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Bartel v. State8/27/1985
Submitted May 7, 1985.
Plaintiff Donna L. Bartel, as guardian and conservator of Bruce W. Bartel, an incapacitated person, brought this negligence action against the State of Montana. After a bench trial on the issue of liability, the Lewis and Clark County District Court entered judgment in favor of the defendant State of Montana. Plaintiff appealed. By opinion dated January 2, 1985, this Court affirmed the judgment of the District Court. Two of the justices who participated in the original case retired from the Court. Plaintiff petitioned for rehearing. A rehearing was granted. We affirm the judgment of the District Court. We withdraw the original opinion dated January 2, 1985, and substitute this opinion.
The issues are:
1. Did the District Court err in admitting into evidence without adequate foundation the results of a blood-alcohol test?
2. Are the District Court's findings of fact 6 through 8 supported by substantial credible evidence?
Bruce Bartel was severely injured in a motorcycle accident which occurred about 1:00 a.m. on May 28, 1980 at a highway junction on the north end of St. Ignatius, Montana. On the date of the accident, Bartel was 24 years old, weighed 318 pounds, was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and was not physically or mentally impaired.
Bartel was a truck driver living in Ronan, Montana, approximately 14 miles north of St. Ignatius. On the date of the accident, Bartel had lived in Ronan for about 6 years and had done at least a normal amount of occupational and recreational traveling in the Ronan area by motorcycle and four-wheel drive vehicle. Beginning in July 1979 and continuing to the date of the accident, Bartel had driven by St. Ignatius about once a day while driving a logging truck between Ronan and Thompson Falls. Bartel had also visited St. Ignatius at least twice during this period of time.
On the day of the accident, Bartel devoted much of his time preparing for a trucking trip scheduled to begin the next day. He ate breakfast at a Ronan restaurant and later ate lunch at a cafe in Pablo. Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., Bartel and a friend stopped at Willard's Bar in Ronan where Bartel drank two beers. Sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m., Bartel ate dinner at a local drive-in. Shortly after 7:00 p.m., Bartel and two friends purchased a six-pack of beer and drove around town, during which time Bartel drank one beer. Around 9:00 p.m., Bartel met two other friends, George Mitchell and Gerald Cooper, at another Ronan bar, where Bartel drank at least two drinks consisting of scotch whiskey and water.
Shortly after this meeting, Bartel traded his pickup truck for Mitchell's motorcycle. For the rest of the evening, Bartel drove Mitchell's motorcycle, a 750 cc. Yamaha, and Mitchell drove Bartel's pickup. Cooper was riding his own motorcycle.
After this meeting and exchange of vehicles and throughout the rest of the evening until 1:00 a.m., the trio visited various bars between Ronan and St. Ignatius. Numerous witnesses testified at trial regarding how many drinks Bartel had at each bar and whether and to what degree he became intoxicated. Bartel argues that the testimony establishes he had no more than 9 drinks of scotch and water between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. The State contends the evidence establishes that Bartel had about 15 drinks between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. and 18 drinks total for the day.
The group eventually headed south to St. Ignatius. They approached St. Ignatius from the north on U.S. Highway 93 (New Highway 93) but drove past the north entrance to St. Ignatius. After playing pool and drinking in a St. Ignatius bar
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