Custer v. Beckett, Unpublished Decision (1-3-2000)
Custer v. Beckett, Unpublished Decision (1-3-2000)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
On January 28, 1998, appellant, Theodore Custer, was injured when the vehicle he was driving flipped over. Appellant was driving on I-70 east in the left lane of travel. Appellant claimed a semi-tractor trailer rig being driven in the right lane by appellee, Michael Beckett, moved over into his lane and cut him off. On February 25, 1998, appellant filed a complaint against appellee and appellee's employer, Lexington Cartage Co., alleging appellee negligently changed lanes without safety. On March 30, 1998, appellees answered and asserted the affirmative defense of comparative negligence. A jury trial commenced on March 8, 1999. The jury found in favor of appellees. On March 22, 1999, appellant filed a motion for new trial. By judgment entry filed April 5, 1999, the trial court denied said motion. Appellant filed an appeal and this matter is now before this court for consideration. Assignments of error are as follows:I THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN INSTRUCTING ON THE ISSUE OF FAILURE TO CONTROL.
II THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN INSTRUCTING ON THE ISSUE OF COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE.
III THE TRIAL COURT ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF PLAINTIFF IN ALLOWING THE DEFENDANT TO TESTIFY AT LENGTH ABOUT HIS SAFE DRIVING AWARDS AND GOOD DRIVING CERTIFICATES FROM HIS EMPLOYER.
IV THE JURY VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE. THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN REFUSING TO GRANT NEW TRIAL.
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In determining whether ordinary care was used, you will consider whether either party ought to have foreseen under the circumstances that the natural and probable result of an act or failure to act would cause some injury or damage.
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If either party, by the use of ordinary care, should have foreseen some injury or damage and should not have acted, or if they did act, should have taken precautions to avoid the result, then the performance of the act or failure to take such precautions is negligence.
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In their defense, the defendants claim that they were not negligent but, if found to be negligent, they claim that the plaintiff was also negligent.
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The driver of a vehicle must drive, as nearly as he can, entirely within a single lane of traffic and must not move from such lane until he has first made certain that such movement can be made with safety. Failure to drive in a marked lane constitutes negligence.
A driver of a motor vehicle must be in reasonable control of his vehicle at all times. * * * Failure to control a vehicle constitutes negligence unless that negligence is excused because of acts of other parties. If you find that the defendant changed lanes without safety and interfered with the plaintiff's right of way causing the plaintiff to lose control of his vehicle, then the plaintiff cannot be found negligent for failure to control his vehicle.
Jury Instructions at 4-5 and 9-10, respectively, attached to Transcript, Vol. III.
Appellant claims the instructions created "hopeless confusion" because no facts were presented to support the complained of instructions. The entire case centered on a "no contact" claim of negligence against appellee for changing lanes causing appellant to swerve, lose control and sustain injury. T. at 7, 376. Appellant's counsel artfully argued the following: So what we have here is a situation where if you believe Mr. Flanders, the truck driver from Arctic, that he saw this large semi-tractor/trailer go into the left lane of travel, immediately heard squealing tires and then came into the right lane of travel so he knew that this other truck was in the left lane of travel.
And if you believe that that is physically what happened, than as a matter of law, the defendant is a hundred percent responsible for entering this other lane and violating Mr. Custer's right-of-way. Mr. Custer was proceeding lawfully at or below the posted speed limit and, therefore, if you believe Mr. Flanders, your verdict should be, we find the defendant negligent, we find him a hundred percent negligent and we find that Mr. Custer, at the moment this truck entered his lane of travel was proceeding lawfully, not — had the right-of-way and that Mr. Custer is zero percent responsible for this collision.
T. at 376-377
This case centered on whom to believe. Appellee observed a semi-tractor trailer rig being driven by Bobby Flanders on the entrance ramp attempting to enter the highway. Appellee testified he was aware of traffic to his left and knew he could not move over. T. at 329, 334. In order to make room for Mr. Flanders, appellee "placed my vehicle over to the centerline to give him as much room as possible * * * in that 20 foot area." T. at 331. The entering tractor trailer rig had to pull in behind appellee or run off onto the gravel berm. T. at 333. Appellee directly denied crossing the centerline and testified he could not move over into the left lane of travel because "there was traffic there." T. at 335-336. Appellee opined that if he had been in the left lane of travel, he would have hit appellant. T. at 337. Appellant testified to the following: A. I was passing this tractor and trailer, 18-wheeler, and I was in this lane and it seemed like all at once he started cutting over and I said, oh, man, he's coming over in my lane.
Well, I didn't think it was completely going to come in my lane, so I moved over a little bit and then I said, no, he's coming in my lane, he's coming in my lane. That's when I hit the brakes real hard. And what happened, was the truck started hauling back and forth like this. And you know, I am trying to keep control of the truck and everything. And finally, you know, it stopped, like suddenly, it stopped.
And here I am on an angle and here's this back tires coming like this and if you could see, I was like this. His back tires went overtop of my hood and probably killed me because that's what I thought it was going to do which he was going to come right overtop that hood and wipe me out.
Q. What did you do?
A. This time I really slammed on the brakes as much as I could and I kind of weaved again like that and I went over in the lane and I flipped over on my side. I spun around, back into my lane. This is the way I perceived it. And I was upside down on the side sliding for a period of time.
But what I was saying, this happened so fast, I mean, it was like a split second. If you ever was close to an accident or thought somebody was going to kill you, it's boom, boom and it's over.
T. at 145-146.
The investigating officer, Trooper J.T. Conomy, testified appellant lost control of his vehicle. T. at 62. If appellee was never in the left lane of travel as he stated, then appellant's own actions constituted failure to control therefore, failure to control and comparative negligence were appropriate jury instructions. The direct evidence by appellee that he never changed lanes was sufficient to warrant the complained of instructions. The trial court did not err in so charging the jury. Assignments of Error I and II are denied.
Appellant had withdrawn his objection and permitted further testimony on safe driving awards thereby diminishing any prejudicial effect of the testimony. A great deal of the testimony on credibility centered on the inaccuracies in appellee's log book and in particular, on the date in question. Based upon the withdrawal of the objection which permitted further testimony, the very little time devoted to the testimony (some four pages out of three hundred and fifty pages of testimony), and the cross-examination on similar issues, we find said error to be harmless. Assignment of Error III is denied.
T. at 270. All this took place in about three to four seconds. T. at 273. At the time of appellee's movement, appellant claimed he was right behind the cab of appellee's semi-tractor trailer rig. T. at 266-267. Based upon the evidence presented and mindful that credibility issues are within the province of the trier of facts, we find there was sufficient evidence to substantiate the finding that appellee did not move into appellant's lane of travel. If appellant was at the rear cab portion of appellee's semi-tractor trailer rig, any movement of the semi-tractor trailer rig into the left lane of travel (assuming the front advanced first) would have resulted in contact. Assignment of Error IV is denied.
The judgment of the court of Common Pleas of Licking County, Ohio is hereby affirmed.
By FARMER, J. HOFFMAN, P.J. and EDWARDS, J. concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.