Medlin v. Pilot Travel Centers, L.L.C.

2012 OK CIV APP 111, 292 P.3d 69, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 102, 2012 WL 6725846
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 20, 2012
DocketNo. 109986
StatusPublished

This text of 2012 OK CIV APP 111 (Medlin v. Pilot Travel Centers, L.L.C.) 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
Medlin v. Pilot Travel Centers, L.L.C., 2012 OK CIV APP 111, 292 P.3d 69, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 102, 2012 WL 6725846 (Okla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

JERRY L. GOODMAN, Presiding Judge.

T1 Karen K. Medlin (Customer) appeals from the trial court's September 16, 2011, Journal Entry of Judgment which memorialized an April 6, 2011, jury verdict rendered in favor of Pilot Travel Centers, LL.C. (Pilot). We hold reversible error occurred when the trial court instructed the jury on the defense of assumption of the risk. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

BACKGROUND

T2 This is the second appeal arising from Customer's claim for injuries she suffered in 2003, when, as a business invitee, she slipped and fell on Pilot's premises. Customer had stopped for fuel. Upon descending from her truck, she slipped and fell in what was later determined to be a mixture of diesel fuel and water. She sustained significant injuries. A jury trial in 2008 resulted in a jury verdict in favor of Customer. Pilot appealed on the grounds the jury was improperly instructed; this Court agreed by reversing and remanding the matter to the trial court for a new trial.1

T3 A second trial was conducted in 2011, resulting in a verdict in favor of Pilot,. This time Customer appeals, alleging that the jury was again erroneously instructed. We agree. The jury was improperly instructed; therefore, we reverse the trial court's judgment, and remand the matter for a new trial.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review given or refused jury instructions and verdict forms to determine whether there is a probability the jurors were misled and thereby reached a different conclusion than they would have reached but for the questioned instruction or verdiet form, or whether there was excluded from consideration a proper issue of the case. Ankney v. Hall, 1988 OK 101, ¶9, 764 P.2d 153, 155, Woodall v. Chandler Material Co., 1986 OK 4, ¶13, 716 P.2d 652, 654.

FFE, id., at ¶ 13, at 587-88. Further,

The power of an appellate court to disturb a jury's verdict on the basis of an error in jury instructions is tightly cireumseribed and can be exercised only if the court concludes that the error "has probably resulted in a miscarriage of justice, or constitutes a substantial violation of a constitutional or statutory right." Okla. Stat. tit. 20, § 3001.1 (2001); see also Lierly v. Tidewater Petroleum Corp., 2006 OK 47, 115, 139 P.3d 897, 902. This Court can disturb a jury's verdict only if it concludes that an error in a jury instruction is so pervasive that the instructions as a whole create the "probability that the jury was misled into reaching a result different from that which would have been reached but for the error." Myers v. Mo. Pac. R.R., 2002 OK 60, 129, 52 P.3d 1014, 1028-29. [71]*71Snyder v. Domingues, 2008 OK 53, ¶ 8, 202 P.3d 185, 138.

ANALYSIS

1. Notice Instruction

T4 At the close of the trial, the jury was given the following non-OUJI instruction entitled "Notice."

Unless you find that Pilot had notice or could be charged with gaining knowledge of the condition in time sufficient to effect its removal or to warn of its presence, you must find in favor of the Defendant. See Rogers v. Hennesse [Hennessee], 602 P.2d 1083, 1085-1036 (Okla.1979), McKinney v. Harrington, 855 P.2d 602, 604 (Okla.1998).

4 5 Customer proposes this instruction was erroneous based on the evidence presented at trial. She argues her expert witness opined, without contradiction, that Pilot's placement of water faucets near the diesel fueling pumps would inevitably lead to a puddling of water and diesel mixture causing a dangerously slippery condition. In addition, Customer posits that Pilot's own witnesses admitted the majority of injury claims against it involved slipping on water-diesel mixtures. Therefore, Customer argues Pilot always had constructive notice of the spill and any instruction exonerating Pilot because of lack of notice was erroneous.

