Klein v. Hollings
| Citation | 992 F.2d 1285 |
| Decision Date | 11 May 1993 |
| Docket Number | 92-1647,Nos. 92-1646,s. 92-1646 |
| Parties | Jane KLEIN and Douglas Klein, her husband v. John S. HOLLINGS; Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.; Tennessee Kartage, Inc.; Ryder Temperature Control Carrier, Inc. John S. Hollings; Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. and Tennessee Kartage, Inc. a/k/a Ryder Temperature Control Carriage, Appellants. Jane KLEIN and Douglas Klein, her husband v. John S. HOLLINGS; Ryder Temperature Control Carrier, Inc. John S. Hollings; Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. and Tennessee Kartage, Inc. a/k/a Ryder Temperature Control Carriage, Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
Edward L. McCandless (argued), McCandless & Associates, Philadelphia, PA, for appellants.
Peter J. Neeson (argued), Daniel J. Ryan, and John R. Brown, LaBrum & Doak, Philadelphia, PA, for appellees.
PRESENT: HUTCHINSON, NYGAARD and SEITZ, Circuit Judges.
Appellants, John S. Hollings, Ryder Truck Rental, Inc., Tennessee Kartage, Inc. and Ryder Temperature Control Carriage, Inc. (collectively "the Defendants"), appeal a November 26, 1990 order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. That order granted Appellees, Jane Klein and her husband Douglas Klein ("the Kleins"), a new trial after a jury returned a verdict in favor of all the Defendants in an action arising from an October 18, 1988 automobile accident. The Defendants also appeal the judgment entered against them as a result of the second trial in which a second jury found them 90% negligent, and the district court's denial of their motion for judgment n.o.v. or for another new trial. In this respect, the Defendants argue that the district court abused its discretion in granting the Kleins a second trial. They contend that the district court committed a number of errors during the second trial which mandate vacating the judgment and remanding for a third trial.
We hold that the district court did abuse the somewhat limited discretion it has to grant a new trial because a jury's verdict is against the weight of the evidence. Accordingly, we will vacate the November 26, 1990 order of the district court granting the Kleins a new trial, vacate the judgment entered on October 16, 1991 in the second trial and order the district court to reinstate the verdict reached by the first jury.
The district court had jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332 (West Supp.1992). We have jurisdiction over this appeal from the final judgment and order of the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291 (West Supp.1992).
This action arises out of an automobile accident on the night of October 18, 1988. At about 11:30 p.m., appellee John Hollings ("Hollings") was driving his tractor-trailer rig west on Route 73 in the Schwenksville-Skippack area in Pennsylvania. Route 73 is a two lane road that runs east-west through Skippack. Unfamiliar with the area, Hollings decided to bed down for the night along the side of the road. He also decided to turn the truck around to park beside Route 73 facing east. To make the turn, Hollings turned left onto Cressman Road, a north-south road which intersects Route 73, and backed up across Route 73 until his vehicle sat at a stop sign on Cressman Road, north of Route 73.
Hollings testified at the first trial that he looked both ways, allowed a few cars to pass, then observed no traffic and proceeded slowly into the intersection with the intention of making a left turn into the eastbound lane of Route 73. A local resident, Marilyn Gallagher, observing from her front porch, testified that before going inside her home she watched the truck complete approximately three-quarters of its turn across the westbound lane. She saw no oncoming traffic. Testimony at trial established that it would take approximately nine to ten seconds before the rear of Hollings's vehicle would clear the intersection. The speed limit on this section of Route 73 is 45 miles per hour.
About 400-500 feet east of the intersection of Route 73 and Cressman, Route 73 crests a hill and then runs down to the intersection. As the truck was executing its turn, Jane Klein, travelling westbound on Route 73 in her 1980 Toyota station wagon, drove over the hill. The parties dispute Mrs. Klein's speed. She testified that she saw "really bright lights" in the eastbound lane after coming over the hill but was at first unconcerned because they were not in her lane. Appellants' Appendix (App.) at 24a. She did notice that the headlights "didn't appear to be moving right, moving very slowly." Id. Then, Mrs. Klein realized that part of a truck was in her lane. At once, she says, she applied her brakes. They left 68 feet of skid marks but did not avoid the collision. Mrs. Klein's car struck the left rear tandem wheel of the trailer while it was still partly in the westbound lane. Despite being restrained by a seatbelt, Mrs. Klein fractured her left humerus and right ankle and also suffered lacerations of the face.
