St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers, Inc. v. Poland

828 N.E.2d 396, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 942, 2005 WL 1274135
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 31, 2005
Docket45A03-0402-CV-92
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 828 N.E.2d 396 (St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers, Inc. v. Poland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers, Inc. v. Poland, 828 N.E.2d 396, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 942, 2005 WL 1274135 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

OPINION

DARDEN, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers, Inc. (St. Margaret) appeals a jury verdict in which it was found partially at fault for a personal injury suffered by Barbara Poland (Poland) while she was roller skating at the Blade N Skate's rink 1, a facility

[399]*399owned and operated by St. Margaret.2

We affirm.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court committed reversible error in giving Indiana's Pattern Jury Instruction No. 5.41 on incurred risk in a negligence action involving a fall at a roller skating rink. 2. Whether the jury verdict was flawed because there was no percentage of fault attributed to Poland.

FACTS

'On February 14, 1998, Poland and her husband Mark went with their teenage son to St. Margaret. After arriving at the rink, she learned it was teen night. Many skaters appeared to be skating "out of control and nobody seemed to be supervising them." ' (Tr. 115). She and Mark also observed that one of the rink guards was playing "crack the whip" with skaters. ' Id. Mark described "érack the whip" to 'the jury as a game whereby skaters lined up behind one of the rink guards forming a human chain with each other, and while holding onto his shirt tail, he would "swoop around [the corner] and the kids go [sic] flying off his shirt tail." (Tr. 174). She noticed throughout the night that other rules of the rink were also being violated. An example of one such violation was "four or five girls skating in a line, and according to ... [St. Margaret] rules that they announced at the beginning, they weren't supposed to do that." (Tr. 116). She and Mark stayed at the rink because they did not want to disappoint their son. However, in order to avoid the more aggressive skating by some of the skaters, she and Mark decided to only skate during the

"couples' skating" times. Poland testified that the couples' skating differed from the "all skating" (the times when everyone was on the skating floor), as there were "less: people on the floor," and the skating was at a slower pace. (Tr. 117). At the end of the couples' skating, there was no announcement or pause between the music switching from the couples' skating to the "all skating" time. She testified that as she attempted to leave the skating floor, she saw Brian Stewart skating very fast toward her while chasing another skater. Brian Stewart ran into Poland and knocked her to the floor. He admitted at trial that he knocked Poland to the floor; however, he denied that he was skating very fast or that he was chasing another skater. As 'a result of the fall, Poland suffered a shattered wrist, which required surgery. >

On February 1, 1999, Poland filed an action against St. Margaret alleging that its negligence in failing to properly supervise skaters on the floor, was the proximate cause of her injuries. On February 16, 1999, St. Margaret filed an answer in denial and asserted the affirmative defenses of "comparative fault, fault of the non-party, Brian Stewart, and assumption of the risk" by Poland. (App. 29, 30).

On January 20-21, 2004, a jury trial was held. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Poland. The verdict form indicated that St. Margaret was found to be fifty percent at fault and Brian was found to be fifty percent at fault. No fault was assigned to Poland, from which St. Margaret appealed.

DECISION

1. Final Jury Instruction No. 5

St. Margaret argues that the trial court committed reversible error when it [400]*400gave Indiana's Pattern Jury Instruction No. 5.41 on incurred risk, designated as Final Instruction No. 5. It contends that the instruction is subjective in nature and amounts to a misstatement of the law, as applied in a roller skating fall case. St. Margaret asserts that "assumption of risks" as found in Indiana Code § 34-31-6-3.3 [Assumption of Risks] (hereinafter "Section 3") is presumed, by roller skaters and, therefore the subjective analysis language of Final Instruction No. 5 is inappropriate because, in effect, it deletes or removes assumption of the risk from consideration by the jury as a complete defense.

It has long been held that the trial court has broad discretion in conducting a trial and the giving of instructions, and the decision to give an instruction will "only be reversed on a showing of abuse of that discretion." Centennial Mortgage, Inc. v. Blumenfeld, 745 N.B.2d 268, 278 (Ind.Ct.App.2001) (citing Young v. State, 696 N.E.2d 386, 389 (Ind.1998)). "The purpose of an instruction is to inform the jury of the law applicable to the facts without misleading the jury and to enable it to comprehend the case clearly and arrive at a just, fair, and correct verdict." Centennial Mortgage, 745 N.E.2d at 278 (citing Fox v. State, 497 N.E.2d 221, 225 (Ind.1986)). "A trial court should give a tendered instruction if the instruction correctly states the law, the evidence supports the instruction, and the substance of the charge is not covered by other instructions." Lashbrooks v. Schultz, 793 N.E.2d 1211, 1218 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. dis missed, (quoting Sikora v. Fromm, 782 N.E.2d 355, 361 (Ind.Ct.App.2002) (citations omitted), trams. denied (2003)).

After both sides had concluded presentation of evidence, the trial court and counsel met to discuss final jury instructions. The trial court ruled that it was going to give an instruction regarding Indiana's Limited Liability for Operators for Roller Skating Rinks '4; St. Margaret had no objection. The instruction reads as follows:

[401]*401... Duties of operators, Section 1, an operator shall do all of the following with respect to a roller skating rink:
Use reasonable care in supervising roller skaters to comply with the requirements of section 2 of this chapter.
34-31-6-2 Duties of roller skaters, See. 2 (hereinafter "Section 2") A roller skater must do all of the following:
(1) Maintain reasonable control of the roller skater's speed and course at all times.
(2) Heed all posted signs and warnings.
(3) Maintain a proper view to avoid other roller skaters and objects.
(4) Accept the responsibility for the following:
(A) Knowing the range of the roller skater's ability to negotiate the intended direction of travel while on roller skates.
(B) Skating within the limits of the roller skater's ability.
(5) Refrain from acting in a manner that may cause or contribute to the injury of the roller skater or any other person.
If you find from a preponderance of the evidence that any party violated these statutes on the occasion in question and the violation was without exeuse or justification, such conduct would constitute negligence to be assessed against the party.

(App.12-13). Without objection from St.

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St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers, Inc. v. Poland
828 N.E.2d 396 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)

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828 N.E.2d 396, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 942, 2005 WL 1274135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-margaret-mercy-healthcare-centers-inc-v-poland-indctapp-2005.