Lampe v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 31 March 2011
• Docket Number: No. SD 29897.,SD 29897.
• Parties: Hunter LAMPE and Summer Lampe, Plaintiffs–Respondents,v.Bette J. TAYLOR and The City of Springfield, Missouri, Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

338 S.W.3d 350

Hunter LAMPE and Summer Lampe, Plaintiffs–Respondents,

v.Bette J. TAYLOR and The City of Springfield, Missouri, Defendants–Appellants.

No. SD 29897.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Division One.

March 31, 2011.

Paul Forrester Sherman, Springfield, MO, for Appellant City of Springfield.Bette J. Taylor, pro se.Eric G. Jensen, Springfield, MO, for Respondent Summer Lampe.JEFFREY W. BATES, Presiding Judge.

The City of Springfield (City) appeals from a judgment entered after a jury trial holding the City and Bette Taylor (Taylor) jointly and severally liable for injuries sustained by Summer Lampe (Lampe) in a traffic accident. ¹ On appeal, the City contends the trial court erred by denying the City's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and by excluding evidence relevant to damages. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

In November 2003, Lampe filed a lawsuit against Taylor and the City after she was injured in an automobile collision that occurred at the intersection of Portland Street and Grant Avenue in Springfield, Missouri. The petition alleged that Taylor was negligent, inter alia, because she failed to obey the traffic signal on Portland. The petition alleged that the City was negligent because: (1) the placement of the traffic signal at the intersection did not follow the visibility requirements of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (Manual); and (2) the City failed to clear vegetation away from a “signal ahead” sign on Portland. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Lampe and awarded her damages in the amount of $399,322.71. The trial court entered a judgment holding the City and Taylor jointly and severally liable for Lampe's damages.

On appeal, the evidence and all reasonable inferences derived therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict; all contrary evidence and inferences are disregarded. Stancombe v. Davern, 298 S.W.3d 1, 2 (Mo.App.2009). Viewed from that perspective, the following evidence was presented at trial.

Grant has one northbound and two southbound lanes. Portland is a two-way street. The speed limit on each street is 30 miles per hour. The westbound approach to the intersection on Portland has two traffic lights. One light is mounted on the outside (i.e., south side) of a pole on the southwest corner of the intersection. The other light is mounted on the outside (i.e., north side) of a pole on the northwest corner of the intersection. The traffic lights for drivers traveling on Grant were installed on the southeast and northeast corners of the intersection, which placed these lights almost directly in front of the traffic lights used by drivers heading west on Portland.

On the morning of October 6, 2001, Taylor was driving a Mercury Sable westbound on Portland. Hunter Lampe (Hunter), Lampe's husband, was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier in the inside, southbound lane of Grant. Lampe was sitting in the passenger seat. The weather conditions were clear and dry. The Cavalier entered the intersection on a green light. Taylor ran the red light and hit the Cavalier in a T-bone collision. The Cavalier was hit in the driver's side door. Hunter described the collision this way:

[A]s we were passing through the intersection with the green light I felt like a flick of light. Just enough time for my window to bust in my face. Not really ever seeing the car, just—I knew it was yellow and I knew it busted my window. And when she hit us the impact was so hard that it sent us completely across the outside lane and pushed us into the telephone pole.

Prior to the collision, Hunter did not see a vehicle stopped on Portland at the red light. Lampe suffered a lumbar burst fracture of the L–1 vertebra of her back.

Corporal Chad Hampton (Cpl.Hampton) of the Springfield Police Department investigated the collision. Taylor told Cpl. Hampton that “she was westbound on Portland, did not see the signal at Grant was red, and struck [the Lampe vehicle].” Cpl. Hampton observed no braking-related skidmarks or other tire marks left on the road by the Sable. He took pictures of the scene and vehicles immediately after the collision. The photographs of the Sable show this vehicle sustained heavy damage to its front end. The hood was crumpled up so high that it blocked Taylor's view of the road. The force of the impact spun the Sable around so that it was facing eastbound on Portland. The photographs of the Cavalier show it sustained massive damage to its left side. The driver's door had a deep concave depression that intruded into the driver's compartment. The impact knocked the Cavalier from its position in the inner, southbound lane of Grant, caused the vehicle to strike a utility pole on the southwest corner of the intersection and left the car facing eastbound on Portland.

