Buffett v. Vargas
| Decision Date | 27 March 1996 |
| Docket Number | 21324 and 21660,Nos. 21405,s. 21405 |
| Parties | Bruce BUFFETT, for himself and as personal representative of the Estate of Boyd Buffett, deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Martin VARGAS, Defendant-Petitioner. Bruce BUFFETT, for himself and as personal representative of the Estate of Boyd Buffett, deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Fabian MASCARENAS, Defendant-Petitioner. Bruce BUFFETT, for himself and as personal representative of the Estate of Boyd Buffett, deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Albino CHACON, d/b/a Los Compadres Supper Club, Defendant-Petitioner. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
1. This case involves the all too common and tragic combination of drinking and driving. A head-on collision claimed the life of Boyd Buffett [hereinafter Boyd] and injured two others. The jury returned a verdict finding Boyd, one defendant, and one nonparty each one-third at fault, and exonerating three other defendants. The Court of Appeals reversed for a new trial. We granted certiorari, and we now reverse the Court of Appeals.
2. In the early morning hours of October 19, 1985, Boyd was riding in an automobile driven by Peri Ann Denena. As they headed south on State Highway 3 near Taos, New Mexico, Defendant Frank Jaramillo was driving north on the same highway. Jaramillo's automobile swerved into Denena's lane and crashed head on into her car, injuring Denena and killing Boyd. The evidence showed that Denena's vehicle was traveling between forty-five and fifty miles per hour, and Jaramillo's vehicle was travelling about thirty miles per hour. The posted speed limit was forty-five.
3. Evidence adduced at trial showed that, at the time of the accident, Jaramillo had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of approximately 0.34%, Denena had a BAC of approximately 0.225%, and Boyd had a BAC of approximately 0.244%. An autopsy report also revealed the presence in Boyd's blood of THC, the active ingredient in marihuana. At the time of the accident, the legal blood-alcohol limit for driving in this state was 0.1% NMSA1978, § 66-8-102(C) (Cum.Supp.1985).1
4. Boyd died at the scene about ten minutes after the accident. He was survived by his father, Bruce Buffett [hereinafter Buffett], with whom Boyd lived before his death. Criminal charges against Denena were dropped, even though her BAC exceeded the legal limit, because, based on accident debris, gouge marks, and eyewitness testimony that Denena stayed entirely within her lane, there was no probable cause to believe that she was operating her vehicle while impaired by intoxication. Jaramillo pled guilty to vehicular homicide and served eighteen months of a three-year sentence.
5. Buffett brought this suit individually and as the personal representative of Boyd's estate. See NMSA1978, § 41-2-1 (Repl.Pamp.1989) (wrongful-death statute). Buffett sued not only Jaramillo but also Defendants-Appellants Fabian Mascarenas, Martin Vargas, and Albino Chacon. Denena was not a party to this action. Mascarenas was a police officer who was off duty at the time of the events at issue. Buffett contended that Mascarenas failed to prevent Jaramillo from driving during the evening of the accident even though Jaramillo was obviously intoxicated. Vargas and Chacon owned the bar from which Jaramillo allegedly obtained beer before the accident. See NMSA1978, § 41-11-1 (Repl.Pamp.1989) (dram-shop statute).
6. The district court consolidated the lawsuits against Jaramillo, Mascarenas, Vargas, and Chacon. The jury returned a special verdict apportioning fault equally one-third between Jaramillo, Denena, and Boyd, and awarded no damages. The jury affirmatively found no liability on the part of Mascarenas, Vargas, and Chacon. The trial judge corrected the amount of damages to $1,037.71, the amount of Boyd's funeral expenses. Buffett moved for a new trial, which the trial court denied.
7. Buffett then appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed and remanded for a new trial. Buffett v. Jaramillo, 121 N.M. 514, 914 P.2d 1011 (Ct.App.1993). Mascarenas, Vargas, and Chacon petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Court of Appeals. We granted certiorari, and we now address the following issues decided by the Court of Appeals: whether the trial court properly admitted BAC evidence of Denena and Boyd; whether there was sufficient evidence to support the trial court's instruction to the jury that it could consider Denena's and Boyd's comparative negligence; and whether the exonerated codefendants should be subject to retrial. We reverse the Court of Appeals on these issues and remand for further consideration by the Court of Appeals of the issues that it did not address below.
