Brewer v. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

• Decision Date: 18 March 2009
• Docket Number: No. 2008 CA 1666.,2008 CA 1666.
• Citation: 9 So.3d 932
• Parties: Brian Shane BREWER v. J.B. HUNT TRANSPORT, INC. and Robert E. Jackson.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

9 So.3d 932

Brian Shane BREWER v. J.B. HUNT TRANSPORT, INC. and Robert E. Jackson.

No. 2008 CA 1666.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 18, 2009.

Opinion Granting Rehearing in Part May 29, 2009.

Walter Landry Smith, G. Stephen Covert, John W. Perry, Jr., Baton Rouge, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellant, Brian Shane Brewer.

Durward D. Casteel, C. David Vasser, Jr., Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendants/Appellees, J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. and Robert E. Jackson.

Christopher Moody, Hammond, LA, for Defendant/Appellee, State of Louisiana, through the Department of Transportation and Development.

Before KUHN, GUIDRY, and GAIDRY, JJ.

KUHN, J.

In this personal injury case arising out of an automobile accident, the plaintiff appeals a judgment rendered pursuant to a jury verdict that found the plaintiff 100% at fault and dismissed with prejudice all claims filed against the defendants. For the following reasons, we reverse and render judgment finding defendants J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. and Robert Jackson 60% at fault and Brian Shane Brewer 40% at fault for the accident at issue. We award special damages in the amount of $10,677,634.93 and general damages in the amount of $2,500,000.00, to be reduced in proportion to the plaintiffs degree of fault.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Although the exact facts are in dispute, the automobile accident occurred at approximately 12:51 p.m. on January 13, 2000 on Interstate 1-12 near milepost 11.1 in Livingston Parish. On that date and time, an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer owned by J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. (J.B. Hunt) and driven by J.B. Hunt employee Robert Jackson and a 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck owned and operated by twenty-three year old Brian Shane Brewer (Brewer) were traveling in an easterly direction on the interstate approaching an area of construction. Robert Jackson was traveling in the right lane of traffic, and Brewer was behind the 18-wheeler in the left lane. In anticipation of the upcoming closure of the right lane of the roadway due to the construction work in progress, Robert Jackson slowed his speed from somewhere between 40-45 miles per hour to approximately 5-8 miles per hour and began to move the 18-wheeler across the solid white lane line into the left lane of traffic. Upon observing the movement of the 18-wheeler ahead, Brewer, who was traveling at interstate highway speed, reacted in two stages. Brewer first made a rightward steering maneuver and then later straightened his wheels before making a hard brake. Despite skidding for approximately 102 feet in the left lane, Brewer could not stop his vehicle quickly enough and rear-ended the 18-wheeler. The entire front cab of the Brewer pickup was crushed underneath the 18-wheeler.

The parties provide two vastly different accounts of the accident. Robert Jackson claims that he had substantially completed his lane change and had been stopped for several minutes in the left lane due to traffic ahead before the impact occurred. Robert Jackson maintains that he felt a "horrendous jolt" upon impact and that the loaded 18-wheeler was pushed forward by the Brewer pickup. Brewer¹, by contrast, claims that the 18-wheeler was in the process of slowing and moving into the left lane of traffic at the time of impact and that the accident occurred in the center of the highway between the two lanes of traffic. Following initial impact, Brewer maintains that the 18-wheeler dragged his pickup forward for approximately 15 feet before the vehicles came to rest.

On August 28, 2000, Brewer² filed the instant suit against Robert Jackson and his employer, J.B. Hunt, seeking damages for past and future pain and suffering, mental anguish and distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, lost earnings and earning capacity, and medical and related expenses. In his petition, Brewer alleged that there is a presumption of fault against Jackson, because he changed lanes without yielding to oncoming traffic. Brewer further alleged that Robert Jackson was negligent in the following particulars: (1) failing to properly check his mirrors and to detect the Brewer vehicle approaching in the left lane at interstate highway speed; (2) failing to properly signal or to signal long enough in advance of his lane change to put oncoming traffic on notice; (3) waiting until his own speed and momentum were depleted before trying to change lanes; and (4) failing to observe from his high vantage point that traffic ahead was stopping so as to make the lane change at an appropriate speed or else to wait until motorists in the left lane of traffic created an opening to let him into that lane.³ Robert Jackson and J.B. Hunt filed separate answers to the suit, denying the allegations against them. Alternatively, in the event that they were found liable, Robert Jackson and J.B. Hunt asserted the affirmative defense of comparative fault on the part of Brewer.

