Dennard v. Green

643 A.2d 422, 335 Md. 305, 1994 Md. LEXIS 90
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJune 29, 1994
Docket74, September Term, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 643 A.2d 422 (Dennard v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dennard v. Green, 643 A.2d 422, 335 Md. 305, 1994 Md. LEXIS 90 (Md. 1994).

Opinions

BELL, Judge.

We granted Karen Dennard’s (the petitioner) petition for certiorari to consider whether, in an action by a passenger against both drivers in a two car accident in which the boulevard rule is applicable, at least one of those drivers must be negligent as a matter of law. Like the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County and the Court of Special Appeals, our answer is “no.” We, therefore, affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals, 95 Md.App. 652, 622 A.2d 797.

[308]*308I.

The accident out of which these proceedings arose occurred on Rhode Island Avenue in Hyattsville, Prince George’s County, Maryland on July 14, 1988. The automobile driven by Douglas M. Green (“Green”), one of the respondents herein, was travelling on Howard Road and attempting to cross at its intersection with Rhode Island Avenue when it collided with the automobile driven by Hugo A. Procopio, Jr. (“Procopio”), the other respondent. Procopio’s car was travelling on Rhode Island Avenue. The intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and Howard Road is controlled by stop signs directed at the traffic on Howard Road. Howard Road, thus, is the unfavored road while Rhode Island Avenue is the favored way. The speed limit on Rhode Island Avenue is 25 mph.

The petitioner was a passenger in Green’s automobile. Having been severely injured in the accident, she filed suit against both Green and Procopio, alleging that both were negligent. At trial, she testified that Green stopped twice prior to the accident, once when he approached the stop sign and again when he was about halfway through the intersection. On the first occasion, the petitioner, who was seated in the right front passenger seat, stated that she looked to the right, the direction from which the Procopio vehicle was proceeding, but saw no cars coming. On the second occasion, when looking to the right, she observed Procopio’s vehicle as a “red flash” just before the collision, when it was only about a car length away. She concluded that Procopio was speeding; her estimate of his speed was at least 40 mph.

The petitioner’s testimony was largely corroborated by Green. He also testified that he stopped on two occasions. On the first occasion, at the stop sign, his vision being blocked on the left by “hedges or something,” he drifted up about a foot or two so “[he] could see around the corner.” Having then looked left and right and seeing no cars coming—the visibility was, he asserted, about 60-80 yards with no obstruction blocking his view—he stated that he moved out slowly, [309]*309directing his attention back left as he did so. He then testified:

I was directing my attention back right. As I cross—got to the halfway point of the street, I saw a red vehicle coming toward me, so I stopped my vehicle, turning my wheels to the left at the same time, and brought the car to a stop.

Green estimated that Procopio’s vehicle was travelling “anywhere between 45 and 50 mph” before impact, and that approximately five to eight seconds elapsed between the time of his second stop and the collision. When he first saw the Procopio car, it was about 20 yards away.

Procopio testified that he was travelling 25 mph, the posted speed limit. Although “Rhode Island Avenue in the vicinity of the accident was a flat, straight, two-way road separated by a double yellow line,” he stated that he did not see Green’s car until it was “three feet from [his] door.”1

The petitioner’s motion for judgment as to both Green and Procopio having been denied and the jury having been instructed, the case was submitted for deliberation. The jury was provided with a verdict sheet which included the following two questions:

Was Hugh Anthony Procopio, Jr., guilty of negligence?
Was Douglas Monroe Green guilty of negligence?

The jury answered both questions, “No.” The petitioner’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial, was denied.

II.

In her post-trial motion, the petitioner argued:

Although it is true that the mere happening of an accident does not prove negligence, the evidence in this case excluded the possibility of a collision between these two vehicles without at least one driver having been negligent. There are no facts that could support a finding of unavoidable [310]*310accident, act of God, justified emergency or any of the other legally recognized circumstances in which a collision between two vehicles could occur without negligence. If the jury believed the version of Defendant Green as to the excessive speed of Defendant Procopio, then it would have to find Defendant Procopio negligent. If the jury believed the version of Defendant Procopio that he was proceeding at the posted speed limit, then it would have to find, pursuant to the Boulevard Law instruction of the Court, that the Defendant Green failed to yield the right-of-way, rendering him negligent. The jury also could have found that although Defendant Procopio was not speeding and therefore had the right-of-way over Defendant Green, his inattentiveness and failure to take steps to avoid the collision was also a proximate cause so that both defendants would be negligent.

That observation formed the basis for the petitioner’s argument in the Court of Special Appeals, that Green, the unfavored driver, was negligent as a matter of law. She renews that argument in this Court.

The principal underpinning of the petitioner’s argument is that the boulevard law has as its purpose “to give preference to . drivers on the highways when they encounter other drivers attempting to enter or cross through highways.” Myers v. Bright, 327 Md. 395, 398 n. 1, 609 A.2d 1182, 1183 n. 1 (1992). Where it is applicable,.she contends (quoting Creaser v. Owens, 267 Md. 238, 249, 297 A.2d 235, 241 (1972)),

the absolute and unequivocal duty of the unfavored driver to stop and yield the right of way to all traffic during his entire passage through the favored highway is only tempered by the doctrine of last clear chance or a finding of contributory negligence on the part of the favored driver.

To this, she adds what we said in Dean v. Redmiles, 280 Md. 137, 147-48, 374 A.2d 329, 335-36 (1977):

Thus, unless the doctrine of last clear chance is involved, an unfavored driver’s claim as a plaintiff is defeated by his failure to yield the right-of-way, since he is then guilty of [311]*311contributory negligence as a matter of law.... It follows that an unfavored driver as a defendant in an action brought by a favored driver is liable, being guilty of negligence as a matter of law, in the absence of a showing of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff.... A corollary of that holding must be that an unfavored driver is liable to his own passenger in the absence of circumstances ... barring the claim of the passenger. (Citations omitted).

She concludes:

Because the jury answered “no” to the special interrogatory asking whether Procopio (the favored driver) was negligent and because the doctrine of last clear chance was not raised,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
643 A.2d 422, 335 Md. 305, 1994 Md. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dennard-v-green-md-1994.