Quinones v. Pennsylvania General Insurance Co‪.‬

In this appeal we review a jury verdict for Bannister, a Texas resident, in a diversity suit alleging negligence against the Town of Noble, Oklahoma, for personal injuries arising out of a one-car accident which occurred in Oklahoma. The center line of the county road on which the accident occurred divides Norman, Oklahoma, from Noble, Oklahoma. Cleveland County performs all road maintenance on the portion of this road that lies within Norman and Noble. Bannister was driving on the Noble side of the road when he crested a hill and saw a dump truck parked in his lane and road crew workers filling potholes. To avoid hitting the truck, he steered across the center line into the oncoming lane which was free from traffic. As he did so, a road crew worker stepped over the center line into the path of Bannisters car and Bannister swerved off the road. Bannister was severely injured and is now a paraplegic. Bannister sued claiming negligence by Norman and Noble in breaching their duty to maintain the road or to warn motorists of the truck and workers obstructing traffic. At trial the jury found that Bannister was thirty-five percent contributorily negligent and that Norman and Noble were sixty-five percent negligent.