Lanz v. Pearson

• Decision Date: 18 September 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-1532,89-1532
• Citation: 475 N.W.2d 601
• Parties: Mary LANZ and The Economy Companies, Appellants, v. Carvel PEARSON, Leslie Richter, Damon Hickman and Ida Hickman, Appellees,
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 601

475 N.W.2d 601

Mary LANZ and The Economy Companies, Appellants, v. Carvel PEARSON, Leslie Richter, Damon Hickman and Ida Hickman, Appellees,

No. 89-1532.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 18, 1991.

Joseph L. Fitzgibbons of the Fitzgibbons Brothers, Estherville, for appellees Pearson and Richter.

Fred L. Morris of Peddicord, Wharton, Thune, Foxhoven & Spencer, P.C., Des Moines, for appellees Hickman.

Fredd J. Haas of Humphrey & Haas, P.C., Des Moines, for appellants.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and LARSON, CARTER, SNELL and ANDREASEN, JJ.

McGIVERIN, Chief Justice.

Plaintiffs Mary Lanz and The Economy Companies (Economy) appeal from jury verdict and judgment finding defendants Carvel Pearson, Leslie Richter, Damon Hickman and Ida Hickman not at fault for damages incurred by plaintiffs resulting from a three-car accident. Plaintiffs contend the district court erred in instructing the jury on the act of God defense and in preventing them from cross-examining Pearson regarding a statement he made to his insurance investigator.

Defendants Pearson and Richter cross-appealed, claiming the district court erred in instructing the jury that the negligence of a consent driver of a motor vehicle is not imputable to the owner.

We, now, affirm the district court's rulings on the cross-examination and imputation of negligence issues, but reverse the court's decision to give an act of God defense instruction. Accordingly, we remand for a new trial.

I. Background facts and proceedings. From the evidence presented at trial, a jury could have found the following facts. In the pre-dawn hours of January 29, 1985, Lanz and her co-employee Jolene Leconte departed from Cherokee, in separate automobiles, heading toward Spencer. The automobile driven by Lanz was owned by Economy.

Leconte led the way and Lanz followed her. Snow was falling and the roads were at least partially snow covered. The trip was uneventful until, at approximately 6:30 a.m. while heading north on highway 71, the automobile driven by Lanz collided with a southbound vehicle driven by Pearson and owned by Richter. After the initial collision between Lanz and Pearson, a vehicle driven by Damon Hickman and owned by Ida Hickman struck the car driven by Lanz.

Lanz sued the owners and drivers of the other two vehicles involved in the accident for negligence to recover compensation for her personal injury damages. Economy sued the same defendants for property damage to its automobile. Defendants asserted the affirmative defense that the accident was caused by an act of God. The two actions were consolidated for trial.

After trial, the jury returned verdicts, in both cases, in favor of defendants. Plaintiffs appealed, challenging two district court rulings.

Plaintiffs contend the district court erred in instructing the jury on the defense of act of God. Plaintiffs also argue that the court erred in sustaining defendants' objection to plaintiffs' cross-examination of Pearson concerning a statement he made to an investigator of his insurance company shortly after the accident.

Defendants Pearson and Richter cross-appealed, claiming the district court erred in instructing the jury that any negligence of Lanz, a consent driver of a motor vehicle, is not imputable to Economy, the owner.

We transferred the case to our court of appeals. That court affirmed the district court's ruling on the imputation of negligence issue but reversed the district court's rulings on the act of God instruction and on the cross-examination issue.

On further review, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the district court's rulings on the cross-examination and imputation of negligence issues, but reverse the district court's decision to give an act of God instruction.

II. Act of God instruction. At trial, evidence was presented that, on the morning of the accident giving rise to this lawsuit, highway 71 was icy and snow covered. The center line was obscured and the road surface was slippery. Visibility was reduced by darkness, falling snow, and billowing snow kicked up by vehicles. Based on that evidence, the district court instructed the jury, in instructions 29-32, that defendants claimed the sole proximate cause of plaintiffs' damages was an act of God. Instruction 32A defined act of God as "such an unusual and extraordinary display of nature that it could not be expected under normal conditions."

