Longie v. Exline

659 F. Supp. 177, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3470
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 1, 1987
DocketCiv. No. S 86-2452
StatusPublished

This text of 659 F. Supp. 177 (Longie v. Exline) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Longie v. Exline, 659 F. Supp. 177, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3470 (D. Md. 1987).

Opinion

SMALKIN, District Judge.

Now pending in this diversity case is the motion of plaintiffs Genevieve M. Longie (Longie) and Mark H. Spears (Spears) for summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Defendant Judy Diane Exline (Exline) has responded thereto in a timely fashion. No oral hearing is necessary to decide this matter. Local Rule 6(G), D.Md.

I.

On the evening of June 9,1986, plaintiffs and defendant were involved in an automobile/bicycle collision near the intersection of Coastal Highway and 120th Street in Ocean City, Maryland. Defendant, who had been travelling eastbound on 120th Street in a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier, stopped at the southwest corner on the intersection of 120th Street and Coastal Highway. She then proceeded to make a right-hand turn onto Coastal Highway from the right eastbound lane of 120th Street. (Defendant, in paragraph 3 of her “Summary Of Material Facts As To Which There Exists No Genuine Dispute,” misstated some directions, which this Court took the liberty to correct under its powers of judicial notice. FED.R.EVID. 201.) At the same time, plaintiffs were riding a rental tandem bicycle northbound in the right southbound bus lane of Coastal Highway, without either a lamp or affixed bell. The aforementioned collision ensued between car and bike, resulting in this diversity lawsuit.

II.

Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment should be granted where there is no genuine dispute as to material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The moving party has the burden of showing that there is no genuine dispute as to material fact. Celotex Corporation v. Catrett, — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Once the moving party has met this burden, the nonmoving party must set forth specific facts showing the existence of a genuine issue for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., — U.S. —, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. at 160 n. 22, 90 S.Ct. at 1610 n. 22.

In deciding the motion, the Court must view the material facts, and the inferences properly drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 106 S.Ct. at 2513; Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. at 158-159, 90 S.Ct. at 1608-1609. Even where there is no dispute as to the basic facts, summary judgment is inappro[179]*179priate, if the parties disagree on the inferences which may be reasonably drawn from the undisputed facts. Morrison v. Nissan Co. Ltd., 601 F.2d 139, 141 (4th Cir.1979). The substantive law, in this case, the law of Maryland, See Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938), identifies which facts, or inferences therefrom, are material and also identifies the standard of proof against which the presence or absence of material factual dispute is to be gauged. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 106 S.Ct. at 2510.

With the above in mind, the Court must apply the appropriate standard for summary judgment to the record in this case. The inquiry is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to the jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law,” akin to the directed verdict inquiry. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 106 S.Ct. at 2511. This Court notes, under Maryland law, the trial court may pass on and find contributory negligence as a matter of law at the directed verdict stage, Hynes v. Hutzler Bros. Co., 261 Md. 345, 348, 276 A.2d 99, 100 (1971), and, thus, at the summary judgment stage, Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 106 S.Ct. at 2511-12, so long as the evidence shows “some prominent and decisive act which directly contributed to the accident which was of such a character as to leave no room for difference of opinion thereon by reasonable minds.” Reiser v. Abramson, 264 Md. 372, 378, 286 A.2d 91, 93 (1972). The doctrine of assumption of the risk will not be applied, as a matter of law, “unless the undisputed evidence and all permissible inferences therefrom clearly establish that the risk of danger was fully known and understood by the plaintiff.” Kahlenberg v. Goldstein, 290 Md. 477, 494-95, 431 A.2d 76, 86 (1981), quoting Kasten Construction Co. v. Evans, 260 Md. 536, 544, 273 A.2d 90, 94 (1971) (emphasis in original).

III.

Defendant has moved for summary judgment on the basis that plaintiffs were contributorily negligent and/or assumed the risk of injury because they violated three separate statutory prohibitions by operating a rental tandem bicycle northbound in a southbound lane of travel, and without the statutorily mandated lamp or bell. Plaintiffs oppose this motion, essentially contending that summary judgment is inappropriate for two reasons. The first is that, under the Maryland boulevard rule, whether a favored driver loses his statutory preference because he has been contributorily negligent is a question for the jury. Plaintiffs also assert that, before a statutory violation can be considered as evidence of contributory negligence, the jury must determine that it is a proximate cause of the accident. For the purpose of this motion, the Court must assume the primary negligence of defendant.

A.

Plaintiffs contend that this case falls within the boulevard rule. Md.Transp. Code Ann. § 21-403(b) provides the statutory basis for the boulevard rule, stating that, “[i]f the driver of a vehicle approaches a through highway, the driver shall: (1) [s]top at the entrance to the through highway; and (2) [yjield the right-of-way to any other vehicle approaching on the through highway.” The Court of Appeals of Maryland, by Judge Smith, extensively discussed the predecessor of current § 21-4031 in Dean v. Redmiles, 280 Md. 136, 374 A.2d 329 (1977). After noting that the boulevard rule is “intended to expedite the flow of traffic on the boulevard,” Judge Smith summarily stated that “the duty of an unfavored driver to stop and yield the right-of-way is mandatory, positive and inflexible.” Dean v. Redmiles, 280 Md. at 147, 374 A.2d at 335. Judge Smith then explained the natural consequence of the aforementioned duty: “an unfavored 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.” Dean v. Redmiles, 280 Md. at 148, 374 A.2d 336. [180]

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Related

Erie Railroad v. Tompkins
304 U.S. 64 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co.
398 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Berzups v. H. G. Smithy Co.
321 A.2d 801 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1974)
Billings v. Shaw
231 A.2d 12 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1967)
Ford v. Bradford
132 A.2d 488 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1957)
Norris v. Wolfensberger
237 A.2d 757 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1968)
Hynes v. Hutzler Brothers Co.
276 A.2d 99 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1971)
Mershon v. Gino's, Inc.
276 A.2d 191 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1971)
Fisher v. O'Connor's, Inc.
452 A.2d 1313 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1982)
Miller v. Mullenix
176 A.2d 203 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1961)
Rogers v. Frush
262 A.2d 549 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1970)
Dean v. Redmiles
374 A.2d 329 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1977)
Sun Cab Company, Inc. v. Cusick
121 A.2d 188 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1956)
Baltimore Co. v. State, Use of Keenan
193 A.2d 30 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1963)
Reiser v. Abramson
286 A.2d 91 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1972)
Squire v. State
368 A.2d 1019 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1977)
Benedetto v. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
350 A.2d 712 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1976)

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Bluebook (online)
659 F. Supp. 177, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3470, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/longie-v-exline-mdd-1987.