Sandra Pepper v. Grant Harley Thelen

── Sandra Pepper v. Grant Harley Thelen ── Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia Date: May 26, 2026 Category: General FOURTH DIVISION MCFADDEN, P. J., WATKINS and PADGETT, JJ. NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk's office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.gov/rules May 26, 2026 In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A26A0817. PEPPER v. THELEN. PADGETT, Judge. Following a jury trial in this personal injury action arising out of motor vehicle collision, plaintiff Sandra Pepper appeals the judgment entered in favor of defendant Grant Thelen. Pepper contends the trial court erred in: (1) instructing the jury on the doctrine of sudden emergency; (2) failing to properly instruct the jury on negligence per se and Thelen’s duty to maintain a proper lookout; and (3) denying Pepper’s motions for partial directed verdict on the issues of sudden emergency and negligence per se. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand the case for further proceedings.  The evidence showed that on February 13, 2019, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Pepper was in the front passenger seat of a Ford Taurus traveling in the far left northbound lane of Interstate 75 in Morrow, Georgia, when another vehicle struck the side of the Taurus, causing the Taurus to spin and strike the left-side median wall before coming to a rest in the middle lane of five northbound lanes, facing southbound with its headlights out. The vehicle that had hit the Taurus ended up on the right-side shoulder of the highway. Around the same time, Thelen was driving a Ford F-150 north on Interstate 75, approaching Morrow in the far left lane. Thelen moved from the far left lane into the second-most left lane, and then from the second lane to the third or middle of the five lanes. When he entered the third lane, he was directly behind a semi-truck; the truck braked, turned on its flashing hazard lights, and moved one lane over to the right. As the semi-truck was changing lanes, Thelen noticed another vehicle on the right-side shoulder with its hazard lights on that appeared to have been in an accident. Once the semi-truck completed its lane change and Thelen turned his attention back to his lane of travel, Thelen’s headlights illuminated the disabled Taurus and he “tried to slam on [the] brakes [but] it was too late and [he] just hit” the Taurus. Thelen testified at trial that “[b]y the time [he] saw th[e] Ford Taurus, it was so fast 2 that … [he] just couldn’t do anything[,]”and that he “didn’t think about going to the right or going to the left or braking, [he] just did [what he did].” The evidence further showed that five seconds before Thelen’s F-150 made impact with the Taurus, it was traveling between 83.3 and 85 miles per hour, in a 65 mile-per-hour zone. Evidence from the F-150’s event data recorder established that 1.1 seconds before impact, Thelen took his foot off the accelerator and pressed on the brake. The data additionally showed that one-tenth of a second before impact, Thelen made a fifteen-degree rightward steering input, resulting in a one-degree change in tire direction. Thelen testified that he did not realize he made the steering input, and testimony from an accident reconstructionist established that the change in steering “didn’t really take effect” before impact. Pepper sued Thelen, alleging he was negligent in, among other things, operating his vehicle at a rate of speed in excess of the posted speed limit, operating his vehicle at a speed that was too fast for conditions, and in failing to keep a proper lookout and pay proper attention to the roadway. Thelen denied liability and asserted that if he had been exceeding the speed limit, he did