Arnold v. Frigid Food Exp. Co.

• Decision Date: 30 April 1969
• Docket Number: CA-CIV,No. 2,2
• Citation: Arnold v. Frigid Food Exp. Co., 453 P.2d 983, 9 Ariz.App. 472 (Ariz. App. 1969)
• Parties: Francis ARNOLD and Thelma J. Arnold, husband and wife, Appellants, v. FRIGID FOOD EXPRESS CO., Joseph Paul Kovrig, and Thomas J. Lewandowski, as Administrator of the Estate of Paul Stanley Lewandowski, Deceased, Appellees. 557.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

Page 983

453 P.2d 983

9 Ariz.App. 472

Francis ARNOLD and Thelma J. Arnold, husband and wife, Appellants, v.FRIGID FOOD EXPRESS CO., Joseph Paul Kovrig, and Thomas J. Lewandowski, as Administrator of the Estate of Paul Stanley Lewandowski, Deceased, Appellees.

No. 2 CA-CIV 557.

Court of Appeals of Arizona.

April 30, 1969.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing May 29, 1969.

Review Denied June 24, 1969.

Dykes, Selden, Bayham & Fike by Alan Philip Bayham, Phoenix, for appellants.

Gust, Rosenfeld & Divelbess by James F. Henderson, Phoenix, for appellees, Frigid Food Express Co., and Joseph Paul Kovrig.

Moore, Romely, Kaplan, Robbins & Green, by Robert H. Green, Phoenix, for appelleeThomas J. Lewandowski.

HATHAWAY, Judge.

Thirteen vehicles collided in a severe dust storm near Picacho, Arizona, on the afternoon of July 12, 1964.Nine persons were killed in the disaster, several cars burned, and multiple injuries were inflicted.This appeal involves a lawsuit which was brought by one of the persons injured, Francis Arnold, to recover for the loss of his left leg.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the Francis Arnold family was returning to their home in Coolidge, Arizona, from an outing which had taken them southeast of Tucson.They were proceeding north on the Tucson-Phoenix Freeway; their teenage daughter, Judy, was driving.Mrs. Arnold was riding in the front seat, Mr. Arnold on the right rear side, and another daughter, Connie, behind the driver.

It was windy when they left Tucson and there were occasional gusts of dust blowing across the freeway.Judy slowed to about 45 miles per hour.Later, about a mile north of the Red Rock overpass, the storm suddenly became very severe.Mr Arnold testified, '* * * I could look up in the air and it looked like * * * a waterfall of just pure dirt * * *.'He told Judy to pull off the road and stop.The freeway had a paved emergency lane ten feet wide on the right side.Judy stopped the car partially on the emergency lane, with the passenger side off the pavement.

The dust cloud broadened or shifted at this point and the Arnold car was engulfed.Visibility was reduced to zero, except for brief glimpses between gusts.Within seconds, a car driven by Johnny Avechuco pulled up alongside and parked in the emergency lane.Almost immediately, a green pickup truck, driven by Jesus Adame, struck the Avechuco car from the rear, driving it ahead, with the pickup taking the Avechuco car's place alongside the Arnold car.Mr. Arnold saw, by means of lights behind the pickup, the silhouettes of three persons, one a child, in the pickup.He got out, from the rear on the passenger side, and walked around the front of his car to see if anyone had been hurt.

As Arnold started to talk to Adame, several other vehicles came into the heavy dust.A white car, apparently that of Juan and Theresa Arzate, came up behind Adame's pickup.Defendant Lewandowski's car then collided with Arnold's and one or more other cars, coming to rest in the low-speed lane.Another white car, following Lewandowski and in front of the defendant Kovrig, was involved in one or more collisions, but apparently struck only the Lewandowski vehicle on the right side of the roadway.Kovrig's tractor-trailer truck then struck Lewandowski's car broadside, pushing it along for 100 feet or more before coming to rest.As a result of these collisions, the Avechuco, Adame, Arzate, and Arnold vehicles were knocked off the emergency lane and into the barrow pit.

At some point during these collisions, Arnold's left leg was apparently struck by a vehicle, or caught between two vehicles, and was virtually amputated below the knee.An attempt to save the leg failed and it was eventually amputated by surgery.The Arnolds brought suit against Frigid Food Express Company, the owner of the truck Kovrig was driving, as well as against Kovrig and Lewandowski's estate (Lewandowski having died at the scene).The owner of another tractor-trailer and its driver are named in the complaint but are not in the suit at this point.

Plaintiffs prayed for approximately $250,000 for property damages, medical expenses, loss of earnings, personal injuries, and punitive damages.The trial court directed a verdict for the defendants on the issue of punitive damages and the jury returned verdicts for the defendants on the issue of negligence.Plaintiffs appeal, asking for a new trial.

Questions for review involve three allegations of error, (1) the giving of an instruction on an 'act of God,'(2) the direction of a verdict for the defendants as to punitive damages, and (3) exclusion of certain evidence.Only the 'actof God' instruction is seriously contended to be reversible error.

