Dawson v. Olson

¶1This is an action for wrongful death, which arose from a traffic accident the evening of January 12, 1968. All roads were bare and dry at the eastern edge of Caldwell, where Interstate Highway 80 passes beneath an overpass bearing traffic on Franklin Road. A pickup truck driven by Hazel G. Dawson, accompanied by her husband, Nathaniel C. Dawson, turned from the Interstate and stopped behind a semi-trailer truck parked on the exit ramp leading to an intersection with Franklin *638Road. Behind their pickup truck another car approached. When the semi-trailer truck began again to move, the three vehides proceeded up the remainder of the ramp toward the intersection.

¶2At the same time, one mile east on Franklin Road, a westbound driver was approached by a 1956 Mercury from the rear and passed at an apparent speed of ninety miles per hour. The Mercury proceeded toward the point where Franklin passes over Interstate 80.

¶3At the intersection, the semi-trailer truck stopped again in compliance with a stop sign. There was a stop line twenty feet beyond at the edge of the intersection, and a traffic signal flashing red to ramp traffic and amber to vehicles traversing Franklin Road. As he slowed, the truck driver from his vantage point in the cab could see, beyond the crest of the overpass to his left, the lights of the Mercury approaching on Franklin Road. When he entered the intersection and turned left on Franklin Road, the trailing vehicles, which had stopped behind him, began to ease forward.

¶4The driver of the last vehicle saw the pickup ahead of him proceed slowly toward the intersection without stopping at the stop sign or stop line. He noticed that the steel guard rails along Franklin Road reflected light from the oncoming Mercury’s headlights, while that car was still hidden behind the crest of the overpass. The driver of the semi-trailer truck had completed his turn and was on Franklin Road crossing the overpass. At that time the Mercury passed in the opposite direction at an estimated speed of 55 to 60 miles per hour. Glancing into his rear-view mirror, the truck driver observed the pickup roll into the intersection, and witnessed a flaming collision which took four lives.

¶5The police investigation established that the impact, which was not preceded by skid marks of the Mercury, occurred in the westbound lane of Franklin Road. The Dawsons were killed when their pickup was struck broadside. Two occupants of the Mercury died in the fire which engulfed that car. Only its driver, Ronald T. Olson, an uninsured motorist, survived the accident. Subsequent alterations to the overpass and interchange provided the occasion for some disagreement concerning the speed limit in force at the time of the accident. An engineer who examined the Department of Highways’ records testified that those records showed the overpass posted at 35 miles per hour. One of the Dawsons’ sons said he saw the signs the night of the accident. A photograph taken one week after the accident showed one such sign facing eastbound traffic. However, Olson’s mother testified that she drove Franklin Road the day following the accident, and saw no such signs. She claimed they were installed later. Absent the 35 miles per hour signs, the applicable speed limit would have been 50 miles per hour.

¶6On September 17, 1968, the Dawson heirs brought a wrongful death action against Olson. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company petitioned to intervene because, as the Dawsons’ insurer under a policy containing uninsured motorist coverage, it had a vital interest in the determination of Olson’s liability, if any. The parties stipulated that State Farm could intervene, and the petitition was granted. After the case was set for trial, this Court issued its opinion in Smith v. State,1 prospectively abolishing sovereign immunity as a defense to actions based on tortious conduct of the State or a political subdivision acting in a proprietary capacity. Plaintiffs subsequently were permitted to amend their complaint, adding the Department of Highways, State of Idaho, as a party defendant, and alleging that negligent design of the overpass and roadways created a dangerous impairment of visibility which proximately caused the fatal accident. However, when trial began on Octo*639ber 5, 1970, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the Department, apparently on grounds that the ruling in Smith had not yet become law.2

¶7Motions by defendant and by the intervenor for involuntary dismissal under I.R. C.P. 41(b) or directed verdict under Rule 50(a), at the close of plaintiffs’ case and at the close of all evidence, were denied. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs, awarding them $75,000. Defendant and intervenor moved for judgment n.o.v. or new trial under Rule 50(b)-, while plaintiffs’ counsel moved to compel the intervenor to pay attorney fees. On November 27, 1970, the court granted judgment n.o.v. and denied the motion for attorney fees.

¶8When this Court gave prospective effect to the holding in Smith v. State, we departed from the traditional view that at all times overruling decisions “discover” the “true” law and take retroactive effect because prior decisions lose their force.3 Utilizing the power to establish prospective policy, upheld by Justice Cardozo in Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Sunburst Oil & Refining Co.,4 we nevertheless applied our holding to the litigants then at bar in order to balance against the reliance interest of the State in the sovereign immunity defense5 the plaintiffs’ legitimate interest in compensation after undertaking the effort and expense of bringing the issue before us.6 Appellants in the present case argue that their action was pending below when Smith was decided, situating them similarly to the Smith plaintiffs and requiring that they be accorded the same treatment. However, we believe, with Chief Justice Schaefer of Illinois, that “the person who-successfully challenges existing legal doctrine can be, and has been, regarded as *640having thereby set himself apart.”7 In a somewhat different context, Professor David Currie has noted that:

“[This] argument may be a bit intellectually untidy, but it may offer the best alternative to judicial paralysis on the one hand, and wholesome frustration of legitimate expectations on the other.”8

¶9The practice of overruling prospectively except as to the litigants then at bar has been adopted in sovereign immunity cases by the courts of Illinois 9 and Wisconsin.10 We follow that course in this appeal, not out of insensitivity to the plaintiffs’ tragic loss, but because a line must be drawn somewhere, and the public body here involved legitimately relied on the existing state of the law. Absent the special consideration which may extend to a plaintiff who pioneers a successful reform in the law, that reliance interest will be protected.

