Nebraska Supreme Court: Farmers not Negligent in Fatal Crash

The Nebraska Supreme Court on May 2 upheld a lower court ruling that two farming brothers were not negligent in a 2007 fatal crash where tall corn created a blind intersection.

The Oct. 6, 2007, crash in Saunders County occurred when two pickups collided at an intersection where the view was obstructed by 7-foot-tall corn planted only feet from the roadway. The crash killed one passenger and left another, Thomas Latzel, a quadriplegic who died from his injuries three years later.

Latzel’s wife, Amanda, sued the drivers of the two trucks and the farmers who planted the corn. A witness affidavit introduced at trial said the driver carrying Latzel and two other passengers had stopped “for quite a while” at the blind intersection, presumably because he could not see if another vehicle was approaching. The witness said the other driver entered the intersection traveling about 65 mph — well above the speed limit. That driver settled with Amanda Latzel for an undisclosed sum, while the claim against the driver with whom Thomas Latzel was riding was dismissed.

A Saunders County District Court judge also granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the farmers – Ronald and Doug Bartek – saying it was the truck drivers who were negligent for entering an intersection “when (they) could not see what (they) needed to see.”

The Nebraska Supreme Court said that although the Barteks breached a duty of care by planting corn so close to the road, they were “not bound to anticipate that drivers would disregard the obvious danger of traversing a visually obstructed unmarked intersection without being able to see what they needed to see to do so safely.”

A concurring opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Stephan, and joined by Chief Justice Michael Heavican and Justice William Connolly, went further.

“I conclude as a matter of law that there was no breach, and thus no negligence, on the part of the landowners who were simply making lawful use of their agricultural land to raise crops,” Stephan wrote.