Fuller v. Pacheco

2001 OK CIV APP 39, 21 P.3d 74, 72 O.B.A.J. 1132, 2001 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 9, 2001 WL 337210
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 16, 2001
Docket93,222
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 2001 OK CIV APP 39 (Fuller v. Pacheco) 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
Fuller v. Pacheco, 2001 OK CIV APP 39, 21 P.3d 74, 72 O.B.A.J. 1132, 2001 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 9, 2001 WL 337210 (Okla. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

OPINION

COLBERT, J.

T1 Sharylin and C.A. Fuller appeal the trial court's orders denying their motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdiet and a new trial, and awarding attorney fees and costs to Appellees, Steven Pacheco and Vick-rey Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. There are three issues on appeal in this tort action-whether the trial court erred in: (1) denying the Fullers' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; (2) denying the Fullers' motion for a new trial; and (8) setting the amount of the attorney fees and costs award. We conclude that, while the trial court did not err in denying the Fullers post-trial motions, the court erred in setting the amount of attorney fees and costs. We, therefore, affirm the court's ruling on the post-trial motions but modify its award of attorney fees and costs.

BACKGROUND

12 This case arose out of a motor vehicle accident on an icy road. Pacheco, who was driving a van, struck a truck driven by Mrs. Fuller and she suffered injuries as a result. The Fullers sued Pacheco for damages and loss of consortium and sued Vickrey under the theory of vicarious lability.

13 The case was tried before a jury. At the close of all the evidence, the Fullers moved for a directed verdict, which the court denied. The jury rendered a general verdict in favor of Pacheco and Vickrey. The Full[77]*77ers subsequently filed motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial. The trial court denied these motions and the Fullers appealed. After the trial court awarded the Appellees a combined total of $49,181 in attorney fees and costs, the Fullers amended their petition in error, asserting that the trial court also erred in awarding attorney fees and costs against them.

DISCUSSION

~ T4 The accident occurred about 8:00 a.m. on January 6, 1995, on a north-south, two-lane road. The road, which had no shoulders, was icy due to an overnight sleet storm. Both Mrs. Fuller and Pacheco testified they were aware of the icy conditions before they got on the road.

1 5 Mrs. Fuller left home driving south in the west lane of the road. She testified that she drove approximately twenty or twenty-five miles-per-hour. The normal speed limit, according to the state trooper who arrived on the scene after the accident, was thirty-five to forty-five miles-per-hour.

T6 As she approached a hill, Mrs. Fuller saw an abandoned truck in the ditch on the east side of the road, facing south. She assumed the truck's driver had unsuccessfully attempted to go up the hill and, because her truck was lighter in weight than the truck in the ditch, she assumed she also could not make it up the hill. Mrs. Fuller stopped her truck in the road, in her own lane, approximately forty-five feet behind the abandoned truck. She testified that she pulled as far over to the right as she could, because she did not want to be in the way of traffic. She then sat there, trying to decide what to do, but did not turn on her emergency lights or headlights.

17 The abandoned vehicle belonged to Learl Rice, who had been traveling northbound in the east lane of the road. His truck slid off the road and into the ditch around 6:00 a.m. Although Rice had been northbound, his truck was facing south when he slid off the road and he estimated that one-quarter of it was sticking out into the road. The state trooper, however, testified that Rice's truck blocked close to one-half of the northbound lane, traffic. obstructing northbound

18 For persons traveling northbound, the road curved just before reaching the crest of the hill. Pacheco was heading north in the east lane of the road. When he crested the hill, he saw the abandoned truck facing him and partially in the east lane and Mrs. Fuller's truck in the west lane, somewhat behind the abandoned truck at the bottom of the hill.

T9 Pacheco testified that he was driving only fifteen to twenty miles-per-hour and was still in control of his van when he got to the crest of the hill, However, he also testified that, since the hill was a solid sheet of ice, he did not apply his brakes when he saw both vehicles because he would have lost control of his van. Not having much time to contemplate his actions, Pacheco decided to try to go between the abandoned truck and Mrs. Fuller's truck. However, his van clipped the abandoned truck, causing him to spin into Mrs. Fuller's truck. He testified:

Q. - Mr. Pacheco, tell us why you could not miss that vehicle two hundred and seventy-six feet away?
A. Because; like I said, when I seen Mrs. Fuller's vehicle and the vehicle in the road, I tried to steer in between them. When I did, my back bumper clipped Mr. Rice's vehicle.
Q. Okay.
Is it fair to say, Mr. Pacheco, that according to your statements that you tried to steer between them that you just didn't time it properly or you didn't judge correctly; is that fair?
A. I said that it was a split second decision. All I thought I could do was try to get in between the two vehicles.

Pacheco also testified that the hill was somewhat deceptive, because it was impossible to see down the hill until he had actually started down the hill. Moreover, because both trucks were facing him when he crested the hill, he thought both were moving toward him.

110 According to the state trooper, the force of the impact knocked Mrs. Fuller's truck backward approximately forty feet. She contends on appeal that the trial court [78]*78erred in denying her motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, in denying her motion for new trial, and in awarding attorney fees and costs to Pacheco and Vickrey.

I. The Trial Court Did Not Err in Denying the Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict.

{11 Whether the Fullers motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict should have been sustained depends upon whether their motion for a directed verdict, made at the close of all the evidence, should have been granted. Mclnturff v. Oklahoma Natural Gas Transmission Co., 1970 OK 169, ¶ 9, 475 P.2d 160, 162. Our task is to "examine the record and make a determination as to whether there is any evidence reasonably tending to support the judgment." Trett v. Oklahoma Gas & Elec. Co., 1989 OK 54, ¶ 6, 775 P.2d 275, 277. Thus, the resolution of this issue depends upon whether the jury could have found the evidence sufficient to establish each element of the claim of negligence.

112 The elements of negligence are: (1) the existence of a duty on the part of the defendant to protect the plaintiff from injury; (2) breach of that duty; and (8) injury proximately resulting therefrom. Dirickson v. Mings, 1996 OK 2, ¶ 7, 910 P.2d 1015, 1018. Because there is no dispute on appeal about Mrs. Fuller's injuries, we consider only the first and second elements.

1183 The existence of a duty is the threshold question of law for the court to decide in any negligence case. Wofford v. Eastern State Hosp., 1990 OK 77, ¶ 8, 795 P.2d 516, 518. The most important consideration in the determination of whether a duty exists is foreseeability; the general rule is that a "defendant owes a duty of care to all persons who are foreseeably endangered by his conduct with respect to all risks which make the conduct unreasonably dangerous." Id. at ¶ 11, 795 P.2d at 519 (quoting Tarasoff v.

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Bluebook (online)
2001 OK CIV APP 39, 21 P.3d 74, 72 O.B.A.J. 1132, 2001 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 9, 2001 WL 337210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fuller-v-pacheco-oklacivapp-2001.