John Lampe (John) was Lampe's father-in-law. The day after the collision occurred, John went to the scene of the collision and took a number of photographs. Based upon his observations of the scene, he was able to authenticate Exhibit 90. This exhibit, which was a videotape made that same day depicting the appearance of the intersection, was admitted in evidence and played for the jury. Ex. 90 showed dense overhanging foliage at various intervals on the north side of Portland because the trees still had all of their leaves. Approximately 270 feet from the intersection, there was a pole containing a “signal ahead” sign that depicted the image of the traffic light. This sign had been placed in a homeowner's yard adjacent to the north Portland sidewalk. Ex. 90 showed that overhanging foliage from a tree on the north side of Portland obscured the “signal ahead” sign until a driver was almost even with the tree. Ex. 90 also showed that there was a yellow school crossing sign approximately 40 feet west of the “signal ahead” sign. This sign had been mounted on a light pole adjacent to the sidewalk and was closer to Portland than the “signal ahead” sign. John testified that a driver headed west on Portland and approaching Grant would not be able to see both Portland traffic lights. On the north side of the intersection, the red signal facing Portland (which was the highest of the three lights on the device) was obstructed by the overhanging foliage when a driver was in the area of the “signal ahead” and school crossing signs. In addition, the Portland traffic light was blocked by the closer Grant traffic light, which was almost directly in line with the rearward Portland traffic light. On the south side of the intersection, the Portland traffic light was blocked by a telephone pole and the closer Grant traffic light, which was almost directly in line with the rearward Portland traffic light. At a distance of only 60 feet from the intersection, Cpl. Hampton described the southernmost Portland traffic signal as being “invisible behind there[.]” Cpl. Hampton also testified that simply knowing that an intersection has a traffic signal is not enough; the driver must be able to see the signal in order to determine whether the light is red, yellow or green.

Taylor later gave a statement under oath in which she said the collision “was the result of me not being able to see the stop light at the intersection of Grant and Portland. The stop light was obscured by other objects present at this intersection.” She pled guilty in municipal court to disobeying a solid red light. There was a loop detector switch on Portland to detect vehicles and change the traffic light from red to green. This device consisted of wires buried in the pavement at the stop bar and extending back over an area 6 x 30 feet in dimension. If a vehicle stopped at a red light on Portland, the device would detect the vehicle and notify the controller to change the Portland traffic light to green. The City had no records from the loop detector device showing that Taylor's car had stopped at the red light on Portland before the collision occurred.

At one time, the Grant–Portland intersection was a four-way stop. A city ordinance requires that “[a]ll traffic control signs, signals and devices shall conform to the most recent edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.” ² In June 1982, stoplights were installed at that intersection by the City's public works employees. The design and placement of the traffic lights at that intersection was approved by the City's traffic engineer, Earl Newman. The 1978 version of the Manual required the City to have two traffic lights for drivers headed west on Portland. This version of the Manual also required that a driver headed west on Portland have a continuous view of the two traffic signals for 270 feet. This visibility requirement applies “unless precluded by a physical obstruction or there is another signalized intersection within this range.” The Manual further provides that “[w]here the visibility requirements in Table 4–1 [requiring 270 feet for a street with a 30 m.p.h. speed limit] cannot be met, a suitable sign shall be erected to warn approaching traffic.” The City knew that, as designed by Newman in June 1982, this intersection did not meet the 270–foot visibility requirement.³ Because the Manual requirement had not been met, the City installed the “signal ahead” sign.

After the traffic lights were installed in 1982, city employees went to the intersection on numerous occasions to perform inspections, maintenance and repairs. The last such visit occurred on August 6, 2001. During the five-year period before Lampe was injured, the City was aware that there had been four other virtually identical collisions that resulted from a driver running the red light while westbound on Portland.

In January 2002, Newman inspected the accident site and had photographs made of the westbound Portland approach to the intersection. The photographs were at 50–foot intervals from 500 to 100 feet away from the intersection. These photographs showed that...