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Jenkins v. Pyles4/22/2005
In this personal injury action arising out of a motor vehicle accident, we consider whether the circuit court erred in setting aside a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the ground that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.
The accident at issue occurred in June 2000, when Clarence W. Jenkins, Jr. was driving a pickup truck on State Route 259, a two-lane road, in Rockingham County. Daymion W. Pyles was driving a truck owned by his employer, Valley Implement Sales, Inc. (Valley), on the same road in the opposite direction. Pyles' truck was towing a six-row corn planter, which was 14 feet wide and extended a few feet into Jenkins' lane of travel. The corn planter collided with Jenkins' vehicle as the two trucks met and passed each other.
Jenkins filed a motion for judgment against Pyles and Valley (collectively, the defendants), alleging that he was injured because of Pyles' negligence in failing to keep his vehicle and the towed farm machinery under proper control in his designated lane of travel. The defendants filed grounds of defense denying that they were negligent and asserting that Jenkins' negligence caused the collision.
In a jury trial, Jenkins presented evidence that at the time of the accident, he was driving his pickup truck up a hill behind a large telephone service truck (the telephone truck) and was unable to see Pyles' truck and the corn planter in time to avoid the collision. Dean S. Webster, the Virginia State Trooper who investigated the accident, testified that at the point of impact, Route 259 has a "slight, gradual incline." He stated that each lane of the road is 12 feet wide, and that the corn planter was 14 feet wide and extended over the double solid line into Jenkins' lane of travel. Webster also stated that the telephone truck traveling in front of Jenkins' vehicle was greater in height than Jenkins' pickup truck.
Sheldon Cline testified that at the time of the collision, he was operating a tractor-trailer truck directly behind Jenkins' truck. Cline stated, without objection, that he did not think Jenkins could see the corn planter because the telephone truck in front of Jenkins was greater in height and width than Jenkins' pickup truck. Cline also testified that his truck and Jenkins' truck were both moving up the hill at the time of the collision.
Jenkins testified that at the time of the accident, his truck was traveling up a hill between two and three truck lengths behind the telephone truck. He stated that the telephone truck suddenly "shot off the side of the road," and that three or four seconds later he collided with the corn planter. He stated that he was unable to see Pyles' truck or the corn planter because of the crest of the hill.
When Jenkins was asked by defense counsel whether he took any evasive action prior to the collision, Jenkins replied, "You can't avoid something you can't see, sir." Jenkins also testified that even if he had seen Pyles' truck and the corn planter, he would not have been able to avoid the collision because there was an embankment on his side of the roadway at that location.
Pyles testified that his truck had a "wide load" sign on its front bumper, and that the vehicle's four-way "flashers" were activated. He also stated that the corn planter had two orange warning flags mounted on each side. Pyles related that as he drove down the hill, he could see both the telephone truck and Jenkins' truck coming toward him. Pyles testified that after the telephone truck "slightly pulled off to the side of the road," Jenkins "drifted out, and it was too late" to avoid a collision with him.
Wayne E. Crider, th
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