Gardner v. Phipps

In this appeal, we deal with issues of contributory negligence, sudden emergency, and unavoidable accident arising from a vehicular collision. Conforming to established appellate principles, we state the facts in the light most favorable to the defendant, the prevailing party in the trial court.

On the night of February 15, 1991, Emory Steve Gardner and his friend Tim Crawford were unable to drive to their own homes because of snowy weather. Hence, they spent the night at the home of another friend, Mitchell Chester. The next morning, the snow stopped around 9:00 a.m. and Gardner and Crawford…