DALE E. WHEELER, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. MARJORIE C. STRUNK, Fiduciary of the Estate of ROBERT C. ADLER, and DAVID E. WILSON, Fiduciary of the Estate of DIANE E. ADLER, Defendants-Appellees.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 6-829 / 05-2089
Filed January 18, 2007
DALE E. WHEELER,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
vs.
MARJORIE C. STRUNK, Fiduciary of the Estate of
ROBERT C. ADLER, and DAVID E. WILSON,
Fiduciary of the Estate of DIANE E. ADLER,
Defendants-Appellees.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Nancy S. Tabor,
Judge.
Plaintiff appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to
defendants on her tort claims arising from an automobile accident. AFFIRMED.
James D. Bruhn of Farwell & Bruhn, Clinton, for appellant.
Michael J. Motto of Bush, Motto, Creen, Koury & Halligan, P.L.C.,
Davenport, for appellees.
Considered by Huitink, P.J., and Vogel, J., and Nelson S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2005).
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NELSON, S.J.
I.
Background Facts & Proceedings
On June 16, 2002, at about 3:00 p.m., Robert Adler, who was seventy-six
years old, picked up his wife, Diane Adler, and two of her co-workers, Dale
Wheeler and Joan Greene, when they got off work at a local nursing home in
Clinton, Iowa. Adler’s vehicle was traveling east on Springdale Drive in the righthand lane, when it rear-ended a vehicle driven by Patricia Diaz, which was
traveling in the same direction, in the same lane. Diaz moved over to the left
lane, and Adler’s vehicle side-swiped her car as it came by. Diaz stated Adler’s
car swerved a few times and it was going fast. She stated Adler’s vehicle did not
appear to slow down after it hit the rear or the side of her car.
Adler’s vehicle went over the curb on the right side of the road and hit the
guide wires of a telephone pole. The car then went down into a ditch or culvert,
vaulted out, flipped, and landed on the roof. The two backseat passengers,
Wheeler and Greene, were ejected from the car during the accident, and they
suffered serious injuries. They were unable to remember anything about the
accident. Adler and his wife died as a result of the injuries they sustained in the
accident.
An autopsy of Adler was performed by Dr. Salvador Borja. Dr. Borja found
evidence Adler was having a heart attack, or acute myocardial infarction, at the
time of the accident. Microscopic evidence showed Adler had begun having a
heart attack two to three hours before he died. Dr. Borja stated that because
Adler’s heart was not working properly, not enough blood was going to his brain
and he lost consciousness.
He gave the opinion that due to loss of
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consciousness, Adler lost control of the vehicle. Dr. Borja stated, “I can say for
sure that he was in the process of having a heart attack, then he lost
consciousness, and then that’s when the accident happened.”
Adler’s blood
tested positive for benzodiazepine, a drug he was prescribed for anxiety.
Wheeler filed a tort suit against the estates of Adler and his wife, claiming
Adler operated the vehicle in a negligent manner, and this caused her damages.
In their answer, defendants raised the affirmative defense of sudden emergency.
Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming there were no
genuine issues of material fact and they were entitled to judgment as a matter of
law under the doctrine of sudden emergency. Wheeler resisted the summary
judgment motion, asserting it was unclear whether Adler had a heart attack prior
to, during, or after his vehicle struck Diaz’s vehicle. She also stated Adler’s
medication could have had a potential side-effect of drowsiness, which could
have affected his driving.
The district court granted the motion for summary judgment. The court
noted that generally the issue of sudden emergency is for the jury to decide. In
this case, the court determined, “there is no genuine issue of material fact on the
record presented concerning the fact that Robert Adler was suffering from a heart
attack at the time of the accident . . . .” The court also found the heart attack
caused the accident. Wheeler appeals the summary judgment for defendants.
II.
Standard of Review
Our review is for the correction of errors at law. Iowa R. App. P. 6.4.
Summary judgment is appropriate only when there are no genuine issues of
material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
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Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.981(3); Kistler v. City of Perry, 719 N.W.2d 804, 805 (Iowa
2006).
A court should view the record in the light most favorable to the
nonmoving party. Eggiman v. Self-Insured Servs. Co., 718 N.W.2d 754, 758
(Iowa 2006).
III.
Merits
Wheeler claims the district court erred in granting summary judgment to
defendants because there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether
Adler suffered a sudden heart attack which caused the accident. Plaintiff asserts
Dr. Borja was not able to assert with any degree of medical certainty whether
Adler suffered a heart attack before, during, or after the collision. She points out
that Adler did not die as a result of the heart attack, but died as a result of injuries
sustained in the accident.
Wheeler states Adler tested positive for
benzodiazepine, and one of the side-effects of this drug is drowsiness. She
contends the issue of the cause of the accident should be submitted to a jury.
The doctrine of legal excuse permits a jury to excuse a driver’s failure to
obey statutory law when confronted with a sudden emergency. Vasconez v.
Mills, 651 N.W.2d 48, 54 (Iowa 2002). The elements of sudden emergency are:
(1) the driver is confronted with a sudden emergency; (2) the emergency was not
created by the driver’s own negligence; and (3) the driver conducted himself or
herself as a reasonable person in a similar emergency.
Jones v. Blair, 387
N.W.2d 349, 352 (Iowa 1986). A sudden heart attack may be considered a
sudden emergency.
Foster v. Ankrum, 636 N.W.2d 104, 106 (Iowa 2001)
(quoting Weiss v. Bal, 501 N.W.2d 478, 482 (Iowa 1993)); Mosell v. Estate of
Marks, 526 N.W.2d 179, 182 (Iowa Ct. App. 1994).
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The party asserting a sudden emergency existed has the burden of
proving this legal excuse, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to
that party. Beyer v. Todd, 601 N.W.2d 35, 39 (Iowa 1999). Generally, whether a
party has been faced with a sudden emergency is a question for the jury. Bangs
v. Kiefer, 174 N.W.2d 372, 374 (Iowa 1970).
During the deposition of Dr. Borja, plaintiff’s counsel asked several times if
it were possible that the collision occurred first, and then the heart attack. Dr.
Borja stated he did not believe this was possible. Dr. Borja stated Adler died
within a minute or two after he sustained the injuries in the accident, and
microscopic evidence showed the heart attack started two to three hours before
the accident. Dr. Borja stated he could not say exactly when the heart attack
started, but could “say for sure that he was in the process of having a heart
attack, then he lost consciousness, and then that’s when the accident
happened.” There is no evidence in the record to support plaintiff’s contention
that the collision occurred before the heart attack.
There is also no evidence in the record to support plaintiff’s allegation that
the accident may have been caused because Adler became drowsy from taking
benzodiazepine. Dr. Borja testified drowsiness may be a side-effect of this drug,
but there was no evidence Adler became drowsy from taking it. Plaintiff also
raised the possibility that Adler suddenly stopped taking the medication, which
could lead to withdrawal symptoms. Again, there was no evidence to show Adler
had suddenly stopped taking his medication.
We concur in the district court’s conclusion:
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The court concludes that there is no genuine issue of
material fact in the record presented concerning the fact that Robert
Adler was suffering from a heart attack at the time of the accident
and there is no evidence, other than plaintiff’s speculation, to refute
the medical examiner’s conclusion that “The early acute myocardial
infarction most likely resulted in his losing control of the vehicle he
was driving.”
We determine there was no genuine issue of material fact present in this case as
to whether Adler suffered a heart attack and whether the heart attack caused the
accident. Defendants are entitled to summary judgment based on the doctrine of
sudden emergency.
AFFIRMED.
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