¶10The general issue of contributory negligence in this case turns on more narrow questions of negligence per se and proximate cause. When a motor vehicle statute provides that under specified circumstances certain acts shall or shall not be done, for protection of other motorists, it fixes a standard of conduct from which it is negligence per se to deviate without justifiable excuse.11 However, violation of a statute does not bar recovery due to contributory negligence unless it was a proximate cause of the injury.12

¶11It appears that Mrs. Dawson was negligent per se in failing to stop as required by statute,13 and it may be contended that she was also negligent per se in violating the closely related statutory duty to yield the right of way.14 Appellants admit negligence in failing to stop, but argue that it did not proximately cause the accident. They also admit failure to yield, which necessarily was a proximate cause, but offer an explanation to show that it was not a violation of the applicable statute. Before reviewing these arguments we acknowledge at the outset that we are entering the province of the jury and may not uphold the judgment n.o.v. unless the facts are undisputed and permit only one reasonable conclusion to be reached after all inferences are drawn in favor of appellants.15

¶12Appellants argue that Mrs. Dawson’s ability to see down Franklin Road was limited to 475 feet by the design of the overpass, while Olson was approaching at a velocity somewhere between 55 to 60 miles per hour (81 to 88 feet per second) and 90 miles per hour (132 feet per second). Though she may have seen the reflections of headlights on the guard railings when Olson was farther away, she could not have gauged from them his distance or speed. From these facts appellants conclude, first, that even had Mrs. *641Dawson stopped completely she would have continued into the intersection. Since any stop from idling speed would have been momentary, the pickup would still have advanced far enough to obstruct Olson’s lane at the critical moment. Consequently, failure to stop did not proximately cause the accident. Secondly, failure to yield was not a violation of statutory duty because the combination of restricted visibility and Olson’s high speed prevented Mrs. Dawson from apprehending the immediate hazard posed by the approaching car. I.C. § 49-729(b), upon which the jury was properly instructed, expresses the duty to yield in terms of immediate hazard:

“Except when directed to proceed by a police officer or traffic control signal, every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop intersection indicated by a stop sign shall stop as required by section 49-751 and after having stopped shall yield the right of way to any vehicle which has entered the intersection from another roadway or which is approaching so closely on said roadway as to constitute an immediate hazard, but said driver having so yielded may proceed and the drivers of all other vehicles approaching the intersection shall yield the right of way to the vehicle so proceeding.” (Emphasis supplied).

¶13Reasonable men may evaluate these arguments differently. The factual problems created by Olson’s excessive speed and Mrs. Dawson’s limited range of vision do not lend themselves facilely to a single, reasonable conclusion. The conflict of reasonable views precludes us from joining the trial court in substituting our analysis for that of the jury. When all inferences are drawn in favor of appellants, the verdict is sufficiently supported by substantial evidence that it should not be set aside.16 The order granting judgment n.o.v. must be vacated. Because the record does not reveal a conditional ruling on the alternative motion for new trial, as required by Rule 50(c), the district court shall, upon remand, hear argument and rule on the motion.

¶14Appellants have challenged the trial court’s denial of a motion to compel payment of their attorney fees by the intervenor, State Farm Mutual, under I.C. § 41-1839.17 That statute has been construed to apply to claims under uninsured motorist coverage,18 but its scope of application recently was limited in Carter v. Cascade Insurance Co.19 In Carter this Court established two rules: (1) In general, no amount is “justly due” from the insurer until facts substantially indicative of the uninsured motorist’s liability are shown the insurer, or, in the absence of such facts, until the uninsured motorist’s liability is admitted or judicially declared. (2) Where the insurer is sued for attorney fees incurred in a separate successful action against the uninsured motorist, the insurer is obligated to pay the attorney fees only if its initial refusal to pay the claim were unreasonable.

¶15In the present case, it appears from the first rule that no amount could be *642“justly due” unless or until the district court otherwise enters judgment for appellants. The motion for new trial is pending, and no allowance of attorney fees as compensation may be made prior to final judgment. The statute does not compel, nor does Carter require, the “further” payment of attorney fees if the appellants’ action fails. The second rule requires no further discussion because it does not govern a single action against the insurer and uninsured motorist.

¶16The order granting summary judgment below is affirmed; but the order granting judgment n.o.v. is vacated. Cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Costs to respondent Department of Highways and to appellants.