Wood v. City of Bellingham

813 P.2d 142, 62 Wash. App. 61, 1991 Wash. App. LEXIS 269
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedJuly 29, 1991
DocketNo. 25293-3-I
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 813 P.2d 142 (Wood v. City of Bellingham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wood v. City of Bellingham, 813 P.2d 142, 62 Wash. App. 61, 1991 Wash. App. LEXIS 269 (Wash. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Pekelis, J.

Geraldine Wood appeals from a judgment on a jury verdict in her personal injury action against the City of Bellingham. Wood contends that the trial court erred in submitting the issue of her contributory negligence to the jury.

I

On January 19, 1988, Wood was walking south on a sidewalk along Meridian Street in Bellingham when she was struck and injured by an automobile owned by the City and driven by one of its employees, Christine Camerer.

At the time of the accident, the City vehicle was emerging from a convenience store parking lot and proceeding toward the public street. Wood testified that when she initially observed the vehicle approach the sidewalk, she stopped to let it proceed. When the vehicle also stopped, Wood assumed that the driver was waiting for her to pass and resumed walking. As she stepped in front of the vehicle, it rolled forward and shoved her into the street where she fell. On cross examination, Wood stated that she did not make eye contact with the driver.

The driver, Camerer, testified that she stopped her vehicle before crossing the sidewalk and looked in both directions for pedestrians. She then rolled forward so that the front of the car extended over the sidewalk and stopped a second time. Camerer testified that she looked to her right but did not see Wood. She then looked left for an opening in traffic so she could make a right-hand turn. As she waited, Camerer lifted her foot off the brake pedal and began to inch forward. At this point, she saw Wood crossing in front of her for the first time and immediately applied the brakes. The car bumped into Wood who fell onto the street, sustaining injury.

At the close of testimony, Wood moved for a directed verdict, claiming that the evidence did not support [64]*64instructing the jury on the issue of contributory negligence.1 The trial court denied Wood's motion.

The jury returned a verdict in Wood's favor, determining that her damages were $10,000 but finding her 50 percent contributorially negligent.

Wood subsequently moved for a new trial, asserting once again that the issue of contributory negligence should not have been submitted to the jury. The court denied the motion, giving the following explanation:

Mrs. Wood's testimony related to what she assumed, not what she saw. And the jury could find that she saw the car on the sidewalk with the driver looking to her left or south down Meridian Street and not at her and chose to walk in front of the car.
If the jury found that Mrs. Wood should have seen that the driver was looking away from her and not at her and walked in front of the car, then that would be a failure to exercise reasonable care for her own safety.
I'm satisfied now as I was then, and it isn't a matter of maintaining eye contact or giving up the right of way, that the evidence did support not only the submission to the jury of the question of comparative negligence but also the jury's finding in that regard.

This timely appeal follows.

[65]*65II

Wood contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury on her contributory negligence. Wood argues first that she was not contributorially negligent as a matter of law. This argument is based on Wood's contention that she was under no duty because once Camerer had stopped, Wood's right of way was absolute. Alternatively, Wood contends that there were no facts in evidence to justify submitting the issue of her negligence to the jury.

In response, the City asserts first that Wood has not preserved her substantive claim because she failed to object to the giving of instruction 13, which set out the partie's respective duties of care. In addition, the City claims that the law and the facts justified submitting the issue of contributory negligence to the jury.

We first address whether Wood's objections to the trial court's instructions were sufficient to preserve the issues she raises on appeal. Generally, "[t]he failure to except to the court's instructions or to apprise the court of the specific grounds, theories, or points of law on which any exception is made will preclude consideration of the issue on appeal." St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co. v. Salovich, 41 Wn. App. 652, 658, 705 P.2d 812, review denied, 104 Wn.2d 1029 (1985).

At trial, Wood objected to instructions 11 and 12 but not 13. In fact, it appears from the record that Wood requested instruction 13 although she proposed an additional paragraph on deception which the court excluded. Instruction 13 mirrors the language of RCW 46.61.365 and is found in WPI 70.02.04, which states:

A statute provides that a driver who is emerging from a driveway shall stop the vehicle immediately before driving onto a sidewalk or onto the sidewalk area extending across the driveway and shall yield the right of way to any pedestrian as may be necessary to avoid collision. This right of way, however, is not absolute but relative, and the duty to exercise ordinary care rests upon both parties. The primary duty, however, rests upon the driver of the emerging vehicle, [66]*66which duty must be performed with reasonable regard to the maintenance of a fair margin of safety at all times.

(Italics ours.)

The failure to object to the giving of this instruction does not preclude Wood from challenging whether there were sufficient facts to justify the submission of her contributory negligence to the jury. Wood timely apprised the trial court of her position that a contributory negligence instruction was not supported by the evidence, thus enabling the court to render an informed ruling on the issue. Accordingly, we conclude that Wood has preserved her claim on appeal.

However, because Wood requested instruction 13, she is unable to now contend that she had an absolute right to proceed across the driveway. On its face, instruction 13 defines the parties' respective statutory duties of care, emphasizing that the pedestrian's right of way is not absolute, but relative. Thus, Wood's contention is logically foreclosed by this instruction. Moreover, instruction 13 correctly states the law, and even on appeal, Wood does not contend otherwise. Her argument is that a pedestrian's duty to yield the right of way to a motorist does not arise absent evidence showing that the pedestrian either deceived the motorist into proceeding forward or jumped into the side of the approaching car, citing, inter alia, Hammel v. Rife, 37 Wn. App. 577, 682 P.2d 949, review denied, 102 Wn.2d 1007 (1984) and Iwata v. Champine, 74 Wn.2d 844, 447 P.2d 175 (1968).

These cases are inapposite. First, as Hammel clearly explains, the deception doctrine is only applicable where a favored party has somehow deceived a reasonably prudent disfavored driver so as to cause that driver to proceed on the assumption that there was a fair margin of safety. Hammel, 37 Wn. App. at 582.

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813 P.2d 142, 62 Wash. App. 61, 1991 Wash. App. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wood-v-city-of-bellingham-washctapp-1991.