Clark v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc.

108 So. 3d 407, 2011 WL 6156866, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 796
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 13, 2011
DocketNo. 2009-CA-00554-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 108 So. 3d 407 (Clark v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc., 108 So. 3d 407, 2011 WL 6156866, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 796 (Mich. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ISHEE, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Late one evening in July 2001, Shenandoah Clark got behind the wheel of his friend’s 2000 Toyota Tundra TRD truck (the truck) in Tupelo, Mississippi, to drive them to a casino out of town. While driving, Clark crashed the truck. Thereafter, Clark suffered severe spinal injuries, causing him to become a quadriplegic. Clark and his then-wife, Christie Johnston Clark (Christie), sued Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., Toyota Motor Co. Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Distributors, Inc., and Roper Toyota, Inc. (collectively referred to as Toyota) in Hinds County Circuit Court, claiming the truck was defective. After a trial on the merits before Judge Winston L. Kidd, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Toyota. Clark and Christie timely filed an appeal claiming: (1) the circuit court abused its discretion by failing to grant Clark’s motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or, alternatively, a new trial; (2) the circuit court abused its discretion by allowing jurors to view the truck and a comparable truck provided by Toyota outside the courtroom; (3) the circuit court erred by submitting jury-verdict sheets to the jury without the modifications requested by Clark’s attorneys; (4) the circuit court abused its discretion by denying Clark’s motion to strike Toyota’s expert witness and refusing to allow Clark to present a rebuttal witness; (5) Toyota’s closing remarks were improper; and (6) the circuit court’s cumulative errors warrant reversal and remand of the case for a new trial. Toyota responded and filed a counter-appeal claiming that Hinds County was not a proper venue and that the circuit court abused its discretion by excluding evidence of Clark’s drinking and intoxication on the night of the incident. Finding no error, we affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. On the night of July 11, 2001, Clark was shooting pool with friends, including Kevin Knight, at a local pool hall in Tupe-lo, Mississippi. After some time at the pool hall, Knight invited Clark and the others back to Knight’s house, where the group continued visiting. Sometime around midnight, Clark and Knight decided to drive to a casino located in Tunica, Mississippi. Knight began driving the pair in his new truck, but at some point during the trip, he became tired and asked Clark to drive. Clark complied, and shortly thereafter, Knight fell asleep in the passenger’s seat.

¶ 8. While driving around a bend on a highway in DeSoto County, Mississippi, Clark steered the vehicle off of the road, and the truck veered onto the shoulder of the highway. The truck proceeded to barrel down into the wooded area adjacent to the shoulder of the highway and eventually ran up a seven-foot embankment located at a nearby intersection. The embankment acted as a ramp and catapulted the truck into the air where the truck cleared the intersection, rolled mid-air, and crashed upside down into a field on the opposite [410]*410side of the intersection, ultimately causing the roof above Clark’s head to collapse. The truck continued rolling deeper into the field before coming to a halt on its roof.

¶4. The passenger’s side of the roof remained largely intact, and Knight awoke to discover that he and Clark were suspended upside down, held in place by their seatbelts. Unable to awaken Clark, Knight crawled out of the truck and noticed oncoming blue emergency lights — the result of a passerby having noticed the truck in the field and calling emergency responders to the scene.

¶ 5. Clark and Knight were airlifted to The Regional Medical Center (the Med) in Memphis, Tennessee. Knight was released from the Med with minor, surface damage. However, Clark had suffered severe spinal injuries and was deemed a quadriplegic. Over the next few years, Clark had numerous complications, including incapacitating bed sores, cerebral fluid backups, and surgeries for these conditions as well as others. He also underwent extensive physical therapy but was never able to regain the use of his legs or arms. The stress of his health problems eventually deteriorated his marriage, and he and Christie divorced. He then lived with his parents until his death in 2011.

¶ 6. On December 28, 2001, Clark and Christie filed suit in circuit court against Toyota. Although Toyota had a registered agent for service of process in Rankin County, Mississippi, it also had a designated agent for service of process at Prentice Hall Corporation System in Hinds County, Mississippi. As such, Clark and Christie chose Hinds County to proceed with their action.

¶ 7. A jury trial took place in 2008 before Judge Winston Kidd. Just before the trial, Clark filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence of Clark’s drinking and intoxication on the night of the accident. In particular, Clark attempted to prevent the introduction of medical records from the Med showing Clark’s blood alcohol level was 0.16 on arrival and police records showing Clark had been charged with driving under the influence (DUI). The circuit court granted the motion in limine because “the issue of the cause of [Clark’s] running off the road has been admitted to by [Clark].”

¶ 8. Clark’s counsel also filed a motion in limine to exclude the opinions of Toyota’s expert witness, Lee Carr. Toyota had retained Carr as an expert in accident reconstruction. Alternatively, Clark’s motion requested permission to introduce a rebuttal expert witness in response to Carr’s testimony. After reviewing the motion in its entirety and conducting a hearing, the circuit court denied Clark’s request to exclude Carr and reserved its ruling as to a rebuttal witness.

¶ 9. The two-week trial proceeded, during which Toyota provided an “exemplar” truck of the truck in question so the jury could observe the truck as it would have been before the accident. The exemplar truck was too large to bring into the courtroom, so the circuit judge allowed Toyota to place it by the curb outside the courthouse. The actual truck involved in the incident was also brought to the courthouse and placed by the curb next to the exemplar truck. Despite Clark’s objection, the circuit court allowed the jury, one of Clark’s attorneys, and one of Toyota’s attorneys to be accompanied to the curb by the bailiffs, where they were briefly allowed to view the actual truck and the exemplar truck side by side.

¶ 10. Toyota’s case-in-chief included testimony by Carr. After Toyota rested, Clark attempted to introduce a rebuttal witness to contradict the testimony of Carr. Toyota objected, arguing it had nev[411]*411er received any information about the opinion intended to be offered by the rebuttal witness. The circuit court agreed and disallowed Clark to introduce a rebuttal witness surreptitiously without giving Toyota any advance notice of his opinions. Accordingly, the circuit judge denied Clark’s request to introduce a rebuttal witness to Carr’s testimony.

¶ 11. At the close of the trial, Clark and Toyota made closing remarks. Toyota’s closing statements referenced Clark’s “bad judgment,” his inability to account for lapses in time, and his outing to the pool hall. Counsel for Toyota explained that Clark’s bad decisions involved his choices to drive late at night and travel well in excess of posted speed limits. In doing so, Toyota’s counsel reminded the jury that it was Clark’s negligence that caused the accident, not Toyota’s.

¶ 12.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
108 So. 3d 407, 2011 WL 6156866, 2011 Miss. App. LEXIS 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-toyota-motor-sales-usa-inc-missctapp-2011.