![]() ![]() An instruction is properly rejected if it would tend to mislead or confuse the jury. In determining whether the trial court erroneously refused a tendered instruction, we consider: (1) whether the tendered instruction correctly states the law (2) whether there is evidence in the record to support giving the instruction and (3) whether the substance of the instruction is covered by other instructions. 25Ī party is normally entitled to have a tendered instruction read to the jury. Our review of a trial court's decisions is highly deferential, and we will not disturb the court's judgment absent an abuse of that discretion. ![]() Instruction of the jury is left to the sound discretion of the trial court. Wallace claims that the trial court erred both in refusing to give the tendered jury instruction concerning battery and in giving the instruction concerning incurred risk as a defense to a claim of negligence. The jury found in favor of IPS and Rosen, and Wallace now appeals. Over Wallace's objection, the court gave the incurred risk instruction. IPS and Rosen tendered an instruction concerning the defense of incurred risk on the basis that Wallace had continued up the stairs after hearing the alarm, had stopped at the landing to talk, and had blocked the students' exit. Over Wallace's objection, the court refused to read the instruction to the jury. 21Īt the close of the trial, Wallace tendered an instruction concerning civil battery. Rosen denied pushing Wallace and testified that Wallace had not fallen, but rather had made her way down the stairs unassisted and without losing her balance. 20Īt trial, Wallace testified that Rosen pushed her down the stairs. Rosen then told Wallace, "you've got to get moving because this is a fire drill." Id. Wallace, with her back to Rosen, was unable to hear Rosen over the noise of the alarm and Rosen had to touch her on the back to get her attention. Rosen did not recognize any of the individuals but approached "telling everybody to move it." Transcript at 35. ![]() In response to the alarm, Rosen escorted her class to the designated stairway and noticed three or four people talking together at the top of the stairway and blocking the students' exit. The alarm then sounded and students began filing down the stairs while Wallace took a step or two up the stairs to the second floor landing. Jamie Arnold, a student who knew Lalaya and her mother, joined the conversation. Wallace and Fuqua were near the top of the staircase when they saw Lalaya and began to speak with her. Because Wallace was recovering from foot surgery and Lalaya's class was on the second floor, Lalaya's boyfriend Eric Fuqua accompanied Wallace up the stairs. On the day the alarm sounded, Wallace was at the high school delivering homework to her daughter Lalaya. The drill was not previously announced to the teachers and occurred just one week after a fire was extinguished in a bathroom near Rosen's classroom. On April 22, 1994, the high school had a fire drill while classes were in session. In 1994, Rosen was a teacher at Northwest High School in Indianapolis. ![]()
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