BEAUMONT – A woman allegedly injured in a car accident on Interstate 10 in Houston has lost her appeal for a new trial.
The 9th District Court of Appeals at Beaumont affirmed the 172nd District Court of Jefferson County’s ruling that denied a new trial on Sept. 13. Justice Leanne Johnson delivered the opinion, stating that the trial court did not abuse its discretion.
Appellant Yessika Sanchez claimed that she and her husband were traveling on I-10 in Houston when they were in an accident with appellee's Kristin Braye’s vehicle. According to Sanchez, Braye said “I couldn’t see. So, I just went,” after the collision, according to the ruling. Braye denied making this statement.
Sanchez’s suit argued that Braye was guilty of malice and/or gross negligence. She asked for exemplary damages.
Houston Police Department Officer David Phan, the responding officer who arrived at the scene of the accident, “testified that it was ‘clear-cut’ that Braye violated the law in failing to yield the right-of-way making the U-turn, and that because she made the decision 'to turn without clear out the street,' that 'it would be her fault, regardless of what happened to the other vehicle,'" the opinion states.
However, Phan also noted that no injuries were reported at the time.
Braye received a traffic citation. She admitted that the pleaded guilty to the ticket but insisted that the accident wasn’t her fault. She explained that she thought it was safe to make a U-turn when she pulled out into traffic. She testified that she believed she behaved like an “ordinary person” under the circumstances.
“After deliberations, the jury answered ‘No’ to the question, ‘Did the negligence, if any, of Kristin Braye proximately cause the occurrence in question?’ The jury did not reach the damage questions,” the opinion states.
The trial court signed a final judgment favoring Braye.
"Sanchez filed a motion for new trial arguing that the jury’s failure to find that the negligence of Braye proximately caused the accident was so contrary to the great weight and preponderance of the evidence that it was wrong and clearly unjust," the ruling states.
"Based upon the record before us, we conclude that the jury’s failure to find negligence was not so weak, nor so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence, as to render the verdict clearly wrong and unjust. ... Accordingly, the trial court didn ot abuse its discretion in denying Sanchez’s motion for new trial. Because we have concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Sanchez’s motion for new trial, we need not address Sanchez’s remaining argument about her alleged injuries," the ruling states.