Frazier v. Drake (Nev. Ct. App. – Sep. 3, 2015)

This matter arises from a personal injury action following a motor vehicle accident in which a vehicle was rear-ended by a semitrailer. Evidence was presented at trial indicating that bees flew into the cabin of the semitrailer, and one bee landed on the eye of the driver. The issue is whether the district court properly instructed the jury on sudden emergencies.

Drake was an employee of MS Concrete Company, Inc. On the day of the incident, Drake was driving an MS Concrete semitrailer truck on a major road in North Las Vegas. As he was driving, bees flew into the truck’s cabin, and one bee purportedly landed on his eye. While Drake attempted to remove the bee from his eye, he failed to observe a stoplight and rear-ended Frazier and Keys, whose vehicle was stopped at the light. Frazier and Keys (collectively referred to as Frazier, except where the context requires otherwise) suffered injuries in the accident and subsequently initiated the underlying personal injury action against Drake and MS Concrete (collectively referred to as Drake).

During the trial, Drake presented his defense that the bee landing on his eye constituted a sudden emergency rendering him unable to avoid the accident. Based on this defense, Drake sought to have the jury instructed that, if it found that the bee landing on his eye constituted a sudden emergency, he only had a duty of care equal to that of a reasonable person faced with the same situation. Over Frazier’s objections, the court instructed the jury on sudden emergencies, and the jury ultimately found in favor of Drake. Frazier then moved for a new trial, arguing that the sudden emergency instructions should not have been given and that the jury ignored the court’s instruction regarding Drake’s standard of care in reaching its verdict. Drake opposed this motion, which the district court ultimately denied. Frazier appealed.

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