Bartel v. State

• Decision Date: 27 August 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-054,83-054
• Citation: 704 P.2d 1067,217 Mont. 380,42 St.Rep. 1
• Court: Montana Supreme Court
• Parties: Donna L. BARTEL, Guardian and Conservator of Bruce W. Bartel, an incapacitated person, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, Defendant and Respondent.

Page 1067

704 P.2d 1067

217 Mont. 380

Donna L. BARTEL, Guardian and Conservator of Bruce W.

Bartel, an incapacitated person, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. STATE of Montana, Defendant and Respondent.

No. 83-054.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted May 7, 1985.

Decided Aug. 27, 1985.

Michael J. McKeon argued, Anaconda, Edward K. Duckworth argued, Ronan, for plaintiff and appellant.

J. Daniel Hoven argued and Roy Andes argued, Agency Legal Services Bureau, Dept. of Justice, Helena, for defendant and respondent.

WEBER, Justice.

Plaintiff Donna L. Bartel, as guardian and conservator of Bruce W. Bartel, an incapacitated person, brought this negligence action against the State of Montana. After a bench trial on the issue of liability, the Lewis and Clark County District Court entered judgment in favor of the defendant State of Montana. Plaintiff appealed. By opinion dated January 2, 1985, this Court The issues are:

affirmed the judgment [217 Mont. 383] of the District Court. Two of the justices who participated in the original case retired from the Court. Plaintiff petitioned for rehearing. A rehearing was granted. We affirm the judgment of the district court. We withdraw the original opinion dated January 2, 1985, and substitute this opinion.

1. Did the district court err in admitting into evidence without adequate foundation the results of a blood-alcohol test?

2. Are the District Court's findings of fact 6 through 8 supported by substantial credible evidence?

Bruce Bartel was severely injured in a motorcycle accident which occurred about 1:00 a.m. on May 28, 1980 at a highway junction on the north end of St. Ignatius, Montana. On the date of the accident, Bartel was 24 years old, weighed 318 pounds, was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and was not physically or mentally impaired.

Bartel was a truck driver living in Ronan, Montana, approximately 14 miles north of St. Ignatius. On the date of the accident, Bartel had lived in Ronan for about 6 years and had done at least a normal amount of occupational and recreational traveling in the Ronan area by motorcycle and four-wheel drive vehicle. Beginning in July 1979 and continuing to the date of the accident, Bartel had driven by St. Ignatius about once a day while driving a logging truck between Ronan and Thompson Falls. Bartel had also visited St. Ignatius at least twice during this period of time.

On the day of the accident, Bartel devoted much of his time preparing for a trucking trip scheduled to begin the next day. He ate breakfast at a Ronan restaurant and later ate lunch at a cafe in Pablo. Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., Bartel and a friend stopped at Willard's Bar in Ronan where Bartel drank two beers. Sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m., Bartel ate dinner at a local drive-in. Shortly after 7:00 p.m., Bartel and two friends purchased a six-pack of beer and drove around town, during which time Bartel drank one beer. Around 9:00 p.m., Bartel met two other friends, George Mitchell and Gerald Cooper, at another Ronan bar, where Bartel drank at least two drinks consisting of scotch whiskey and water.

Shortly after this meeting, Bartel traded his pickup truck for Mitchell's motorcycle. For the rest of the evening, Bartel drove Mitchell's motorcycle, a 750 cc Yamaha, and Mitchell drove Bartel's pickup. Cooper was riding his own motorcycle.

After this meeting and exchange of vehicles and throughout the rest of the evening until 1:00 a.m., the trio visited various bars between Ronan and St. Ignatius. Numerous witnesses testified at trial regarding how many drinks Bartel had at each bar and whether and to what degree he became intoxicated. Bartel argues that the testimony establishes he had no more than 9 drinks of scotch and water between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. The State contends the evidence establishes that Bartel had about 15 drinks between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. and 18 drinks total for the day.

The group eventually headed south to St. Ignatius. They approached St. Ignatius from the north on U.S. Highway 93 (New Highway 93) but drove past the north entrance to St. Ignatius (Old Highway 93) and continued south on New Highway 93 for approximately 3/4 mile to the south entrance to St. Ignatius. After playing pool and drinking in a St. Ignatius bar, Cooper and Bartel decided to return to Ronan because Bartel intended to depart on his trucking trip early the next morning.

