DocketNumber: A17A1328
Citation Numbers: 807 S.E.2d 98, 343 Ga. App. 351
Judges: McFadden
Filed Date: 10/24/2017
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/29/2022
*351While driving on a state highway at night, Vanessa Fann struck a bull that was loose in the road; she then lost consciousness, crossed into oncoming traffic, and collided with a truck driven by Lonnie Kelly. Kelly brought a personal injury action against Fann,
Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 (c). This [c]ourt applies a de novo standard of review to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.
Davis v. Overall,
So viewed, the evidence showed that on March 11, 2015, a bull with a black body and a white face escaped from a livestock trailer and ran away; the bull weighed approximately 775 pounds and was approximately five feet tall and six to seven feet long. For several hours, people on foot and on horses searched for the bull. During the hunt, if people got close to the bull it would "just go berserk[;] just take off running." It was spotted several times near a four-lane state highway that was adjacent to some woods and was divided by a wide median with grass three to four feet high. Some of the people involved *352in the hunt parked their vehicles, with lights flashing, on the eastbound side of that highway. These vehicles remained parked there for the duration of the hunt, until the collision between Fann's vehicle and the bull occurred. At times, a police car was also parked on the eastbound side of the highway.
Around 6:00 p.m., Fann traveled east on the highway past the parked vehicles, but she did not notice them. A few hours later, at approximately 9:00 to 9:15 p.m., Fann passed the same spot driving west on the highway, driving in the outside lane (closest to the side of the road). By that time night had fallen and the unlit highway was dark. However, it was a clear evening, Fann was using her headlights on low beams, and her view was unobstructed. She did not notice the vehicles with flashing lights parked on the other side of the divided highway.
Between 150 and 200 yards past the spot where the vehicles were parked, Fann struck the bull. She was driving below the speed limit at the time. She deposed that she did not see the bull until she hit it; she then glimpsed its face briefly on the driver's side of her windshield before she lost consciousness. After Fann lost consciousness, her car crossed the grassy median into the eastbound lanes of the highway and struck a commercial tractor-trailer driven by Kelly. Kelly deposed:
I saw a car coming, coming around the curve headed west. I was heading east. I saw the car coming. The next thing I knew, I looked out my window and the car was like right there and then, you know, she hit me in the back tandem [tires] and that was it. ... I would say the car was probably in the middle of the median the next time I saw it, you know, because I was going one way and she was going the other. It was just a matter of seconds because, when I looked over there, I would say in the middle of the median. And the next thing I knew, she hit me. I didn't know who it was at the time, but I knew I was hit.
The record contains deposition testimony from persons, including Fann and Kelly, who were present when the accident occurred. None of these persons saw the bull standing either in the highway or next to the highway *100at the time of or immediately before the accident. Fann testified that she did not know which direction the bull came from or whether it was walking, running, or standing when she hit it.
"Every driver is under a duty to keep a proper lookout for potential hazards. A driver has no right to assume that the road ahead of him is clear of traffic, and it is his duty to maintain a diligent lookout ahead."
*353Hayes v. Crawford,
Kelly argues that the evidence that Fann drove past parked vehicles with flashing lights creates a question of fact as to whether Fann breached her duty to maintain a proper lookout. We disagree, because there is no evidence that Fann would have "had a sufficiently clear view of the [bull in the highway] and ... had more than sufficient time ... and distance ... to stop [her car] safely, had [she] been sufficiently attentive to the roadway in front of [her]." Hayes, supra,
*354As the above decisions reflect, if the evidence in this case were in conflict about where the bull was and what it was doing at the time of the collision, summary judgment would not be appropriate. See Mayo,
Because there is no evidence of how Fann's collision with the bull occurred, "there is no evidence of anything [Fann] could have done to avoid the collision." McQuaig v. Tarrant,
Judgment affirmed.
Branch and Bethel, JJ., concur.
Kelly also sued the bull's owner and Fann filed a counterclaim against Kelly and a cross-claim against the bull's owner. Those actions are not a part of this appeal.