Martinez v. City of Cheyenne
Decision Date | 04 May 1990 |
Citation | 791 P.2d 949 |
Parties | Alejandro C. MARTINEZ and Dorothy A. Martinez, d/b/a Fleetwood Motel, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. CITY OF CHEYENNE, State of Wyoming and Wyoming State Highway Department, Appellees (Defendants).Department, Appellees (Defendants). STATE of Wyoming and Wyoming State Highway Department, Appellants (Defendants), v. Alejandro C. MARTINEZ and Dorothy A. Martinez, d/b/a Fleetwood Motel, Appellees (Plaintiffs). |
Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Glenn A. Hottenstein, Guy, Williams, White & Argeris, Cheyenne, for Alejandro C. Martinez and Dorthy A. Martinez, d/b/a Fleetwood Motel.
Kenneth G. Vines, Vines, Gusea & White, P.C., Cheyenne, for State of Wyoming and Wyoming State Highway Dept.
Before CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.
The issues in this case relate to jurisdiction, both in this court and in the trial court; procedure, which involves essentially the related questions of jurisdiction; and substantive law relating to damages in a negligence case.The jurisdictional issue with respect to this court is whether the notice of appeal was timely filed.It is not without difficulty that we conclude that the notice of appeal was timely filed.The dual questions of jurisdiction in the trial court concern the scope of the statutory waiver of governmental immunity and the authority of the trial court to enter an order of additur more than 90 days after the entry of judgment.We are satisfied that there was an appropriate waiver of governmental immunity in this instance, and the trial court did have jurisdiction to address the liability of the State of Wyoming.We are equally satisfied that the trial court had no jurisdiction to enter an order of additur more than ninety days after the entry of judgment, and that ruling must be reversed.Perhaps the most interesting of the issues involves the question of liability of a tortfeasor for damages arising out of a flooding of the plaintiffs' property in the course of an unprecedented rainstorm.We conclude that the jury verdict that awarded $36,000 in damages was contrary to the evidence and the instructions given to the jury in view of the evidence of the actual loss the plaintiffs sustained in the amount of $120,000.We reverse the judgment entered by the trial court and remand the case for a new trial on the issue of damages only.
The initial appeal was taken by Alejandro C. Martinez and Dorthy A. Martinez, dba Fleetwood Motel (Fleetwood).In their Brief of Appellants, the issues in the case are described as follows:
The State of Wyoming and the Wyoming State Highway Department(State), in their brief as appellee, rephrase the issues asserted by Fleetwood in this way:
The State perfected a cross-appeal in which it asserts the following issues:
Fleetwood, as cross-appellee, responds to the same issues asserted by the State.No separate statement of the issues is presented by Fleetwood.
The material facts in this case are straightforward and uncomplicated, although they were the subject of lengthy interpretation by a number of expert witnesses.Alejandro and Dorthy Martinez own the Fleetwood Motel in Cheyenne and, on August 1, 1985, it was severely flooded when a rainstorm of unprecedented intensity occurred in its vicinity.The Fleetwood Motel fronts East Lincolnway on the eastern edge of the city.East Lincolnway is a part of U.S. Highway 30 as it passes through Cheyenne.Not far from the Fleetwood Motel, a drainage system for diverting water beneath the highway is provided, starting with two lateral culverts that run parallel to the road.Those two lateral culverts empty into one main culvert that crosses the right-of-way underneath the highway.At the time the storm occurred, the primary culvert was partially obstructed by a concrete bulkhead, which had the effect of reducing the capacity of the culvert to carry runoff water by a substantial amount.This particular drainage system services a basin that is approximately four and one-half square miles.
There is no controversy about the fact that, on the day in question, these culverts were inadequate to carry off the water generated by the downpour.Puddles as much as two feet deep formed on the Fleetwood side of the road.The Fleetwood property was inundated by the water and extensively damaged.In an effort to obtain compensation for the damage, Fleetwood sued the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming State Highway Department, and the City of Cheyenne(City) alleging negligence in the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the highway and its drainage system.The complaint also included claims of inverse condemnation.
The State and the City denied Fleetwood's claims and asserted, instead, that the damage to the motel was an unforeseen catastrophe attributable entirely to natural causes.The defendants contended that the August 1, 1985 storm was unique, extremely rare, and of unprecedented severity.The State further defended by asserting that Fleetwood had failed to mitigate damages; that Fleetwood was contributorily negligent; and that, in any event, the claims were barred by the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, §§ 1-39-101 to -120, W.S.1977.
Late in November of 1988, the case came to trial, and a verdict was reached promptly.The jury relieved both the State and the City from liability under any theory of inverse condemnation.It also found that the City was not negligent.In its special verdict form, however, the jury did find that the State was negligent in its operation of Highway 30 by reason of its design of the drainage system in and...
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...as well as the factual issues to the jury. Addressing a problem of damages, this court spoke prophetically in Martinez v. City of Cheyenne, 791 P.2d 949, 960 (Wyo.1990): It is the function of the jury to apply the law as it has been explained by the court. See cases cited in 88 C.J.S. Trial......
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