The matter was tried before a jury on January 9-26, 2006. Following presentation of the evidence and arguments, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, finding that the plaintiff was 100% at fault for the accident. On February 16, 2006, the trial court rendered judgment in accordance with the jury's findings and dismissed with prejudice all claims filed against the defendants.

On March 6, 2006, Brewer filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, for new trial as to the claims against J.B. Hunt and Robert Jackson. Therein, Brewer alleged that the undeniable, objective physical evidence established that Robert Jackson had not completed his lane change when he collided with the Brewer pickup and, therefore, that there was a presumption that Jackson was at fault. Following a hearing, on August 7, 2006, the trial court signed a judgment denying the motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for new trial.

Thereafter, on August 11, 2006, Brewer filed this devolutive appeal, wherein he has asserted three primary assignments of error. First, Brewer avers that the trial court erred in allowing the introduction of evidence at trial as to his pre-accident illicit drug use and arrests without conviction. Second, Brewer argues that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that a motorist changing lanes on a multilane highway has a duty to use a signal to alert following vehicles and by giving the jury a rear-end fault instruction without qualifying that such presumption is not available to the driver of a vehicle that changes lanes into the path of another vehicle. Third, based on the evidence and testimony presented at trial, Brewer submits that the judge and jury erred in concluding that Robert Jackson and J.B. Hunt were free from fault in the accident.

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

It is well-settled that a court of appeal may not set aside a trial court's or a jury's finding of fact in the absence of manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844 (La.1989). Where there is a conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Johnson v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 95-1027, p. 3-4 (La. App. 5 Cir. 5/15/96), 675 So.2d 1161, 1162-1163; Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330, 1333 (La.1978). The issue to be resolved by the reviewing court is not whether the fact finder was right or wrong, but whether his conclusion was a reasonable one. Stobart v. State Through Dept. of Transp. and Dev., 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993). Thus, where two permissible views of the evidence exist, the fact finder's choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Id. at 883. However, when one or more trial court legal errors interdict the fact-finding process, the manifest error standard is no longer applicable and, if the record is complete, the appellate court should conduct its own independent de novo review of the record. Evans v. Lungrin, 97-0541, 97-0577, p. 6-7 (La.2/6/98), 708 So.2d 731, 735; McLean v. Hunter, 495 So.2d 1298, 1304 (La.1986). Since a determination of the propriety of the trial court's evidentiary ruling and jury instructions governs the standard of review to be applied to the factual findings herein, we will address those two assignments of error first before considering the jury's allocation of fault.

Jury Instructions

(Assignment of Error Two)

Brewer challenges the propriety of the trial court's jury instructions on two grounds. First, Brewer argues that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that there is a presumption of fault against a rear-ending vehicle under La. R.S. 32:81, because the rear-end presumption does not apply in a lane change case. Second, once the trial court improperly instructed the jury as to the rear-end presumption, Brewer submits that the court erred by refusing to give an instruction that a motorist changing lanes on a multi-lane highway has a duty under La. R.S. 32:104 to use a turn signal to alert following vehicles as to his movement. Based on the alleged deficiencies, Brewer submits that the jury instructions were biased in favor of J.B. Hunt and Robert Jackson.

When examining the lengthy instructions given the jury in this case, however, it is clear that the trial court gave instruction as to the rights and duties of both motorists involved in the accident. Specifically, with respect to Robert Jackson, the jury was instructed as follows:

A motorist who attempts to change lanes on a multiple lane highway must ascertain before turning that the maneuver can be made safely without endangering normal overtaking or oncoming traffic. The greater burden of care is required for the motorist changing lanes [than] is demanded of a driver proceeding at a lawful rate on a straight line in a marked lane. Moreover, when there is a change of lanes by a motorist immediately...