MASTERS BY MASTERS v. Rishton

863 S.W.2d 702
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 13, 1992
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 863 S.W.2d 702 (MASTERS BY MASTERS v. Rishton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MASTERS BY MASTERS v. Rishton, 863 S.W.2d 702 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

863 S.W.2d 702 (1992)

Richard Glenn MASTERS, A Minor by Next Friend and Father, Truman MASTERS, Truman Masters, Individually, and Sue Masters, Plaintiffs/Appellants,
v.
Bruce S. RISHTON, A Minor, Robert S. Rishton, Dan Morgan and Judy Morgan d/b/a Morgan's, American Honda Motor Corp., American Honda Motorco, Ltd., Honda Research and Design, Honda Research of America and Arai, Inc. a/k/a Arai Helmet, U.S.A., Ltd., Defendants/Appellees.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Western Section, at Jackson.

July 13, 1992.
Rehearing Denied August 25, 1992.
Application for Permission to Appeal Denied February 22, 1993.

*703 Ronald T. Hill, Spicer, Flynn & Rudstrom, Memphis, for plaintiffs/appellants.

Steven R. Walker, Petkoff and Lancaster, Memphis, for defendant/appellee, ARAI, Inc.

William M. Jeter, Lucinda S. Murray, Glassman, Jeter, Edwards & Wade, P.C., for defendants/appellees, Bruce S. Rishton and Robert S. Rishton.

R. Dale Bay, R. Neal Mynatt, Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C., Nashville, for defendants/appellees, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda R & D North America, Inc. and Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Floyd Flippin, Adams, Ryal & Flippin, Humboldt, for defendants/appellees, Dan Morgan and Judy Morgan d/b/a Morgan's.

Application for Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court February 22, 1993.

HIGHERS, Judge.

This appeal arises out of the complaint filed by Truman Masters, individually, and on behalf of his minor son, Richard Glenn (Richie) Masters, and Sue Masters, Richie's mother, for injuries arising when a Honda three-wheel vehicle being driven by Richie was involved in a collision with a vehicle being driven by defendant, Bruce S. Rishton. Plaintiffs' complaint named not only Bruce S. Rishton as a defendant, but also Bruce Rishton's father, Robert J. Rishton; Ben and Judy Morgan, the sellers of the three-wheel vehicle; American Honda Motor Corporation, Honda Motor Company, Ltd., Honda Research & Design, Honda Research of America, (collectively referred to as "Honda" defendants), the manufacturers of the three-wheel vehicle; and Arai, Inc., a/k/a Arai Helmet, U.S.A., Ltd. ("Arai"), the manufacturers of the helmet Richie was wearing when the accident occurred. Subsequent to the filing of the complaint, the trial court granted summary judgment to defendants, the Rishtons, Honda, and Arai. The plaintiffs have perfected the instant appeal claiming that the *704 trial court erred in granting these motions for summary judgment.

On May 7, 1987, a Honda three-wheel all terrain vehicle being driven by then thirteen-year-old Richie Masters, collided with a pickup truck driven by then seventeen-year-old Bruce S. Rishton and owned by his father, defendant Robert J. Rishton. Richie testified in a deposition taken in this lawsuit that the head injuries he sustained in the accident left him with no memory of the manner in which the accident occurred. At the time of the accident, Masters was wearing a helmet manufactured by the Arai Company. Masters testified that because of his head injuries he is unable to remember whether he had his helmet strapped on before the accident.

The driver of the other vehicle involved in the collision, Bruce Rishton, testified that just prior to the accident he had picked up a friend to go fishing and was traveling down a gravel road near Humboldt, Tennessee. As he was approaching a curve in the road, he saw a three-wheel vehicle come around the curve on the wrong side of the road. Rishton testified that when he saw the three-wheeler coming at him on his side of the road he crossed over to the other side of the road and applied his brakes to avoid colliding with the three-wheeler. According to Rishton, the three-wheeler, after seeing his pickup truck coming down the road, also tried to get back on the correct side of the road and that when the three-wheeler did this it collided with his pickup truck which was almost completely stopped at the time of the impact. As a result of the accident, Masters flew over Rishton's truck and landed several yards behind the truck. Rishton was unable to testify as to the approximate speed he was traveling just prior to the accident or the speed the three-wheeler was going at the time of the accident.

The only witness to the accident was Jaquita Dover. At the time of the accident Ms. Dover was standing in her back yard hanging clothes on her line, approximately fifty or sixty yards from the site of the accident. The noise of the three-wheeler coming down the gravel road caught her attention and she looked up from her work to see the ATV and the pickup truck traveling down the road heading towards each other. A moment later she saw the two vehicles collide and saw Masters as he was propelled through the air over the truck. Ms. Dover testified that she does not remember seeing either vehicle make a sudden move to either side of the road just prior to the accident and that she does not remember either vehicle going excessively fast at the time of the accident, although she was unable to testify as to an approximation of the speed traveled by either vehicle. She testified that when she reached the site of the accident, Richie's helmet was off of his head, lying near him.

Richie was seriously injured in the accident. He and his parents filed a lawsuit for the damages he received in the accident against Bruce Rishton as the driver of the other vehicle; Robert Rishton, as the owner of the vehicle; Dan and Judy Morgan, the people who sold Masters the three-wheeler; various subsidiaries of the Honda Corporation as the designers and manufacturers of the three-wheeler; and Arai, Inc., the manufacturer of the helmet Masters was wearing just prior to the accident. On June 25, 1991, the trial court entered an order granting the Honda defendants' motions for summary judgment. The trial court also granted the summary judgment motion of Arai on July 9, 1991, and the motion for summary judgment of the Rishton defendants on July 16, 1991. Since the plaintiffs' claims against the Morgans had not been dismissed at that time, these judgments were not final pursuant to T.R.A.P. 3 or T.R.Civ.P. 54.02. The plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal on August 2, 1991, "from the Final Judgment entered in this action on the 9th day of July, 1991." On November 26, 1991, the trial court entered three separate amended orders granting summary judgments to all three of these defendants and making the judgments final pursuant to T.R.Civ.P. 54.02. The plaintiffs did not subsequently file a notice of appeal. In an order filed April 24, 1992, this Court granted the Honda defendants' motion to dismiss the appeal because the notice of appeal filed by the plaintiff specifically stated that they were appealing from the order entered July 9, 1991.

*705 The "Amended Order Granting Motion for Summary Judgment" entered on behalf of the Rishtons on November 26, 1991, contains a certificate of service certifying that a copy of the order finalizing the judgment dismissing plaintiffs' claims against the Rishtons was served upon all parties of interest to the proceeding. In oral argument, however, counsel for the Rishtons conceded that this order was never actually served upon the plaintiffs. T.R.Civ.P. 58 provides that a judgment becomes final upon its filing with the Clerk after being signed by the judge.

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863 S.W.2d 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/masters-by-masters-v-rishton-tennctapp-1992.