BOWMAN v. WYATT
Filed 7/1/10
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION FOUR
BARRY A. BOWMAN,
Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
TOMMIE WYATT, JR.,
et al.,
Defendants and Appellants.
B207468
(Los Angeles County
Super. Ct. No. BC329390)
STORY CONTINUE FROM
PART I….
Doctrine as Applied to Injuries Caused by Large Construction Vehicles
In several published cases, the appellate
courts have discussed the contours of the peculiar risk doctrine as applied to
liability for injuries caused by large construction vehicles. The earliest of these cases is
a freeway construction project was killed at the jobsite when a dump truck
loaded with asphalt backed up over him.
The decedent had been marking a chalk line for a paving machine to follow
when he was struck; the paving operation required the paving machine to move
forward along the chalk line, while dump trucks backed up to the paver to load asphalt into its hopper. (Id. at pp. 438-439.)
The decedent's survivors sued the dump truck driver, the general
contractor, and the trucking company to whom the hauling of asphalt had been
subcontracted. The jury found for
defendants. (
Plaintiffs appealed, contending that
the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on peculiar risk. (Id. at p. 439.) The
appellate court agreed that a peculiar risk instruction should have been given,
concluding without analysis as follows:
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| Description | Plaintiff Barry A. Bowman (plaintiff or Bowman) brought the present action after suffering devastating injuries when his motorcycle collided with a dump truck owned and operated by defendant Tommie Wyatt, Jr. (Wyatt). The collision occurred shortly after Wyatt delivered a load of asphalt to a work site of defendant City of Los Angeles (City), with whom Wyatt was under contract. The jury found that Wyatt caused the accident by negligently making a left turn in front of Bowman's motorcycle. The jury further found that Wyatt was a City employee, that the City breached a duty to inspect and maintain the dump truck's brakes, that the truck was controlled by the City and was in a dangerous condition, and that the work in which Wyatt was engaged at the time of the accident involved a special risk of harm. It returned a verdict for Bowman of over $15 million. |
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