T 6 However, Customer testified that when she reported her injury to Mr. Green, Pilot's employee, he told her that another driver had "overfueled," spilling diesel on the concrete. The inference drawn from this statement was that Pilot was not aware of the spill, until Customer fell, thus having no opportunity to clean up the spill.

T7 As seen, the jury was presented with two different theories. Customer argues Pilot was on constructive notice of the dangerous condition because of the historically high number of claims resulting from the same condition as that encountered by Customer. Pilot argues to the contrary that it was unaware of the spill that day because a previous customer had overfueled, thus preventing sufficient time to remedy the condition. We find, given that the underlying fact the slippery condition existed is undisputed, a reasonable jury could differ on how the condition was created and how long it had existed before Customer fell. The given "notice" instruction accurately reflects the law in this regard. We find no merit to this proposition of error.

2. - Creation of Risk Instruction

18 Customer presented an expert witness who opined Pilot's choice to locate water faucets near the diesel pumps inevitably led to the creation of dangerous puddles of water/diesel mixtures. Therefore, she argues Pilot was on notice of such dangerous conditions. Customer also contends she was entitled to an instruction absolving her of any duty to warn due to Pilot's creation of the condition. In support of this argument, she submitted a proposed instruction based on Lingerfelt v. Winn-Dixie Texas, Inc., 1982 OK 44, 645 P.2d 485.

An operator of a self-service operation is charge [sic] with knowledge of the foreseeable risks inherent in such a mode of operation.

T 9 Indeed, this proposed instruction accurately reflects the law. Lingerfelt states:

The rule seems to be that where the negligent act causes consequences such as in the ordinary course of things, were likely to arise, and which might, therefore reasonably be expected to arise, or which it was contemplated by the parties might arise, liability follows; otherwise not. Stephens v. Oklahoma City Ry. Co., 28 Okl. 340, 114 P. 611 (1911).

Lingerfelt, at ¶ 22, at 488.

10 Customer argues the trial court erred in refusing to give this instruction. However, the jury was given this instruction:

If an invitee has shown an invitor's self-service merchandising and marketing methods were such as to create a reasonable probability that a dangerous condition would occur, invitor is liable for the consequences thereof and invitee need not provide notice of the specific condition created. White v. Wynn, 1985 OK 89, 708 P.2d 1126, 1129.

T 11 This non-OUJI instruction is a synopsis and rephrasing of White, id., at ¶11, at [72]*721129, which quotes Lingerfelt's holding. The distinction between Customer's proposed instruction from Lingerfelt and the trial court's actual instruction from Wynn, quoting Ling-erfelt, is one without a difference.

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Related

McKinney v. Harrington
1993 OK 88 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1993)
Ankney v. Hall
1988 OK 101 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1988)
Thomas v. Holliday by and Through Holliday
1988 OK 116 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1988)
Woodall v. Chandler Material Co.
1986 OK 4 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1986)
White v. Wynn
1985 OK 89 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1985)
Lingerfelt v. Winn-Dixie Texas, Inc.
1982 OK 44 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1982)
Washington Square, Inc. v. First Lady Beauty Salons, Inc.
602 P.2d 1083 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1979)
In Matter of Marriage of Powell
202 P.3d 183 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)
Snyder v. Dominguez
2008 OK 53 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2008)
Myers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad
2002 OK 60 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2002)
Lierly v. Tidewater Petroleum Corp.
2006 OK 47 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2006)
FFE Transportation Services, Inc. v. Pilot Travel Centers, L.L.C.
2010 OK CIV APP 7 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2009)
Stephens v. Oklahoma City Ry. Co.
1911 OK 116 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2012 OK CIV APP 111, 292 P.3d 69, 2012 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 102, 2012 WL 6725846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/medlin-v-pilot-travel-centers-llc-oklacivapp-2012.