Seege v. Smith

2014 Ohio 5450
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 12, 2014·No. 26210·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT MONTGOMERY COUNTY

DONNA SEEGE Plaintiff-Appellant v. CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH, et al.

Defendants-Appellees

Appellate Case No. 26210 Trial Court Case No. 2012-CV-6782

(Civil Appeal from (Common Pleas Court)

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OPINION

Rendered on the 12th day of December, 2014.

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DWIGHT BRANNON, Atty. Reg. No. 0021657, DOUGLAS D. BRANNON, Atty. Reg. No. 0076603, MATTHEW C. SCHULTZ, Atty. Reg. No. 0080142, 130 West Second Street, Suite 900, Dayton, Ohio 45402 Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellant-Donna Seege

NEIL F. FREUND, Atty. Reg No. 0012183, LEONARD J. BAZELAK, Atty. Reg. No. 0064023, 1 South Main Street, Suite 1800, Dayton, Ohio 45402, JOHN J. DANISH, Atty. Reg. No. 0046639, JOHN C. MUSTO, Atty. Reg. No. 0071512, 101 West Third Street, P.O. Box 22, Dayton, Ohio 45401 Attorneys for Defendant-Appellee-Christopher B. Smith

Attorneys for Defendant Appellee-City of Dayton

TODD SMITH, Atty. Reg. No. 0076794, 6047 Frantz Road, Suite 203, Dublin, Ohio 43017 Attorney for Defendants-Appellees-AARP and United Healthcare Services, Inc.

MARGARET SCHUTTE, Atty. Reg. No. 0078968, 200 West Second Street, Suite 200, Dayton, Ohio 45402 Attorney for Defendant-Appellee-U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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WELBAUM, J.

{¶ 1} In this case, Plaintiff-Appellant, Donna Seege, appeals from a summary judgment rendered in favor of Defendants-Appellees, Christopher Smith and the City of Dayton, on grounds of their statutory immunity under R.C. Chap. 2744. Seege contends that Appellees were not entitled to statutory immunity for an auto accident involving Smith and Seege. According to Seege, Smith was not on an emergency call at the time of the accident, and Smith was also acting in a wanton and reckless manner when his police cruiser collided with Seege’s wheelchair.

{¶ 2} We conclude that the trial court did not err in rendering summary judgment on behalf of Appellees. The undisputed facts, construed most strongly in Appellant’s favor, indicate that Smith was on an emergency call (statutorily defined as a call to duty) and did not act in a wanton or reckless manner when his cruiser struck Seege’s wheelchair. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.

I. Facts and Course of Proceedings

{¶ 3} On April 12, 2011, Donna Seege left her apartment on Third Street in Dayton,

Ohio, to go to a nearby General Dollar store. Seege had multiple sclerosis, and used a motorized wheelchair to travel to the store. Seege left from the back entrance of her building, went down an alley, and went across a church parking lot to West Second Street, where there was an unmarked crosswalk. After looking both ways, Seege began to travel across the intersection of James H. McGee Boulevard and West Second Street. Once she arrived at the other side of James H. McGee Boulevard, she intended to travel one block south to West Third Street, where the store was located.

{¶ 4} Around the same time, Dayton Police Officer, Christopher Smith, was on patrol in the area, driving a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria cruiser. Smith frequently patrolled in the area of West Second Street and James H. McGee Boulevard, and was aware there was an unmarked crosswalk at the intersection. Shortly before the accident, Smith received a dispatch telling him to respond to a traffic crash at North James H. McGee Boulevard and Bridge Street. Smith described this as a non-emergency call, because another officer was already at the scene. In addition, there were no injuries. Smith did not activate his lights and sirens, which he would use in an emergency situation. Smith also indicated that in non-emergency situations, police officers must follow the same traffic rules and laws as ordinary citizens.

{¶ 5} When Smith received the dispatch, he was near Stewart Street. He traveled to Interstate 75, went northbound, and took the westbound exit to South James H. McGee Boulevard. Smith then traveled northbound on James H. McGee Boulevard. The speed limit was 40 miles per hour. Smith encountered a green light at the intersection of James H. McGee Boulevard and West Third Street, which was a block south of the intersection where Seege was attempting to cross. Traffic was moderate to heavy, and there were no cars ahead of Smith as he proceeded through the intersection. At that point, James H. McGee Boulevard consisted of two lanes in each direction, with a turn lane, and Smith was in the left northbound lane. Smith stated that he was looking straight ahead and did not see any traffic ahead, either vehicular or pedestrian.

{¶ 6} The black box in the cruiser indicated that Smith's speed was 45 or 46 miles per hour at 11 seconds before the collision, and about 41.5 miles at the time the brakes were applied. As Smith got close to the intersection of Second and James H. McGee, he glanced to the left at the All in One parking lot, which was located on the northwest side of the intersection. Smith stated that he does this habitually when he passes stores, to look for any type of drug activity, fights, robberies, or disturbances. Smith’s initial accounts to the police indicated that he looked to his left for four to five seconds. However, at his deposition, Smith stated that he believed he had looked to the left only for one to three seconds.

{¶ 7} Once Smith arrived at the intersection, he saw, in his peripheral vision, a motorized wheelchair moving from the east to his west. He slammed on his brakes, but still struck the wheelchair with the left front bumper of his cruiser. Smith's airbag deployed as a result of the collision. The wheelchair was in the unmarked crosswalk when it was struck, and the point of impact was on the south side of the intersection, in the left-hand lane. Seege was thrown off the wheelchair and landed to the left of the cruiser. The wheelchair ended up going to the left, toward the center divider and the empty southbound lane of travel.

{¶ 8} Seege was taken to the hospital, where she remained for a month, with significant injuries. In September 2012, Seege filed suit against Smith and the City of Dayton, alleging that Smith had negligently, willfully, wantonly, and recklessly failed to yield the right of way as required by R.C. 4511.46(A). After both sides filed motions for summary judgment, the trial court granted Appellees' motion and denied Seege's motion. The court held that statutory immunity applied because Smith was on a call to duty, and his conduct was neither willful nor wanton. The court also found that Smith was entitled to individual immunity under R.C. 2744.03(A) because there was no evidence that he was acting recklessly. Seege appeals from the judgment rendered in favor of Appellees.

II. Did the Trial Court Err in Rendering Summary Judgment in Appellees' Favor?

{¶ 9} Seege's sole assignment of error states that:

The Trial Court Erred in Granting Summary Judgment to Defendants-Appellees Officer Christopher Smith and the City of Dayton.

{¶ 10} Under this assignment of error, Seege first contends that Officer Smith was not responding to an emergency call for purposes of statutory immunity, and that the trial court interpreted the term “emergency call” too expansively.

{¶ 11} It is well-established that “[a] trial court may grant a moving party summary judgment pursuant to Civ. R. 56 if there are no genuine issues of material fact remaining to be litigated, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and reasonable minds can come to only one conclusion, and that conclusion is adverse to the nonmoving party, who is entitled to have the evidence construed most strongly in his favor.” (Citation omitted.) Smith v. Five Rivers MetroParks, 134 Ohio App.3d 754, 760, 732 N.E.2d 422 (2d Dist.1999). “We review decisions granting summary judgment de novo, which means that we apply the same standards as the trial court.” (Citations omitted.) GNFH, Inc. v. W. Am. Ins. Co., 172 Ohio

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