Griesel v. Seaser

26 Pa. D. & C.4th 289, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 394
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedFebruary 2, 1996
Docketno. 4489-92 A.D.
StatusPublished

This text of 26 Pa. D. & C.4th 289 (Griesel v. Seaser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griesel v. Seaser, 26 Pa. D. & C.4th 289, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 394 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1996).

Opinion

STALLONE, J.,

This is an action for damages arising out of a “rear-end” collision which occurred on December 23, 1991, at approximately 7:45 a.m. At that time, appellant Molly Griesel was driving her automobile in a westerly direction in the passing lane on Interstate 78 when her vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer being driven by appellee Jerry William Seaser. The corporate appellee, K&S Central States Truck Leasing Inc. is the owner of the tractor-trailer.

As a result of the collision, Mrs. Griesel suffered broken ribs and lower back pain which required her to spend two weeks in bed at home and to miss a total of four weeks of work. At trial, appellees denied all liability claiming that the collision occurred when Mrs. Griesel suddenly stopped her vehicle without warning and that, as a result, Mr. Seaser did not have sufficient time to bring the tractor-trailer to a complete stop.

In response to question nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 contained on a special interrogatory form submitted to the jury by this court, 11 of the 12 jurors found that both Mr. Seaser and K&S were negligent and that their negligence was a substantial factor in causing the collision. In response to question nos. 5 and 6, all 12 jurors found [291]*291that Mrs. Griesel was contributorily negligent and that her contributory negligence was a substantial factor in causing the collision, ha response to question no. 7, in which the jurors were asked to assess the percentage of comparative negligence attributable to the parties, all 12 jurors found that 51 percent of the total combined negligence was attributable to Mrs. Griesel and that 49 percent of the total combined negligence was attributable to Mr. Seaser. The court, therefore, molded the verdict in favor of appellees and against appellants which, incidentally, was contrary to the award previously entered by a Berks County Board of Arbitrators.1 Appellants thereafter filed a motion for post-trial relief pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 227.1 which this court denied. This timely appeal followed.

Appellants present the following issues for review:

(1) Whether this court erred in refusing to permit them to question Mr. Seaser about his past driving record relative to their claim that K&S negligently entrusted the tractor-trailer to Mr. Seaser;

(2) Whether this court’s subsequent curative instruction to the jury relative to this attempted questioning of Mr. Seaser was proper;

(3) Whether this court erred in allegedly sua sponte instructing the jury on the “sudden emergency doctrine;” and

(4) Whether this court erred in not charging the jury that a violation of the “assured clear distance ahead” rule constituted negligence per se.

[292]*292We will begin with the issue of whether this court erred in refusing to permit appellants’ counsel to question Mr. Seaser about his past driving record relative to their claim of negligent entrustment. The question was as follows:

“BY MR. KRENGEL:
“Okay, when you first applied for a job a year and a half before the accident, did you tell Mr. Schuck about your past record and the many times that your license had been suspended?
“MR. BAMBRICK: Objection.” (N.T., trial, p. 85.)

This court immediately thereafter excused the jury and heard argument relative to this issue after which this court ruled that the evidence sought to be elicited was not relevant and, therefore, sustained the objection to it by the appellees. (N.T., trial, pp. 85-97.)

For evidence to be admissible, it must be relevant. Stern v. Vic Snyder Inc., 325 Pa. Super. 423, 473 A.2d 139 (1984). Evidence is relevant when it tends to establish some fact material to the case or tends to make a fact at issue more or less probable. Engle v. West Penn Power Co., 409 Pa. Super. 462, 598 A.2d 290 (1991), appeal denied, 529 Pa. 669, 609 A.2d 334 (1992). Evidence is material when it forms an element of a cause of action. Warden v. Zanella, 283 Pa. Super. 137, 423 A.2d 1026 (1980).

Section 308 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts describes the tort of “negligent entrustment” as follows:

“It is negligence to permit a third person to use a thing or to engage in an activity which is under the control of the actor, if the actor knows or should know that such person intends or is likely to use the thing or to conduct himself in the activity in such a manner as to create an unreasonable risk of harm to others.”

[293]*293The liability of the “entraster” is based solely upon his or her knowledge at the time of the entrustment. Wertz v. Kephart, 374 Pa. Super. 274, 282, 542 A.2d 1019, 1023 (1988) . In Wertz, the trial court precluded. testimony concerning the entrustment of car keys to an allegedly intoxicated individual 17 hours before the collision. In reversing the trial court’s decision, the Superior Court at 284, 542 A.2d at 1024, reasoned that:

“Appellants need to prove ‘knowledge’ on the part of appellees that Kephart was incompetent or unfit to drive. If Kephart was intoxicated, then appellants can meet this burden of proof. If and when appellants prove Kephart was intoxicated when he received the keys from appellees and appellees knew what Kephart’s condition was, the question of causation should be one for the jury.”

In the case at bar, appellants did not attempt to elicit any testimony about what K&S knew about Mr. Seaser’s driving record either at the time that it entrusted the tractor-trailer to Mr. Seaser or on the morning of the collision. Instead, counsel merely asked about what Mr. Seaser told K&S president, Kenny Schuck, 18 months previously when he first applied for the job, before the tractor-trailer had been entrusted to Mr. Seaser. Therefore, the evidence sought to be elicited was not relevant to the issue of entrustment on the morning of December 23, 1991.

However, even assuming, arguendo, that the evidence would have been relevant, the prejudicial impact of the evidence substantially outweighed its probative value. Atrial court may in its discretion exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed either by the danger of unfair prejudice or the possibility that it will confuse or mislead the jury. Daset Mining Corporation v. Industrial Fuels Corporation, 326 Pa. Super. [294]*29414, 22, 473 A.2d 584, 588 (1984). Here, the question was merely an invitation for the jury to decide the case on an improper basis, that being that Mr. Seaser had been negligent on other occasions and, therefore, he must have been negligent on this occasion as well. Accordingly, this court did not err in refusing to permit appellants to continue this line of questioning.

Appellants next contend that this court’s curative instruction to the jury as to this issue was improper.2

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Related

Wertz v. Kephart
542 A.2d 1019 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Engle v. West Penn Power Co.
598 A.2d 290 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Warden v. Zanella
423 A.2d 1026 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Olson v. Washington Country Club
489 A.2d 895 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Cannon v. Tabor
642 A.2d 1108 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Tagnani v. Lew
426 A.2d 595 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)
Fillmore v. Hill
665 A.2d 514 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Trust Co.
322 A.2d 114 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Stern v. Vic Snyder, Inc.
473 A.2d 139 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
Daset Mining Corp. v. Industrial Fuels Corp.
473 A.2d 584 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
Jackson v. Phillips
466 A.2d 130 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Westerman. v. Stout
335 A.2d 741 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
26 Pa. D. & C.4th 289, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griesel-v-seaser-pactcomplberks-1996.