Rials v. Duckworth

822 So. 2d 283, 2002 WL 1584303
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 18, 2002
Docket2001-CA-00260-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 822 So. 2d 283 (Rials v. Duckworth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rials v. Duckworth, 822 So. 2d 283, 2002 WL 1584303 (Mich. 2002).

Opinion

822 So.2d 283 (2002)

Martha RIALS, as the Natural Mother of Pamela Bonds and the Maternal Grandmother of Angel Bonds and in Behalf of all Wrongful Death Beneficiaries
v.
Danny L. DUCKWORTH, Rochea D. Johnson, Sr., Sanderson Farms, Inc. and Steven B. Willis.

No. 2001-CA-00260-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

July 18, 2002.

*284 Robert Fred Lingold, Jr., David Ringer, Florence, attorneys for appellant.

Thomas W. Tyner, Hattiesburg, Christopher Owen Massenburg, New Orleans, LA, Daphne M. Lancaster, Hattiesburg, Richard O. Burson, Richard A. Follis, Laurel, attorneys for appellees.

Before McRAE, P.J., WALLER and GRAVES, JJ.

GRAVES, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Martha Rials ("Rials") commenced this wrongful death action to recover damages resulting from the deaths of her daughter and her granddaughter in a multiple-vehicle accident. Rials filed suit against several defendants. Defendant Bryan Maggio settled with Rials prior to trial. After a three-day jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the remaining defendants. The verdict form indicated that the jury found defendant Maggio 100 percent responsible for the accident. Judgment was entered accordingly. Rials filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative a new trial. This motion was denied. Rials timely perfected the instant appeal.

FACTS

¶ 2. Around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, 1998, Pamela Bonds and her daughter, Angel, were involved in an automobile accident, which took their lives. Pamela was driving her car east on Highway 28, at the time of the accident. Danny L. Duckworth ("Duckworth"), who was operating a gravel dump truck owned by Rochea D. Johnson, Sr. ("Johnson"), was *285 also traveling east behind Pamela's car on that day. Alonzo McCullum ("McCullum") was driving west on the same highway at the time of the accident. McCullum was followed by Steven B. Willis ("Willis") in a Sanderson Farms, Inc. ("Sanderson Farms") truck. Bryan Maggio ("Maggio") was driving his flatbed eighteen-wheeler behind Willis. John Moss ("Moss") followed Maggio in his vehicle.

¶ 3. While traveling on Highway 28, McCullum dropped a lit cigar in his lap and pulled his car to the shoulder of the road to find the cigar. To avoid McCullum's car, Willis slowed down by applying his brakes. Maggio applied his brakes, but realizing that he could not stop in time, pulled his rig into the opposite lane of traffic in an attempt to pass Willis without first checking to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Once in the eastbound lane, Maggio saw Pamela's car traveling towards him and attempted to run his rig off the road; however, there was not enough time, and Maggio's eighteen wheeler smashed into Pamela's car, spinning the car 270 degrees and sending it flying approximately twenty-five (25) feet backwards and into the opposite lane of traffic.

¶ 4. After witnessing Maggio abruptly swerve into the eastbound lane, Duckworth applied his brakes, geared down and attempted to get into the other lane. However, Maggio's rig crashed into Pamela's car and deflected it into the opposite lane of traffic, where Duckworth was now traveling. Unable to bring his large, gravel-filled dump truck to a complete stop, Duckworth ran into Pamela's vehicle.

DISCUSSION

I.

JURY INSTRUCTIONS D-8 AND D-10

¶ 5. Rials argues that the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury regarding the law of contributory negligence. Specifically, Rials suggests that by granting instructions D-8 and D-10, the trial court indicated to the jury that any negligence by Maggio was the "sole proximate cause of the accident" as opposed to a contributing cause.

¶ 6. Instruction D-8 provides as follows:

The Court instructs the jury that the operator of a motor vehicle has a duty to keep the vehicle under proper control and to drive at a speed that is reasonable and prudent under existing circumstances.
Therefore, if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that:
1. Bryan Maggio was not driving at a reasonable rate of speed in view of the conditions existing on November 25, 1998, and/or did not maintain proper control of his vehicle under the circumstances as they existed on November 25, 1998, and
2. That such failure by Bryan Maggio was the sole proximate cause of the accident of November 25, 1998, then your verdict shall be for the Defendants in this cause.

¶ 7. Instruction D-10 provides that:

The Court instructs the jury that violations of traffic laws in safety statutes may constitute negligence as a matter of law. Therefore if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that:
1. Bryan Maggio, while operating his motor vehicle on November 25, 1998, failed to comply with the rules of the road by attempting to pass or overtake the vehicle [sic] a vehicle when he did not have clear visibility of the left lane ahead and when said left lane was not free of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance, and
*286 2. That said failure on the part of Bryan Maggio to comply with this traffic regulation was the sole proximate cause of the accident of November 25, 1998, then your verdict shall be for the Defendants in this cause.

¶ 8. Rials claims that these two instructions "are confusing" and "they fail to instruct the jury that they are entitled to find that the negligent acts of Maggio, if any, may have been a contributing or concurring proximate cause of the deaths of Mrs. Bond and her daughter ... along with any negligent acts of Willis and Duckworth...."

¶ 9. Duckworth and Johnson argue that instructions D-8 and D-10 properly reflect the applicable law. They further argue that the two instructions, when read in conjunction with the other instructions, fairly and adequately instructed the jury on every theory of negligence applicable to the case. Duckworth and Johnson specifically note that both D-8 and D-10 instruct the jurors that if the jury found Maggio was negligent and that Maggio's negligence was the sole proximate cause of the accident, then their verdict must be for the [remaining] defendants.

¶ 10. Sanderson Farms and Willis argue that instructions D-8 and D-10 were clear, unambiguous instructions that accurately stated the law while presenting the defendants' theory of the defense. They also join Duckworth and Johnson's argument that the jury instructions as a whole properly instructed the jury.

¶ 11. On appeal, individual jury instructions should not be considered in isolation, but should be considered as a whole. See, e.g., Reese v. Summers, 792 So.2d 992, 994 (Miss.2001) (citing Fielder v. Magnolia Beverage Co., 757 So.2d 925, 929 (Miss.1999)). See also Peoples Bank & Trust Co. v. Cermack, 658 So.2d 1352, 1356 (Miss.1995) ("On appeal, this Court does not review jury instructions in isolation, rather, they are read as a whole to determine if the jury was properly instructed.").

¶ 12. In the case sub judice, instructions D-8 and D-10 are not confusing when read in isolation, let alone when read collectively. Both instructions clearly and properly instruct the jury. This is bolstered by the jury verdict form which plainly indicates that the jury determined that defendant Maggio was 100 percent responsible for the accident. Accordingly, this claim is without merit.

II.

EXCLUSION OF THE ENTIRE POLICE REPORT

¶ 13.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
822 So. 2d 283, 2002 WL 1584303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rials-v-duckworth-miss-2002.