Harders v. Estate Of Trieu Tran
| Decision Date | 14 December 2010 |
| Docket Number | 1:09-CV-00032 (LEK/RFT) |
| Parties | ROBERT HARDERS and KATHLEEN HARDERS, Plaintiffs, v. ESTATE OF TRIEU TRAN and TU TRAN, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Trieu N. Tran, deceased; GUY J. MURRAY; ESTATE OF LYNN TAITT- ISAAC; and PETER J. ISAAC, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of LYNN TAITT-ISAAC, deceased, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York |
Presently before the Court are the Motions for summary judgment by Estate of Trieu Tran and Tu Tran (Dkt. No. 52) and Peter Isaac and Estate of Lynn Taitt-Isaac (Dkt. No. 51) ("Defendants"), and the Amended Motion for summary judgment by Guy Murray (Dkt. No. 40), against Robert and Katherine Harders ("Plaintiffs"). Plaintiffs commenced this action by filing a Complaint on December 22, 2008. Dkt. No. 1. Guy Murray ("Mr. Murray") filed an Answer on February 10, 2009 (Dkt. No. 14); Estate of Trieu Tran and Tu Tran ("Tran") filed an Answer and Cross-claim against Mr. Murray, and Estate of Lynn Tait Issac and Peter J. Isaac ("the Isaacs") (Dkt. No. 18) and an Amended Answer and Cross-Claim on February 20, 2009 (Dkt. No. 20); the Isaacs filed an Answer and Cross-claim against Estate of Trieu Tran, Tu Tran, and Mr. Murray on April 8, 2009 (Dkt. No. 23); and Estate of Trieu Tran and Tu Tran filed an Answer to Cross-claim on April 28, 2009 (Dkt. No. 31).
For the reasons that follow, the Motions for summary judgment by Tran and the Isaacs are denied with respect to both the claims and cross-claims against them. Defendant Murray's Motion for summary judgment is granted with respect to both Plaintiffs' claims and Co-Defendants' cross-claims.
This action arises out of a multi-car accident that involved nine different vehicles, which occurred in the westbound lanes of the New York State Thruway ("freeway") in Canajoharie, New York, at approximately 4:23 p.m. on March 5, 2007. Dkt. No. 44, Ex. 5 at 4. Defendants Trieu N. Tran and Lynn Taitt-Isaac were killed in the incident. Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 4 at 1. Actions commenced in the Northern District on behalf of Mr. Tran and Ms. Taitt-Isaac against various involved drivers, including Mr. Harders and Mr. Murray, have been settled, which leaves Plaintiffs' action as the only action remaining. Tran v. Murray, Case No. 1:08-CV-00193; Isaac v. Murray, Case No. 1:08-CV-00561.
Trooper J.C. Salatel of the New York State Police prepared several MV-104A accident reports in connection with the incident. SPPE33000019 (Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 3 at 1), SPPE33000020 (Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 3 at 2), and SPPE33000021 (Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 3 at 3). Also, Trooper Salatel and Investigator Jonathan Kelly completed a 9-page incident report between March 5, 2007 and March 14, 2007. Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 4. Finally, Investigator Michael J. MacIntosh, a collision reconstruction specialist, completed a collision reconstruction summary report in July 2007. Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 5.
The nine vehicles involved in the incident were a blue Daewoo operated by Defendant Trieu Tran ("Tran vehicle"); a dark green Honda Civic operated by Defendant Lynn Taitt-Isaac, with her husband, Defendant Peter Isaac, as a passenger ("Isaac vehicle"); a white Infiniti operated by Guy Murray ("Murray vehicle"); a Schneider tractor-trailer operated by Plaintiff Robert Harders ("Schneider trailer"); a Wal-Mart tractor-trailer operated by non-party Timothy DeGrace ("Wal-Mart trailer"); an Arnold Transportation tractor-trailer operated by non-party Henry Meade ("Arnold trailer"); a GMC pickup truck operated by non-party Darren Brandt ("Brandt vehicle"), a Chevrolet Cavalier operated by non-party Nicholas Renna ("Renna vehicle"); and a white van operated by non-party William Parker ("Parker vehicle"). See Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 5 at 1-2. Peter Isaac, Guy Murray, Kathleen Harders, Timothy DeGrace, Henry Meade, Darren Brandt, and Nicholas Renna were each deposed in connection with the lawsuits arising out of the incident. Dkt. No. 44, Ex. 6; Dkt. No. 45, Ex. 7; Dkt. No. 46, Ex. 8; Dkt. No. 46, Ex. 9; Dkt. No. 47, Ex. 10; Dkt. No. 48, Ex. 11; and Dkt. No. 48, Ex. 12. Two investigators, MacIntosh and McLaughlin, both collision reconstruction specialists, were deposed as non-party witnesses. Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13; Dkt. No. 50, Ex. 14.
Weather conditions elsewhere on the freeway were sunny and clear during the afternoon of the incident; however, the incident occurred within a 200 to 300 foot zone where snow blowing off of the Mohawk River created a whiteout in which driver visibility was at or near zero. Dkt. No. 44, Ex. 6 at 19; Dkt. No. 45, Ex. 7 at 16; Dkt. No. 46, Ex. 8 at 32; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 20-21. The first of the nine relevant vehicles to enter the whiteout was the Tran vehicle. Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 5 at 2; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 52-53; see Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 56-57. Upon entering the whiteout, Mr. Tran either brought his vehicle to a stop or slowed it down. Dkt. No. 44, Ex. 6 at 23-24; Dkt. No. 45, Ex. 7 at 55, 63; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 152; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 53-54.
