文档介绍：District of Columbia v. Wayne Singleton, et al. , No. 77, September Term, 2011 HEADNOTES: TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – SINGLE MOTOR-VEHICLE ACCIDENT – RES IPSA LOQUITUR – DEFENDANT’S EXCLUSIV E CONTROL OF INSTRUMENTALITY : Where a motor vehicle leaves the road and plaintiffs seek to use res ipsa loquitur to raise the inference that the defendant employer of the driver was negligent vicariously, plaintiffs’ evidence must show that defendant’s negligen ce, and not another interfering force, caused their injuries more probably than not. TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – SINGLE MOTOR-VEHICLE ACCIDENT – RES IPSA LOQUITUR – FACTS SURROUNDING ACCIDENT WERE EQUALLY ACCESSIBLE TO BOTH PARTIES : The plaintiffs’ failure to supplement their meager evidence with other reasonably available evidence, or to explain on the record why they did not adduce that accessible evidence, raises th e inference that plaintiffs had equal access to the facts surrounding the accident as the defendant—a circumstance that does not warrant the application of res ipsa loquitur. Circuit Court for Prince e’s County Case No. 09-00516 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 77 September Term, 2011 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. WAYNE SINGLETON, ET AL. Bell, ., Harrell Greene Adkins Barbera Wilner, Alan M., (Retired, Specially Assigned) Cathell, Dale R., (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ. Opinion by Harrell, J. Filed: March 20, 2012 On 20 June 2008, Respondents Wayne Singleton and his eight-year-old son, Jaron, were passengers in a westbound bus on Route 50 in Prince e’s County. At a certain point during that journey, the bus left the travel-portion of Route 50 and became “airborne.” Singleton, asleep at that time, and Jaron, awake but prehending, could not explain the cause for the bus leaving the road, alt hough Singleton woke-up in time to witness the bus landing in a wooded area and colliding with a tree. Respondents sued Petitioner, the District of Columbia (the District), endeavoring to prove that it was liabl