"The probative value of previous accidents rests in the likelihood that the same conditions caused the accident under litigation."
How later courts described this case
- "The probative value of previous accidents rests in the likelihood that the same conditions caused the accident under litigation."
- noting experts may not “state opinions as to legal standards”
- “Matters contained in a brief point must be sufficient in and of themselves to lay before the court, without independent investigation, the precise ruling complained of and the law applicable.”
- court must determine whether substantial evidence exists to support jury’s apportionment of fault
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
NEUMAN, Justice,
(dissenting).
Though I share the majority’s dismay at the result reached in this case, I cannot yield to the reason advanced for upsetting the trial court’s verdict. The question is not whether Cook, as a matter of law, violated the right-of-way provisions of Iowa Code section 321.322. Cook concedes he ran the stop sign. The question is whether, and to what extent, the State’s lack of due care contributed to, or caused, Cook’s failure to heed the traffic signal. That determination, of course, lies somewhere on a continuum from zero to 100 percent. .To suggest that Cook’s fault can be determined as a matter of law, or that the court committed reversible error by failing to recognize Cook’s traffic violation, is to miss the point of the case.
The point meriting our attention is the judgment call made by the trial court about *809 why Cook missed the stop sign. Having heard the evidence first hand, the court pegged the State’s culpability at ninety percent for negligent signing, and Cook’s alcohol-impaired driving at ten percent. Had we tried the case, we might have factored those contributing causes quite differently. But absent a showing that the trial court’s judgment was manifestly erroneous or the product of passion or prejudice, it should not be disturbed. I would affirm.
CARTER and LAVORATO, JJ., join this dissent.