Clark v. Turner

2004 OK CIV APP 69, 99 P.3d 736, 2004 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 50, 2004 WL 2101951
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedAugust 24, 2004
DocketNo. 99,026
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2004 OK CIV APP 69 (Clark v. Turner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Turner, 2004 OK CIV APP 69, 99 P.3d 736, 2004 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 50, 2004 WL 2101951 (Okla. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Opinion by

RONALD J. STUBBLEFIELD, Acting Presiding Judge:

11 This is a plaintiffs appeal from orders of the Trial Court entering judgment on jury verdict in favor of defendants, summarily adjudicating certain claims, and ruling on pre-trial motions in limine. Based on our review of the record on appeal and applicable law, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

12 This action arises from a series of accidents involving multiple vehicles which occurred early in the evening on August 5, 1999. The sky was overcast, and the highway was wet from intermittent rain and mist. James Clark, a member of the Midwest City Fire Department (MFD), was part of a rescue unit (Unit 2) that responded to a one-car collision on westbound highway I-40 near Air Depot Road in Oklahoma County. Accompanying Unit 2 was an MFD fire truck (Ladder 2). Unit 2 parked aside a concrete median barrier at the accident scene, and Ladder 2 parked approximately 100-150 yards behind Unit 2. Ladder 2, which had stopped at the end of a curve, just beyond the crest of an overpass hill, was blocking the far left lane of travel.

T3 As MFD personnel completed work on the initial collision, a vehicle driven by Defendant Trivia Turner collided with Ladder 2. The vehicle she was driving had been rented to her for her personal use by her employer, Enterprise - Leasing - Company-Southwest (hereafter Enterprise SW).

T4 Clark and another MFD member, Steve Shipman, went to attend to Turner, who had exited her vehicle, as a third vehicle, driven by Shawn Fisher, crested the hill. In attempting to stop, Fisher locked his brakes and his car spun out of control. His vehicle slid backward along the concrete barrier, moving toward the accident scene, and it crashed between the vehicles and the barrier, striking and injuring Clark, Shipman and Turner. A fourth vehicle rounded the curve, and came over the hill in the middle lane. The driver of that vehicle saw Turner's vehicle and Ladder 2, started to brake, and was attempting to move into the right-hand lane when her vehicle slid into the far left lane and collided with the back of Turner's vehicle.

15 Clark was seriously injured by the impact from the Fisher vehicle. As a result of his injuries, he died three days after the accident. Clark was survived by his wife, Plaintiff Janice Clark, and a daughter, Madison Clark.

1 6 In 1999, Plaintiff filed her first lawsuit against Turner, Enterprise SW and Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company1 She alleged that Turner was negligent in the operation of her vehicle and that she had "consumed and or used illegal or illicit drugs that adversely affected her ability to drive" and kept her from stopping or avoiding the collision. According to Plaintiff, it was only because her deceased husband had responded to assist Turner that he was placed in a position to be harmed by the Fisher vehicle.

T7 Plaintiff claimed Turner's employer, Defendant Enterprise SW, was lable based on respondeat superior theory, negligent en-trustment of the vehicle to Turner, and negligent hiring, retention and supervision. Plaintiff claimed Enterprise SW knew or should have known that Turner consumed or used illegal drugs that would adversely affect her ability to drive, and knew or should have known she was unfit and unqualified to be hired and continue in its employ. Plaintiff further alleged that Enterprise SW, as the owner of a for-rent vehicle driven by an inadequately insured driver, had statutory joint and several lability under 47 0.8.2001 § 8-102.

18 In regard to Defendant Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company, Plaintiff alleged that it was a national car rental company doing [739]*739business under the name Enterprise SW and was financially responsible for Enterprise SW's losses. Plaintiff further claimed Enterprise Rent-A-Car was a joint venturer in Enterprise SW's operations, and was lable because Enterprise SW was the agent, servant and/or mere instrumentality of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

T9 The parties engaged in extensive discovery. Plaintiff focused on a clinical urine sereen allegedly performed on Turner during her post-accident treatment at the hospital, which indicated the presence of cannabinoids. Plaintiff was prepared to offer testimony from experts, psychologist Dr. Marcelline Burns, and retired law enforcement officer Thomas Page, to the effect that the accident must have occurred because Turner was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident.

{10 Defendants filed a motion in limine seeking to exclude this evidence from the jury at trial. Defendants pointed out chain of custody and other reliability problems with the urine screen. They also asserted, as a matter of scientific fact, that the urine sereen could not show actual intoxication or a specific level of the chemical THC in the blood, but could only indicate (if not a false positive) some level of inactive metabolite in Turner's urine. With supporting evidentiary materials, Defendants emphasized that a person can test positive on a urine sereen for up to one month or more after ingesting marijuana, while impairment caused by marijuana lasts only hours. Defendants also submitted excerpts from the depositions of various witnesses-including firemen and police officers at the accident scene-who testified that they (1) did not smell marijuana on Turner at the accident seene; (2) found no drug paraphernalia on her person or in her car; and (8) did not observe her appearing or acting as though under the influence of a drug. Turner's supervisor at Enterprise SW, who had worked with her all day, testified she did not appear to be under the influence of drugs and was "perfectly normal" when she left work shortly before the accident.

1 11 The Trial Court ruled the urine sereen was not relevant, and therefore inadmissible, because the most the test could show-if not falsely positive-was that sometime in the near or distant past Turner might have smoked marijuana. From review of the evi-dentiary materials the Trial Court found "no evidence that [Turner] was, at the time of the accident, under the influence of the drug." The Trial Court further found that, even if relevant, the slight value of the proffered urine sereen would be substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Taking guidance from Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), the Trial Court excluded the testimony of Dr. Smith, because the doctor, who was not a toxicologist, improperly inferred intoxication from the urine sereen and the simple fact that Turner had been involved in an accident. After receiving the unfavorable ruling by the Trial Court on Defendants' motion in limine, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her action without prejudice on November 13, 2000.

1 12 Plaintiff refiled her action on May 22, 2001. Eventually, the parties stipulated that Turner was not in the course and scope of her employment at the time of the collision. As a result, the Trial Court found that Plaintiff had abandoned her claim for respondeat superior liability and dismissed that particular claim/theory of recovery against the Enterprise Defendants.

113 The Enterprise Defendants were also successful in gaining summary adjudication of Plaintiff's negligent entrustment claims.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2004 OK CIV APP 69, 99 P.3d 736, 2004 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 50, 2004 WL 2101951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-turner-oklacivapp-2004.