Reed v. Ault

Defendant's vehicle slid off road and into ditch; another driver, a nurse, stopped her vehicle and approached Defendant another driver to offer aid, but was struck and killed by another vehicle that lost control on ice. Plaintiff alleged that per "rescue doctrine", Defendant placed herself in position of peril and, when decedent attempted to rescue her, proximately caused decedent's death. Jury rendered defense verdict. Jury could have reasonably found that Defendant exercised ordinary care that reasonably careful person would use to avoid placing herself in place of danger, and could have found that Defendant was not proximate cause of death, or that it was not reasonably foreseeable to Defendant that her actions would put decedent in a position of risk; or, even if jury found that Defendant was negligent, rescue doctrine was inapplicable because no evidence that decedent knowingly placed herself at risk to rescue Defendant from death or imminent peril. (McLAREN and HUDSON, concurring.)