We have held that an 'act of God' instruction is improper in a negligence case.City of Tucson v. Wondergem, 6 Ariz.App. 570, 435 P.2d 77(1967).Where an instruction is given on 'unavoidable accident' in a negligence case, it is reversible error where prejudice is shown.Esquivel v. Nancarrow, 104 Ariz. 209, 450 P.2d 399(1969);Trickel v. Rainbo Baking Company of Phoenix, 100 Ariz. 222, 412 P.2d 852(1966);City of Phoenix v. Camfield, 97 Ariz. 316, 400 P.2d 115(1965).We are of the opinion that the same test applies here.As our Supreme Court said in Camfield, such instructions are prejudicial unless it appears that 'the evidence showed the accident happened without negligence.'97 Ariz. at 323, 400 P.2d 115 at 120.See, McKeever v. Phoenix Jewish Community Center, 92 Ariz. 121, 374 P.2d 875, 1 A.L.R.3d 957(1962);Beliak v. Plants, 84 Ariz. 211, 326 P.2d 36(1958).As will be seen, we do not believe that this case falls within that exception.We have consequently decided that the judgment for the defendants must be reversed and a new trial granted.Defendants' efforts to distinguish the instruction given here, on the basis of a requirement that the jury find the 'actof God' to be the sole proximate cause of the accident, are not persuasive.We consider the remaining allegations of error for purposes of the new trial.

The plaintiffs next contend that the trial court erred in directing a verdict for the defendant Kovrig (and Frigid Food Express) on the issue of the punitive damages, there being evidence upon which a judgment for punitive damages could be sustained.We agree.

The evidence shows that Kovrig was driving his 72,000-pound, fully-loaded tractor-trailer rig as fast as it would go under the circumstances.Kovrig testified that, because of a gradual incline in the highway and the high wind, his rig was traveling at approximately 35 miles per hour even though he had the accelerator pressed to the floor.The testimony of other witnesses, however, indicates that Kovrig was going much faster.Mrs. Avechuco estimated Kovrig's speed at 45--50 miles per hour when it came by their car, after it had collided with Lewandowski's car.The Lewandowski car had been pushed along in front of Kovrig's truck for perhaps 100 feet or more by the time it reached the Avechuco car.

Visibility had been poor, and there were gusts of dust blowing across the freeway for some time prior to the accident.Virtually all of the cars involved were running with lights on for some distance prior to the accident.Patrolman Bobby Eldridge, an investigating officer, testified that, as he approached the scene, 'Sometimes at five and ten miles an hour I felt I was going way too fast.'Kovrig agreed at trial that one who drives a heavy vehicle must exercise greater care than the driver of a smaller, ordinary vehicle.SeeBaltimore Transit Company v. Prinz, 215 Md. 398, 137 A.2d 700(1958).We must then decide whether this evidence is sufficient to warrant submitting the question of punitive damages to the jury.

Our Supreme Court stated in Nichols v. Baker, 101 Ariz. 151, 153, 416 P.2d 584, 586(1966), and reiterated in Evans v. Pickett, 102 Ariz. 393, 396, 430 P.2d 413(1967):

'A person is wantonly negligent if he wilfully does an act or fails to do an act which it is his duty to do, knowing or having reason to know of facts which would lead a reasonable man to realize that the actor's conduct not only creates an unreasonable risk of bodily harm to the plaintiff but also involves a high degree of probability that substantial harm will result. * * *'

The cases in our own jurisdiction and in others indicate that punitive damages may be allowed in automobile accident cases where negligent conduct beyond the range of ordinary negligence has been shown.Cf.Nichols v. Baker, 101 Ariz. 151, 416 P.2d 584(1966)(driving heavy truck with knowledge of faulty brakes and failure to have them repaired);Newman v. Piazza, supra(stopping car on busy street during altercation with third party, causing plaintiff's car to collide from rear);Southern Pacific Company v. Barnes, 3 Ariz.App. 483, 415 P.2d 579(1966)(driving train at speeds up to 80 m.p.h. on little-used spur line, across busy street, at night, without appropriate care);Hicks v. McCandlish, 221 S.C. 410, 70 S.E.2d 629(1952)(mistaking plaintiff's taillights for the lights of a store in the vicinity and colliding with rear of plaintiff's car);Chapman v. Associated Transport, Inc., 218 S.C. 554, 63 S.E.2d 465(1951)(following too closely and speeding, thereby running large tractor-trailer into plaintiff's car when plaintiff slowed);Dame v. Estes, 233 Miss. 315, 101 So.2d 644(1958)(exceeding speed limit, failing to see stop sign, and colliding with vehicle in intersection);see alsoAnnot., 62 A.L.R.2d 813, §§ 2--6.We therefore hold that it was error to take the issue of punitive damages from the jury.

Error is...