (Plaintiffs), as co-personal representatives of the estate of Damon K. Talbott (Decedent). The Hospital raises six issues on appeal. We reverse and remand on grounds that a significant question of fact was improperly decided by the district court, rather than the jury. We also address a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to establish proximate cause. We find it unnecessary to consider the remaining issues.
BACKGROUND
This case arises from a fatal helicopter crash that occurred near Roswell, New Mexico on October 19, 2001. At the time, Decedent was participating in a landing-zone training exercise conducted by an air ambulance service, Medical Air Transport, Inc. (MAT), at the local State Police Office.
MAT had been operating in the Roswell area since December of 2000, and it utilized a helicopter pad at the Hospital as its base of operations. Apart from using the Hospital's helicopter pad, MAT's relationship with the Hospital was fairly limited and relatively informal, as discussed at greater length below.
An investigation was conducted after the crash. Experts concluded that there were two possible direct causes of the accident: (1) overly aggressive maneuvering of the helicopter or (2) failure of the hydraulic system. Without going into unnecessary detail, it was undisputed that in either of these possible scenarios, pilot negligence was involved.
Plaintiffs sued the Hospital, MAT, and the pilot, among others. As a consequence of settlements and other developments, Plaintiffs dismissed their claims against all of the defendants except the Hospital. The case proceeded to trial, and the jury returned a verdict in Plaintiffs' favor, from which the Hospital appeals.
DISCUSSION
Duty of Care
The first issue on appeal concerns the existence of a duty of care, a necessary element of Plaintiffs' tort claims. See Bober v. N.M. State Fair, 111 N.M. 644, 653, 808 P.2d 614, 623 (1991) (observing that "an injured person's complaint must allege at least some facts . . . giving rise to invocation of th duty [to exercise ordinary care for the safety of others]"). Two theories have been advanced. We address each in turn.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 411
Throughout the proceedings below, Plaintiffs based their claims against the Hospital on the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 411 (1965) (Section 411). Section 411 provides that an employer can be held liable for negligence in the selection of an independent contractor. See Williams v. Cent. Consol. Sch. Dist., 1998-NMCA-006, 16, 124 N.M. 488, 952 P.2d 978. On appeal, the Hospital does not mount a generalized attack on the viability of this approach. Rather, the dispute is confined to the applicability of Section 411 in light of the particular facts and circumstances of this case. We limit our discussion accordingly. See In re Doe, 98 N.M. 540, 541, 650 P.2d 824, 825 (1982) (indicating that appellate courts should not reach issues the parties fail to raise on appeal).
Below, the Hospital argued that Section 411 could not be relied upon to establish a duty of care on its part, because the evidence did not establish an employer-independent contractor relationship between MAT and itself. After each party had fully presented its case the district court directed a verdict as to this issue, ruling that the evidence conclusively established a relationship within the scope of Section 411. The Hospital challenges this determination on appeal.
Generally, " he existence of a legal duty i
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