Stinson v. City of Lincoln

617 N.W.2d 456, 9 Neb. Ct. App. 642, 2000 Neb. App. LEXIS 286
CourtNebraska Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 19, 2000
DocketA-99-1089
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 617 N.W.2d 456 (Stinson v. City of Lincoln) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stinson v. City of Lincoln, 617 N.W.2d 456, 9 Neb. Ct. App. 642, 2000 Neb. App. LEXIS 286 (Neb. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

Moore, Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This case involves a suit for personal injuries sustained by Gladys Stinson when the vehicle she was traveling in collided head on with a snowblower owned by the City of Lincoln, Nebraska (City). The action was tried to the district court without a jury. The district court found in favor of Gladys. The City appeals, assigning various errors which it alleges occurred in the district court.

BACKGROUND

The morning of March 9, 1998, was a bright and sunny day following a major snowstorm in Lincoln. The wind was blowing, creating “ground blizzards” or “whiteouts,” and many of the City’s streets were drifted or drifting shut. The City was operating under a declared snow emergency.

Ed Crouse had been an employee of the City for approximately 20 years. He had 6 or 7 years’ experience in the operation of snow blowing equipment. Crouse had been sent to Pine Lake Road with a snowblower with instructions to clear that road. Snowplows had attempted to clear Pine Lake Road earlier in the day, but were unsuccessful because of the heavy wind and snow. The snowblower is a large front-end loader tractor with a large front-end blowing device that is attached when needed to blow snow. Pine Lake Road is a four-lane arterial road that runs east and west. The Lincoln Police Department had reported to the City that the road had drifted shut.

Crouse testified that upon his arrival at Pine Lake Road, he observed that one part of the road was drifted shut except for one eastbound lane. Although not entirely clear from the testimony, it appears that westbound traffic at that point in the road would cross the center island and travel against the eastbound traffic for a short distance and then cross back over. This [645]*645allowed the westbound traffic to continue to move. Upon arrival, Crouse began operating the snowblower in the westbound lanes in a westbound direction and made two passes in this manner. Because the snowblower was plugging up as he operated it and because the visibility was poor, Crouse decided to blow snow from the other side of the drift, which placed him eastbound in a westbound lane, against the traffic. Crouse testified that he was not aware of any ordinance or policy that allowed snow removal equipment to operate against traffic, that no one had ever said anything to him about it, and that he made the decision to do so on his own. Crouse testified that he knew he was creating a dangerous situation by operating against the traffic and more than once had stopped the equipment he was operating in order to allow traffic to pass. Crouse also testified that he had never blown open drifts before and that normally the snow-blower is used in the downtown and business areas.

Crouse traveled approximately 30 or 40 feet against the traffic when he felt a “jolt.” The blowing snow from his operation of the blower had completely obscured his vision of oncoming cars, and he knew that it obscured the vision of the oncoming cars and that the visibility was zero when he was blowing the snow. The jolt he felt turned out to be the vehicle that Gladys was a passenger in and which was driven by her husband, Jack Stinson, proceeding westbound on Pine Lake Road. Crouse testified that he never saw the Stinson vehicle before impact and that the accident happened on his second pass against the traffic. He had been in the area for about one-half hour prior to the accident. Crouse testified that this was the first time he had operated against the traffic in these types of conditions.

Crouse testified that the snowblower is a very big tractor, that the whiteout at the time of the accident was caused by the snow-blower itself, and that his visibility was zero. He estimated that he would have been traveling at 3 or 4 m.p.h. at the time of the accident. The snowblower had a strobe light on the top, four-way flashers “about halfway in the machine,” two sets of headlights in front, and a set of headlights in the back. Crouse testified that he had the lights operating on the day of the accident. He told the investigating officer that he was going against the traffic so he could see better.

[646]*646Gladys and Jack testified at the trial. They were between 60 and 70 years old at the time of the accident. They had been in the hardware store business for approximately 34 years and owned a hardware store in Lincoln, where they both worked. At the time of the storm and accident, they lived one block north of Pine Lake Road and were able to see Pine Lake Road from the window of their home. They could clearly see the traffic on Pine Lake Road on the day of the accident without any visibility limitation; however, because of the heavy snow, they delayed going to the store that morning. The Stinsons observed vehicles traveling in both directions on Pine Lake Road and at approximately 10:15 a.m., they left together for the store in a company-owned pickup. Jack was driving, and he turned from 39th Street onto the westbound lane on Pine Lake Road.

Gladys testified that the accident occurred between 29th and 32d Streets. Before the accident, they were having no problem getting through the snow, and she told the investigating officer that their speed was between 20 and 30 m.p.h. As they approached the crest of a hill, they were beginning to experience a whiteout or ground blizzard condition, which she testified that she had experienced many times in driving roads in Nebraska and that she had simply driven through those conditions. She believed that the location of the whiteout was between 34th and 32d Streets. The collision occurred as they entered the whiteout. They had no indication that anything would be inside the whiteout and never saw the snowblower or vehicle lights. Gladys and Jack both suffered personal injuries in the accident. Gladys testified that after the accident, she remembered observing that there were no lights on the snowblower and that the “first thing I said” to the officer on the scene was that there were no lights or indicators on the snowblower. Gladys indicated that because their vehicle had been garaged, there was no ice or snow to obscure the windshield before impact. She estimated that Jack had reduced his speed about 5 m.p.h. approximately 150 feet before the impact and that the whiteout covered the whole width of the road on their side of the median.

Jack testified that he was driving 20 to 30 m.p.h. before the accident and dropped his speed as they approached the whiteout. He had experienced many whiteouts, at least “50 or 60,” in his [647]*647years of driving in Nebraska and elsewhere and always would slow down and continue through them. This seemed like an ordinary whiteout, and there was no indication that anything was inside the whiteout. At the hospital immediately after the accident, Jack told an officer that he had been driving 2 to 3 m.p.h., but he does not recall making that statement and at trial denied that his speed would have been that slow. He testified that he had lived near Pine Lake Road for about 2 years and had never seen the road in the conditions of March 9, 1998. Jack testified that he slowed down upon reaching the whiteout, probably by taking his foot off the accelerator rather than applying the brakes. He thought this was just a natural whiteout caused by winds; however, there was zero visibility in the whiteout. Jack described the road condition as snow packed, but in good shape. An accident reconstruction expert concluded that the speed of the Stinson vehicle at the point of impact was 23 to 25 m.p.h., and Jack testified that he would agree with that estimate.

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Stinson v. City of Lincoln
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Bluebook (online)
617 N.W.2d 456, 9 Neb. Ct. App. 642, 2000 Neb. App. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stinson-v-city-of-lincoln-nebctapp-2000.