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Watkins v. Hellings12/2/1986
Plaintiff first contends that the defendant's answer was insufficient to allege contributory negligence under North Carolina law, and that the court therefore erred in submitting the issue of contributory negligence to the jury. We disagree.
Plaintiff argues that defendant failed to specifically allege in her complaint that plaintiff's decedent "had actual knowledge that the defendant's mental and physical faculties were appreciably impaired at the time of the driving." In support of his position, plaintiff cites two cases: Maynor v. Pressley, 256 N.C. 483, 124 S.E.2d 162 (1962) and Lawson v. Benton, 272 N.C. 627, 158 S.E.2d 805 (1968). However, in 1972 this State abandoned Code pleadings in favor of notice pleadings. The purpose was to liberalize the old, detailed rules while still ensuring that the opposing party would have adequate notice of issues in order to prepare for trial. Current requirements for the pleading of contributory negligence are set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 8(c) of the N.C. Rules of Civil Procedure:
In pleading to a preceding pleading, a party shall set forth affirmatively . . . contributory negligence . . . . Such pleading shall contain a short and plain statement of any matter constituting an avoidance or affirmative defense sufficiently particular to give the court and the parties notice of the transactions, occurrences, or series of transactions or occurrences, intended to be proved.
Thus, the question in the case at bar is whether the defendant's pleadings were sufficient to give plaintiff notice of what the defense intended to prove.
Defendant's answer contained the following allegation:
G. If Lisa Suzanne Hellings was guilty of any negligent conduct in the operation of the 1980 Plymouth automobile as alleged in the complaint, all of which is again expressly denied, then and in such event: Melissa Gray Watkins negligently, carelessly, recklessly and in willful and wanton disregard for her own rights and safety, poured and furnished alcoholic beverages to Lisa Suzanne Hellings during their trip from Wilmington; Melissa Gray Watkins voluntarily entered and continued to ride in the motor vehicle being
operated by Lisa Suzanne Hellings at a time when Melissa Gray Watkins knew that the ability of Lisa Suzanne Hellings to safely operate the vehicle was becoming impaired by the fact that she was consuming the alcoholic beverages being poured and furnished to her by Melissa Gray Watkins to the extent that her mental or physical faculties or both, might or could have been impaired; Melissa Gray Watkins was contributorily negligent in assuming the risk of harm to her person in furnishing the alcoholic beverages and riding in the vehicle under these circumstances which a reasonable and prudent person would have recognized as a foreseeable risk of harm.
In this excerpt, defendant specifically alleged contributory negligence and referred to the actions which constituted the alleged contributory negligence. Plaintiff was therefore put on notice that defendant would try to prove that plaintiff could not recover on those grounds.
Plaintiff next contends that defendant's evidence of contributory negligence was insufficient as a matter of law to support a verdict for the defendant. In order to establish a passenger's contributory negligence in riding with an intoxicated driver, a defendant in North Carolina must offer evidence of the following:
(1) the driver was under the influence of alcohol;
(2) the passenger knew or should have known that the driv
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