Eckel v. O'Keefe

Plaintiff Lawrence Eckel filed suit against defendant Mary Beth O’Keefe alleging that he suffered both personal injury and property damage as a result of her negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Approximately two weeks before trial, defendant obtained leave to amend her answer, thereby interposing the affirmative defense that the plaintiff’s own negligence proximately caused his injuries. A jury found for plaintiff, but found him 40% comparatively negligent, resulting in a net recovery to him of $3,200. On appeal, plaintiff alleges two errors. First, he maintains that because the jury did…