Wanda Cowger v. William H. Arnold v. Josephine Joyce Cowger

ADAMS, Circuit Judge

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent.

We are required in reversing a jury verdict to construe the evidence and the inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. From the evidence before it in this case, the jury could have concluded that Mr. Arnold’s looking to the side was negligence per se. Nevertheless, it could also have concluded that even had Mr. Arnold been concentrating on the road ahead, he might well have hit the vehicle in which Mrs. Cowger was a passenger. Because the jury had a rational basis from which to conclude that Mr. Arnold’s negligence was not the proximate cause of the accident, I would affirm the judgment of the district court.