The Restatement of Fenderbenders

Yedlapalli v. Jaldu, in rejecting sufficiency challenges to a judgment in an auto-collision case, summarizes the infrequently appealed but practically important case law about negligent driving. In particular (and contrary to what my Driver’s Ed teacher said in high school), the Fifth Court reminds:

With rear-end collisions, ‘standards of ordinary care cannot be fixed with any degree of certainty but must be left in large measure to the trier of the facts.’ … [T]he mere occurrence of a rear-end accident does not establish negligence as a matter of law. ‘And it is neither impossible nor automatically invalid for a jury to determine that neither driver in a rear-end accident committed negligence.’ … ‘A rear-end collision may be some evidence of negligence of the rear-ending driver, but it does not constitute conclusive proof.'” 

No. 05-20-00531-CV (June 28, 2022) (mem. op.) (citations omitted).