The next vehicle to enter the whiteout was the Isaac vehicle. Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 5 at 2; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 53. Before encountering the whiteout, Ms. Taitt-Isaac was driving at approximately 70 miles per hour, and Peter Isaac was reading in the passenger seat. Dkt. No. 44 at 18, 61. Upon seeing the whiteout, but before their vehicle entered it, Ms. Taitt-Isaac said "uh oh, " and began slowing down. Id. at 61-63, 117.
The Isaacs did not stop and pull over before entering the whiteout because, as Mr. Isaac stated in his deposition, they believed that they could negotiate it safely by slowing down. Id.. at 128-129. The Isaac vehicle entered the whiteout at between 30 and 40 miles per hour in the right lane. Id. at 21-22. Peter Isaac stated that visibility inside the whiteout was near zero, such that he could only see a foot in front of the front bumper of the Isaac vehicle, and could not see anything to his left or right. Id. at 22, 110. A few seconds after the Isaac vehicle entered the whiteout, its front bumper struck the rear of the Tran vehicle. Id. at 24-25.
According to Peter Isaac, the Tran vehicle had its brake lights on and was not moving. Id. at 23-24. The Isaacs did not see the Tran vehicle until they were within 4 or 5 feet of it, by which point Mr. Isaac believes it was too late to stop. Id. at 23. The impact with the Isaac vehicle propelled the Tran vehicle farther west along the freeway, but Mr. Isaac was not sure how much farther. Id. at 26-27, 79, 112. Mr. Isaac did not notice what happened to the Tran vehicle after the initial collision. Id. at 25. Mr. Isaac never saw the Murray vehicle, and nothing about the collision between the Isaac vehicle and the Tran vehicle gave Mr. Isaac the impression that the Tran vehicle had been in a prior collision. Id. at 64, 69.
One or two minutes after their vehicle hit the Tran vehicle, the Isaacs got out of their vehicle, fearing that it was on fire. Id. at 27-28, 119. Ms. Taitt-Isaac then got back in the vehicle while Mr. Isaac walked onto the right shoulder. Id. at 28, 119-121. While on the shoulder, Mr. Isaac heard a vehicle approach and saw a large truck strike the Isaac vehicle. Id. at 28, 83. After the incident, luggage from the Isaac vehicle was found underneath the Schneider trailer, and a trail led from the Schneider trailer back to the Isaac vehicle, suggesting that it might have been the Schneider trailer that struck the Isaac vehicle. Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 34; see also Dkt. No. 43, Ex. 5 at 2; Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 59.
Mr. Murray generally kept his car on cruise control between 60 and 65 miles per hour prior to entering the whiteout. Dkt. No. 45, Ex. 7 at 16. Less than a mile east of the whiteout, Mr. Murray passed two tractor-trailers, which were the Wal-Mart trailer and the Schneider trailer. Id. at 18, 48-49, 56, 60, 90-91. Just past Exit 29, Mr. Murray came over a hill and saw the whiteout. Id. at 17. At this point, Mr. Murray was still in the left lane on account of having passed the two trailers. Id. at 49-50, 61. Mr. Murray applied his brakes and slowed down to around 40 miles per hour, but still entered the whiteout within a matter of seconds. Id. at 17, 19. In the whiteout, Mr. Murray could not see the hood of his own vehicle, any lane markings, or any other vehicles. Id. at 19, 23, 61.
Mr. Murray emerged from the whiteout several seconds later and was still in the left lane. Id. at 21, 28-29. While in the whiteout, however, Mr. Murray had "clipped an object." Id. at 19. He believed the object was a vehicle given its presence in the travel lanes of the freeway, and later concluded that it had been a blue vehicle (which would suggest it was the Tran vehicle) because he found blue paint on the bumper of his vehicle. Id. at 19-22. Mr. Murray reached the conclusion that the Tran vehicle must had been stopped when he clipped it because he believed that his vehicle would have been knocked off of the road by the force of the impact if the Tran vehicle had beenmoving. Id. at 55, 63. Mr. Murray stated in his deposition that he struck only the one vehicle. Id. at 33.
It was later determined that the right side of the Murray vehicle hit the passenger side of the Tran vehicle, demonstrating that the Tran vehicle was already facing eastbound (against traffic) as a result of the prior collision with the Isaac vehicle. Dkt. No. 49, Ex. 13 at 97-98, 123-126, 174. Mr. Murray acknowledged that he had seen blowing snow on the freeway on prior occasions, but testified that he had "[n]ever in [his] life" seen whiteout conditions comparable to those he encountered on March 5, 2007. Dkt. No. 45, Ex. 7 at 70-71, 78.
Mr. Harders, a veteran truck driver, was driving a Schneider trailer that was equipped with a governor that kept its speed at or below 65 miles per hour. Dkt. No. 46, Ex. 8 at 8-9, 66. Before encountering the whiteout, Mr. Harders was traveling at 60...
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