Hollings testified that he never saw Mrs. Klein's car until just before impact. He testified that he had generally been looking around in all directions but just before impact he was watching the rear of the truck to make sure it did not hit anything on the side of the road.
Shortly after the accident, Pennsylvania State Trooper Anthony Gant arrived on the scene. After interviewing witnesses and observing the situation, Gant issued Hollings a citation for violation of 75 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 3323(b) (1977), failure to yield the right of way at a stop sign. Hollings, a Florida resident who returned there following the accident, did not come back to Pennsylvania to contest the citation and a state court found him guilty in absentia.
The Kleins filed this diversity action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Their theory of recovery was Hollings's negligence. Trial commenced on February 12, 1990. At this first trial both sides called accident reconstruction experts. The Kleins called Dr. Ian Jones who gave an opinion about the speed of Mrs. Klein's vehicle based on the damage it sustained, technically called the "crush" of the vehicle. Dr. Jones opined that the vehicle was travelling approximately 15 miles per hour at impact and, given the length of the skid marks, that the pre-braking speed was approximately 41 miles per hour. Dr. Jones also testified to his personal observations at the crash site. He testified that sitting in his car at the intersection and looking east, he could see the headlights of an oncoming car from approximately 500 feet. Upon questioning from the court, Dr. Jones indicated that he had observed the actual beams of the headlights of the approaching car and not just their glow. He further opined that the top of the hill was approximately 400 to 450 feet from the intersection. Dr. Jones estimated that Mrs. Klein could see the trailer approximately 140 feet before the point of impact.
The Kleins also called Dr. Herschel Leibowitz who testified about the nighttime visibility from Mrs. Klein's perspective. Dr. Leibowitz stated that people need between 1.2 and 2.5 seconds to respond to hazards under the conditions present on the night of the accident. He also testified that he believed Mrs. Klein first saw the trailer portion of Hollings's tractor-trailer rig approximately 100 feet from impact and that the accident was caused by her inability to see the trailer any sooner.
The Defendants called Dr. Serge Borichevsky who testified that Hollings's turn took approximately 10 seconds to complete. He further testified that the crush of the vehicle indicated that Mrs. Klein was travelling about 30-35 miles per hour at impact and 48-50 miles per hour just before the accident. Borichevsky concluded that Mrs. Klein was approximately 739 to 782 feet from the intersection when Hollings began his turn and opined that her inattentiveness caused the accident. He also concluded that at this distance, Hollings would not have seen her car when he began his turn.
The Defendants also called Dr. Lawrence Thibault, a biomedical engineer and Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Dr. Thibault testified that the crush of the vehicle indicated an impact speed of 30-35 miles per hour. Dr. Thibault also examined Mrs. Klein's medical records and attempted to corroborate the impact speed from the severity of her injuries using the Abbreviated Injury Scale ("A.I.S."). The A.I.S., a study published by the American Association of Automotive Medicine, is based on reconstructions of numerous accidents with variables, inter alia, for the type of individual, the type of crash and the type of restraint device in use. The A.I.S. then correlates speed with injury. Using this method of computation, Thibault again calculated that the speed at the moment of impact was 30-35 miles per hour.
The district court refused to permit Trooper Gant to testify about the citation he issued to Hollings. The court held, because Gant was not present at the time of the accident, that the citation was not sufficiently probative of the actual occurrence to outweigh the prejudice involved in admitting a violation of state law. The court also relied on the fact that Hollings did not return to challenge the citation in granting the Defendants' motion in limine.
On February 15, 1990 the jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants. In answer to special interrogatories, the jury found that Hollings was not negligent but that Mrs. Klein was. The Kleins made a timely motion for a new trial on February 22, 1990 but did not file an accompanying brief or order as required by Local Rule 20. The Kleins also failed to order a transcript of the first trial as the local rule also requires. The Defendants filed a motion to dismiss based on both procedural irregularities and substantive grounds. On March...
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