Keller v. Martinez

2014 UT App 2, 318 P.3d 1147, 751 Utah Adv. Rep. 7, 2014 WL 105065, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 2
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJanuary 3, 2014
DocketNo. 20121064-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2014 UT App 2 (Keller v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keller v. Martinez, 2014 UT App 2, 318 P.3d 1147, 751 Utah Adv. Rep. 7, 2014 WL 105065, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 2 (Utah Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Memorandum Decision

ROTH, Judge:

T1 This case stems from a collision between two vehicles in a signal-controlled intersection. Larry Keller argues that Gerardo J. Martinez, who was turning left, had a duty under the Utah Traffic Code to yield to Keller, who was in the oncoming travel lane, even if Keller had run a red light. Keller asserts that the district court erred when it dismissed his case, having concluded that because Keller had failed to show that Martinez did not have a green left-turn arrow at the time of the collision, he had not borne his burden of showing that Martinez violated any duty to Keller. We affirm the district court's decision.

12 Keller and Martinez were involved in a two-car accident on Redwood Road in Taylorsville, Utah, in early 2008. Keller was traveling northbound through a signal-controlled intersection near Taylorsville High School. Martinez was turning left from the southbound lane into the school's parking lot when he collided with Keller's car in the intersection. Keller sued Martinez in negli-genee for damages to his vehicle, and Martinez raised a negligence counterclaim in response.

T3 During a bench trial, both drivers claimed to have had the right-of-way. Keller testified that he stopped at a red light and then proceeded through the intersection after the signal turned green. In contrast, Martinez testified that he stopped at a red light and then turned left after he saw a green left-turn arrow. Martinez's wife corroborated his testimony that the left-turn arrow was green as Martinez turned left [1149]*1149through the intersection. Neither party presented any other evidence on the color of the light.

T 4 After hearing the conflicting testimony, the district court found, with regard to Keller's case, that "Mr. Martinez and his wife have given reasonably credible testimony that Mr. Martinez" turned left "when he had a green left turn arrow on the signal." Martinez's testimony therefore "suggest[ed], strongly, that Mr. Keller was running a red light." As a result, the court concluded that Keller "did not meet his burden of proof to show that [Martinez] did not have a green traffic light." The court reasoned that Keller needed to show that Martinez did not have a green light in order to establish that Martinez owed Keller a duty. Because negli-genee cannot exist without a duty, the court dismissed Keller's claim. The district court then dismissed Martinez's counterclaim on the same basis, concluding on the conflicting testimony that Martinez failed to prove that Keller did not have a green light. Martinez did not appeal from the decision on his counterclaim.

T5 On appeal, Keller addresses only one point concerning the merits of the district court's decision.1 He claims that "Martinez admitted that he was turning left in the intersection and that Keller was going straight through," which he contends is enough by itself to "establish[ ] a duty for Martinez." Thus, Keller implicitly argues that the color of his light was irrelevant, an argument that he also raised at trial: "Even if [Keller] ran a red light[, Martinez] has the duty to yield the right-of-way to somebody ... going straight through" the intersection. According to Keller, left-turning drivers must always yield to through traffic and therefore Keller's only burden was to prove that he was going straight through the intersection and that Martinez was turning left, which were both undisputed. Thus, according to Keller, Martinez owed Keller a duty based simply on the fact that Martinez was making a left turn and the district court erred when it dismissed Keller's case without addressing the other three elements of negli-genee-breach, causation, and damages, see Webb v. University of Utah, 2005 UT 80, ¶ 9, 125 P.3d 906 (explaining that the "four essential elements" are duty, breach, proximate cause, and damages (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

T6 In support of his theory, Keller cites section 903 of the Utah Traffic Code, which he argues imposes a duty on all left-turning drivers to yield the right-of-way to "any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction" that constitutes an immediate hazard. See Utah Code Ann. § 41-62a-903(1) (LexisNexis 2010) (emphasis added)2 He also directs us to French v. Utah Oil Refining Co., 117 Utah 406, 216 P.2d 1002 (1950), in which the Utah Supreme Court explained the purpose of an older but substantially similar version of section 908: "When a statute prescribes that a turning vehicle must yield the right-of-way ... a burden is placed on the driver making the turn as he has control of the situation." Id. at 1004. According to Keller, section 903 and French render the color of Martinez's traffic light irrelevant-Martinez, as the person turning left, should have yielded to "any vehicle approaching," Utah Code Ann. § 41-6a-903(1), even if that vehicle was running a red light, because he was in a better position to control the situation.

T7 Martinez counters that section 908 does not apply to this case. Instead, he contends that section 305 of the Utah Traffic Code, which addresses rights-of-way at signal-controlled intersections, applies. See id. § 41-62-805 (LexisNexis Supp.2018). According to section 305, a vehicle facing a left-turn arrow "may cautiously enter the intersection ... to make the movement indicated by the arrow" but must yield to "other traffic lawfully using the intersection." Id. § 41-6a-305(2)(b) (emphasis added). Therefore, Mar[1150]*1150tinez claims, the color of his light is very much at issue-a driver turning left on a green arrow need not yield to a driver running a red light because the vehicle running the red light is not "lawfully using the intersection." See id. § 41-6a-805(2)(b), (4)(a) ("[The operator of a vehicle facing a steady cireular red ... (i) may not enter the intersection ... and (ii) shall stop at a clearly marked stop line and shall remain stopped until an indication to proceed is shown."). Because each party relies on a different provision of the traffic code, we must first determine which one applies under the facts of this case.

18 Section 908 falls within part 9 of the traffic code that regulates rights-of-way when at least one vehicle's action is not subject to more specific regulation. See, e.g., id. § 41-6a-901 (LexisNexis 2010) (right-of-way in unregulated intersection); id. § 41-62-902 (right-of-way at stop or yield signs), id. §§ 41-6a-904,-905 (LexisNexis 2010 & Supp. 2018) (right-of-way in presence of emergency vehicles, highway construction vehicles, and pedestrians). Thus, the right-of-way rule de-seribed in section 908 exists as a baseline; it controls the duty of left-turners generally. For example, section 908 applies to cars turning left from an arterial road onto a collector or local road because no signals or signs supersede the general rights-of-way. In such situations, turning cars must yield to any approaching vehicle that constitutes a hazard because, as stated in French, the turning driver holds superior control over the situation.

19 Part 3, on the other hand, regulates the use and effect of "traffic-control devices used on a highway." Id. § 41-6a-301(1). In particular, section 805 governs signal-controlled intersections and the rights-of-way that apply to any given signal combination. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 UT App 2, 318 P.3d 1147, 751 Utah Adv. Rep. 7, 2014 WL 105065, 2014 Utah App. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keller-v-martinez-utahctapp-2014.