Plaintiffs contend on appeal that there was not substantial evidence to support an act of God instruction. See Ahrens v. Ahrens, 386 N.W.2d 536, 539 (Iowa App.1986) (parties have a right to have their legal theories submitted to the jury only if they are supported by the pleadings and substantial evidence). In determining whether a jury question is raised, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party requesting the instructions. Lake v. Schaffnit, 406 N.W.2d 437, 439 (Iowa 1987). If reasonable minds might draw different inferences from the evidence, a jury question is engendered. Id.

The act of God defense "is founded upon reason and justice that one should not be held responsible for that which he could not have reasonably anticipated, and could not have taken reasonable precautions to guard against." Oakes v. Peter Pan Bakers, Inc., 258 Iowa 447, 454, 138 N.W.2d 93, 98 (1965).

In Oakes, we described acts of God in the following manner:

[A]n act of God, as the term is known to the law, is such an unusual and extraordinary manifestation of the forces of nature that it could not under normal conditions have been anticipated or expected. However, the occurrence need not be unprecedented.... If it could not have been anticipated or expected under normal conditions, that is sufficient.

The question of precedent, therefore, relates to the matter of reasonable anticipation and opportunity to avert the consequences, and it is in that sense that the term "unprecedented" is used with regard to the nature of the catastrophe.

Id. at 454-55, 138 N.W.2d at 98.

Oakes identifies three requirements which must be established by substantial evidence before an act of God instruction is proper. First, acts of God are limited to forces of nature. Id. Second, the occurrence must be unusual or extraordinary. Id. Third, the occurrence must be such that under normal conditions it could not have been anticipated or expected. Id. An additional requirement in comparative fault cases is that the act of God defense may be used only when an act of God is alleged to be the sole proximate cause of the harm in question. See Renze Hybrids, Inc. v. Shell Oil Co., 418 N.W.2d 634, 641-42 (Iowa 1988) (since "act of God" is not a "party" as defined in Iowa Code section 668.2, acts of God may not be assigned a percentage of fault in cases arising under the act; act of God defense may only be used if it is alleged to be the sole proximate cause of the harm in question).

We also note that parties, such as defendants, relying on an act of God as a defense in a negligence case have the burden to plead and come forward with proof of its occurrence and that it was the sole proximate cause of the injury. Naxera v. Wathan, 159 N.W.2d 513, 517 (Iowa 1968).

We, now, turn to the question of whether substantial evidence was presented to satisfy each requirement necessary for the submission of an act of God instruction. After having viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the defendants, we conclude, without considering other requirements, that there was no substantial evidence introduced to establish that the conditions on the morning of the accident could not have been anticipated or expected.

Pearson and Damon Hickman not only could have anticipated and expected the inclement weather on the morning of the accident, they both testified that they were aware, prior to the accident, that it was snowing, it was dark, visibility was reduced, and the road was slippery. Both also testified that they were on their way to work in Storm Lake and had traveled over highway 71 under similar conditions in the past. These factors distinguish this case from Oakes, in which we approved of the act of God instruction.

In Oakes, a series of rear-end collisions occurred when, without warning, several vehicles entered a block long area of near zero visibility due to blowing and swirling snow. 258 Iowa at 455, 138 N.W.2d at 98-99. We concluded, in Oakes, that the act of God instruction was proper for the jury because the evidence "would permit a finding the blizzard, under the circumstances shown at the time and place, was an extraordinary manifestation of nature not reasonably to be anticipated." Id. at 455, 138 N.W.2d at 98. See also Dickman v. Truck Transport, Inc., 224 N.W.2d 459, 462 (Iowa 1974) (plaintiffs did not object to giving of act of God instruction where all witnesses agreed that although they knew a storm was brewing, the dust storm came up suddenly with no forewarning and obliterated visibility).

In the present case, Pearson and Hickman had notice of the inclement weather conditions in adequate time to have taken appropriate precautions, including not traveling during the storm, that would have prevented the collision with Lanz from occurring. Rather than doing so, they both chose to travel on highway 71 in less than ideal weather conditions. Having consciously decided to travel under these conditions, Pearson and Hickman cannot now argue that the weather was the sole cause of the accident.

Other jurisdictions faced with evaluating similar weather conditions have reached the same result we reach today. In Maanum v. Aust, 364 N.W.2d 827 (Minn.Ct.App.1985), two trucks were traveling south with one truck three car lengths in front of the other. Id. at 830. The trucks entered a sheltered area of the highway, where about six to eight inches of snow had accumulated. Id. at 829-30. Meanwhile, a car traveling north entered the same sheltered area. Id. A collision occurred...