Robinson v. Lee

821 So. 2d 129, 2000 WL 1499457
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedOctober 10, 2000
Docket98-CA-00568-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 821 So. 2d 129 (Robinson v. Lee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robinson v. Lee, 821 So. 2d 129, 2000 WL 1499457 (Mich. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

821 So.2d 129 (2000)

Pashun ROBINSON and Shirley Robinson, Appellants,
v.
James C. LEE, Appellee.

No. 98-CA-00568-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

October 10, 2000.
Rehearing Denied January 16, 2001.

*130 John F. Ketcherside, Bay St. Louis, Attorney For Appellants.

Robert W. Atkinson, Gulfport, James (Jay) R. Foster, II, Jeanne Claire Williams, Attorneys For Appellee.

BEFORE KING, P.J., BRIDGES, AND MOORE, JJ.

KING, P.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Shirley Robinson, on behalf of her minor son, Pashun Robinson, appeals the Hancock County Circuit Court jury's verdict awarding Pashun $1250 for injuries which he received in a bicycle-vehicle accident. Finding error, we reverse.

FACTS[1]

¶ 2. Robinson and a friend were riding their bicycles on a highway near Catahoula, Mississippi. While on his bicycle, Robinson crossed the highway to ride in the easterly lane. At about the same time, James C. Lee, driving a truck, traveled over a hill approaching Robinson from behind. In the opposite direction, driving towards Robinson and Lee, was Earl Cuevas, also in a truck. Lee claims that as his vehicle approached Cuevas's truck, he did not see Robinson riding on the roadside. As the two vehicles were about to pass one another, Lee's vehicle struck Robinson, who was thrown off of his bicycle.

¶ 3. Robinson in his appellate court brief, alleges injuries which resulted in medical bills of $2500. At the conclusion of trial, the jury found for Robinson and awarded him $1250 in damages. After post-trial motions were denied, Robinson instituted this appeal.

ISSUES

¶ 4. The assignments of error raised by Robinson, taken verbatim from his brief, are as follows:

I. THE COURT REFUSED TO PROVIDE PLAINTIFF'S JURY INSTRUCTION P-12 WHICH WOULD HAVE PROPERLY INSTRUCTED THE JURY ON THE LAW REGARDING CHILDREN OF TENDER YEARS ON OR NEAR A ROADWAY, REQUIRING A HIGHER DEGREE OF CARE FROM DEFENDANT LEE AND WHICH WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A JURY VERDICT FULLY IN FAVOR OF PLAINTIFF IN A PROPER AMOUNT OF DAMAGES.

*131 II. THE COURT IMPROPERLY GAVE DEFENDANT'S JURY INSTRUCTION D-5 REGARDING "DARTING OUT" WHICH IS IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI AND WHICH MISLED THE JURY AND RESULTED IN A JURY VERDICT MUCH LOWER THAN THAT WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN RETURNED WITHOUT SUCH INSTRUCTION.
III. THE COURT ALLOWED THE VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF EARL CUEVAS, DEFENDANT'S ONLY CORROBORATING WITNESS, TO BE PLAYED BEFORE THE JURY, NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT THAT NO SHOWING WAS MADE AS TO THE AVAILABILITY OF DECLARANT WHEN THIS WITNESS SIMPLY FAILED TO APPEAR AT THE TRIAL OF THIS MATTER PURSUANT TO A LAWFULLY SERVED SUBPOENA, WHICH DEPOSITION TESTIMONY WRONGFULLY INFLUENCED THE JURY AND DAMAGED PLAINTIFF.

DISCUSSION

I. Proposed Jury Instruction P-12.

¶ 5. Robinson offered the following jury instruction at trial which was denied by the trial court:

The operator of a motor vehicle who observes a child of tender years near the roadway has a duty to anticipate that the child might move on to [sic] the roadway, and must take measures reasonably calculated to prevent injuring the child.
Therefore, if you find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case that:
1. The defendant, James C. Lee, observed or should reasonably have observed the child, Pashun Robinson, along Highway 43, and
2. The defendant failed to take measures reasonably calculated to prevent injuring the child, and
3. The defendant's failure to take those measures was the sole proximate cause or proximate cause of child's injuries, then your verdict shall be fore the plaintiff.
However, if you believe that the plaintiff has failed to prove any one of these elements by a preponderance of the evidence in this case, then your verdict shall be for the defendant.

¶ 6. A party is entitled to a jury instruction regarding a genuine issue of material fact where there is credible evidence in the record supporting the proposed instruction. DeLaughter v. Lawrence County Hosp., 601 So.2d 818, 824 (Miss.1992). Further, a trial judge is authorized to grant a proposed jury instruction only where evidence has been presented at trial which supports the instruction. Copeland v. City of Jackson, 548 So.2d 970, 973 (Miss.1989).

¶ 7. Robinson asks us to hold the trial court in error for refusing to grant Instruction P-12, alleging there was sufficient evidence to support the instruction. Our dilemma here is that we are unable to evaluate the propriety of the trial court's decision because the record on appeal does not provide us with any testimony or evidence to support the granting of the instruction. As indicated, only portions of the trial were transcribed and provided as part of the appellate record. Included in the record on appeal was a transcript containing defense counsel's opening and closing statements, the testimony of Lee and the video deposition testimony of Cuevas. Having reviewed what was produced for us on appeal, we are unable find any evidence supporting Robinson's claim that he was a *132 child of tender years, the first question found in the first line of the offered jury instruction. Indeed, there is no evidence found in the appellate record addressing Robinson's age at the time of the accident.

¶ 8. "We may not act upon or consider matters which do not appear in the record and must confine ourselves to what actually does appear in the record." Myers v. Mississippi Farm Bureau Mutual Ins. Co., 749 So.2d 1173 (¶ 4) (Miss.Ct. App.1999). Accordingly, this issue is procedurally barred from our review.

II. "Darting Out" Instruction

¶ 9. Robinson complains that the trial court erroneously granted the following defense instruction:

If you find that the Defendant, James C. Lee, was driving his truck at a reasonable speed and was keeping a proper lookout, and that the Plaintiff suddenly darted out in front of James C. Lee so that he could not stop or avoid injury to the Plaintiff in the exercise of reasonable care, then your verdict must be for the Defendant, James C. Lee.

¶ 10. Robinson acknowledges that "the jury did not rule for Lee under this instruction," and argues that nevertheless the instruction prejudiced the jury. He asserts that the result of the jury viewing this instruction was its attributing to Robinson a higher percentage of fault. Finally, Robinson distinguishes this case on the basis that he did not "dart out" from "behind something" rather he simply crossed the highway.

¶ 11. As previously discussed, there is nothing in the record evincing Robinson's version of the facts. Lee testified that as he approached the boys on bicycles, they darted suddenly out into his lane and over to the side of the highway. This testimony is sufficient to support the defense's "darting out" instruction regarding the issue of whether or not Robinson darted out in front of the on-coming vehicle. However, we decline to rule on the standard of care involved because of an incomplete appellate record. Lee argues that the standard supplied by the "darting out" instruction is the proper standard by which he was and should have been adjudged. Robinson argues the opposite. Without a record from which we can delineate those facts that may or may not support the given instruction, we are unable to rule on the matter.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
821 So. 2d 129, 2000 WL 1499457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robinson-v-lee-missctapp-2000.