8. "We note at the outset that the trial court has 'a great deal of discretion in admitting or excluding evidence, and we will reverse the trial court only when it is clear that the court has abused its discretion.' " Gonzales v. Surgidev Corp., 120 N.M. 133, 141, 899 P.2d 576, 584 (1995) (quoting Behrmann v. Phototron Corp., 110 N.M. 323, 327, 795 P.2d 1015, 1019 (1990)). The trial court admitted evidence of the BACs of Boyd and Denena. The trial court excluded as irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial evidence of the presence of THC in Boyd's blood.
9. Buffett argued that the trial court should also have excluded the BAC evidence for both Boyd and Denena as irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial. The Court of Appeals agreed with Buffett, reversing the trial court. Buffett, at 526-527, 914 P.2d at 1023-1024. We, however, agree with the trial court and with Judge Hartz, who dissented from the Court of Appeals majority, that the BAC evidence was relevant and admissible. See id. at 528-529, 914 P.2d at 1025-1026.
10. For evidence of Denena's intoxication to be admissible, it must have been relevant. See SCRA1986, 11-402 (Repl.Pamp.1994). In this case, the relevancy of the BAC evidence turned on whether or not Denena could have avoided the accident by exercising due care. If the accident had been completely unavoidable, then evidence of Denena's negligence would have been irrelevant because her negligence could not have contributed to the accident. On the other hand, if there was evidence presented supporting the inference that Denena could have prevented the accident by exercising due care, then any evidence tending to show that she failed to exercise due care was relevant. In this case, there was conflicting evidence whether or not Denena could have avoided the accident had she been sober and alert. The trial court admitted the BAC evidence, properly permitting the jury to resolve the conflicting facts. See Martinez v. Scott, 70 N.M. 354, 355, 374 P.2d 117, 118 (1962) ().
11. Randy Wright, the police officer who investigated the accident scene, testified that the accident debris and gouge marks showed that Denena had begun to take evasive action shortly before the impact by turning toward the right shoulder. It is undisputed that the road at the accident scene was wide and flat and there was ample space on the shoulder where Denena could have driven safely to avoid Jaramillo's car. There was also evidence that, at Denena's level of intoxication, a person would have greatly slowed motor reactions. From this evidence, the jury could properly conclude that, since Denena was able to take some evasive action, a sober person might have avoided the collision altogether.
12. Buffett produced one eyewitness to the accident, Rose Ortiz. Ortiz testified that she was driving behind Denena's car in the same lane. Before the collision of Jaramillo's and Denena's vehicles, Ortiz observed a truck in front of Denena's car without taillights turn left, almost causing a collision. Denena and Ortiz both slowed and continued along the highway. Then Ortiz saw Jaramillo's car, proceeding in the opposite direction, suddenly swerve head on into Denena's vehicle. Ortiz testified that she did not observe Denena take evasive action because the collision happened too quickly. Ortiz stated that, if she had been driving Denena's car, she would not have been able to avoid the collision. Ortiz also testified that she had not consumed any alcohol and that she had not observed any erratic driving by Denena before the accident.
13. The defense, however, presented evidence that undermined Ortiz's credibility. Ortiz testified that she opened the front doors on Denena's car, but the emergency medical technicians who responded at the scene testified that they had to use a pry bar and the "Jaws of Life," a hydraulic rescue tool, to gain access to Denena's car because all the doors were jammed. Ortiz also testified that the collision occurred too quickly for Denena to take any evasive action; however, Officer Wright testified that Denena had in fact begun to take evasive action. In light of this conflicting evidence, the trial court did not err by admitting evidence of Denena's BAC as relevant to whether she was partially at fault.
14. Evidence of Boyd's intoxication must likewise have been relevant to be admissible. See SCRA 11-402. Boyd's intoxication is relevant if the jury could properly have inferred that it caused him to fail to exercise due care by voluntarily riding with a driver that he knew or should have known was impaired. The trial court instructed the jury:
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