Bartel and Cooper left St. Ignatius on the motorcycles, with Cooper in the lead and Bartel some distance behind. The two drove north on the main street of St. Ignatius, which is known as "Old Highway 93." Old Highway 93 proceeds north and intersects at an acute angle with New Highway 93 on the north edge of St. Ignatius. New Highway 93 approaches St. Ignatius from the west and then skirts St. Ignatius on the northwest in a sweeping curve to the north. Bartel's accident occurred at the intersection of Old Highway 93 and New Highway The intersection is designed to channel northbound Old Highway 93 traffic to the left immediately after the first large traffic island on the left side of the roadway. Traffic then stops at a stop sign immediately before turning right or left to travel north toward Ronan or south toward Missoula. Rather than following this channel to the left and heeding the stop sign before turning onto New Highway 93, Bartel drove straight north along the east side of the second traffic island, apparently attempting to proceed straight onto New Highway 93.

93. A diagram of the intersection is attached to this opinion as Appendix A.

The northern tip of the second traffic island protrudes to the east into what would otherwise be a straight line of pavement from Old Highway 93 onto New Highway 93. The protrusion at the northern tip of the second traffic island apparently was designed to channel northbound Old Highway 93 traffic into a right turn onto Airport Road, which enters at that point from the east, and to prevent traffic from proceeding straight directly onto New Highway 93. As Bartel drove through the intersection, he struck the northern tip of the traffic island with the motorcycle, lost control and came to rest about 50 to 60 feet north in the barrow pit on the right side of the highway.

Bartel was taken immediately to the St. Ignatius hospital, where personnel quickly determined that the seriousness of his injuries required treatment in Missoula. The St. Ignatius Hospital nurse who admitted Bartel made the notation "intox." on the admission form, along with noting other symptoms. Bartel was transferred by ambulance to St. Patrick's hospital in Missoula and arrived at the emergency room there at approximately 3:30 a.m. Blood specimens were drawn and an IV was started. The treating neurologist examined Bartel and concluded, among other things, that Bartel was in a state of "alcoholic intoxication." A blood-alcohol test, performed on Bartel solely for medical purposes, indicated a blood-alcohol level of .171 percent. Based upon the .171 percent test result, expert witnesses testified at trial that Bartel's blood-alcohol level was between .103 and .213 percent at the time of the accident.

The complaint sought damages for personal injuries resulting from the motorcycle accident allegedly caused by the State's negligence in design and maintenance of the intersection and surrounding area. After extensive discovery, the case was tried before the Lewis and Clark County District Court, sitting without a jury. Trial was on the issue of liability only.

On January 9, 1983 the court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law. On January 18, 1983 the court entered judgment in favor of the defendant. The court's findings of fact included the following:

"6. As a result of his casual traveling in and general knowledge of the area, of his regular trips by and in close proximity to the intersection at which the accident occurred and of his visits to St. Ignatius, he was thoroughly familiar with the intersection in question and how traffic moved from St. Ignatius through that intersection to Highway 93 en route north to Ronan.

"7. On May 27, 1980, he put in an ordinary day's work until four p.m., at which time and before five p.m. he had two beers. Between eight and nine p.m., after eating his supper, he drank another can of beer. Between nine p.m. on the 27th and the time of the accident at one a.m. on the 28th he drank not less than nine and quite probably twelve to fifteen drinks containing undetermined amounts of scotch whiskey.

"8. At the time of the accident his blood stream was carrying between .103 and .213 percentage alcohol, which seriously impaired his sensory and mental functions, including sight, perception, reflexion, reaction and ratiocination."

Bartel challenges these three findings of fact.

In addition, the district court found that the night of the accident was dark but Although the court found that the design, construction, signing and maintenance of the intersection was "demonstrably deficient in numerous respects and did not comport with national standards or even the State's own standards," these deficiencies were not found to be a cause of the accident. The court noted that no other accidents at this intersection had been reported since 1969, when the traffic island was installed.

clear, the roadway was dry and clear, and no other traffic was involved in the accident. The court found that the headlight on the motorcycle was functioning normally and that all traffic signs could be discerned clearly with the headlight. The court found that Bartel, at a speed of 25 to 30 m.p.h. and without braking or decelerating, passed across the road's yellow dividing line and the left lane, collided with the traffic separation island toward its north end, lost control of his motorcycle and landed with it in a ditch on the right side of the road. The court found that under the light and weather conditions existing at the time of the accident, an ordinarily observant motor...