Case Title: Gaylard v. Homemakers of Montgomery, Inc.

Citation: 675 So. 2d 363

Docket Number: 1940395

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1996-01-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
675 So. 2d 363 (1996)
Alice GAYLARD
v.
HOMEMAKERS OF MONTGOMERY, INC., d/b/a Oxford Health Care.
1940395.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
January 12, 1996.
Richard C. Dean, Jr. and Sabrina L. McKinney, Law Offices of Richard C. Dean, Jr., Montgomery, for Appellant.
Amy C. Vibbart and James W. Garrett, Jr. of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston & Garrett, Montgomery, for Appellee.
ALMON, Justice.
The plaintiff appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict for the defendant. Alice Gaylard brought an action against Homemakers of Montgomery, Inc., d/b/a Oxford Health Care ("Oxford"), alleging negligence, wantonness, and breach of contract. Before trial, Ms. Gaylard dismissed the breach of contract claim. The circuit court ruled that Ms. Gaylard could not use a statement taken by her attorney from a witness *364 who was an employee of Oxford to cross-examine that witness. The court based its ruling on its holding that the attorney, in taking the statement, had violated Rule 4.2 of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct. The issue, therefore, is whether the circuit court erred in limiting cross-examination by prohibiting use of the witness's earlier statement.
Ms. Gaylard contracted with Oxford for Oxford to provide home health care services, including the periodic bathing of Ms. Gaylard. On December 16, 1992, an employee of Oxford, Dorothy Taylor, who was not named as a defendant in the action Ms. Gaylard later filed, was giving Ms. Gaylard a bath and allegedly caused Ms. Gaylard to be burned with hot water. Ms. Gaylard was subsequently hospitalized, and she alleges that the burns she says she sustained on December 16 required the hospitalization and caused her to suffer pain, discomfort, mental anguish, and emotional distress.
Before Ms. Gaylard filed this action against Oxford, Ms. Gaylard's attorney telephoned Ms. Taylor and recorded the ensuing conversation, without informing Ms. Taylor that it was being recorded. Initially, Ms. Taylor refused to discuss the bath and the burns, but, after the attorney persisted, Ms. Taylor began answering questions:
During Ms. Taylor's deposition and during the trial, she testified that she did not regulate the faucets or the water temperature while attending Ms. Gaylard on Wednesday, December 16. Further, at trial, Ms. Taylor testified that Ms. Gaylard had not complained about the alleged burns until at least the following Monday, December 21.
Oxford filed a motion in limine to prevent Ms. Gaylard from introducing the recorded statement into evidence, citing Rule 4.2, Ala. R.Prof. Conduct:
The comment to Rule 4.2 elaborates:
The circuit court granted Oxford's motion in limine, holding that the attorney's action that had resulted in the recorded conversation violated Rule 4.2, Ala.R.Prof. Conduct. Moreover, during the cross-examination of Ms. Taylor by Ms. Gaylard's attorney, the circuit court sustained an objection to the use of a transcript of the recording for impeachment *367 purposes.[1] In addition, Ms. Gaylard raised the issue in her motion for new trial, which was overruled by the circuit court.
Ms. Gaylard contends that because the recorded conversation occurred before her attorney had any indication that Oxford had retained counsel to represent it in defending any claim that might be filed by Ms. Gaylard based on the alleged December 16 burns, her attorney's actions were not unethical and did not violate the Rules of Professional Conduct. Ms. Gaylard argues that even if the attorney's actions violated Rule 4.2, the rule is an internal bar regulation that should not affect the admissibility of the recorded statement. Thus, Ms. Gaylard maintains that the circuit court's ruling barring the admission of the recorded statement constituted reversible error.
We begin our analysis by first determining if the attorney violated Rule 4.2. That rule applies only to communications with a party, and then only when the attorney knows that the party is represented by an attorney. Although the committee comments to Rule 4.2 indicate that the rule should reach an agent or an employee of a corporate party when the corporation's liability will be predicated on the agent's actions, Oxford itself was not a "party" at the time of the communication, because Ms. Gaylard had not yet filed an action against it. The rules do not require an attorney to immediately file an action at law before communicating with the person with whom the attorney's client has a dispute.
Aside from the question whether Oxford was a party, there is no evidence that Ms. Gaylard's attorney knew, or even had reason to think, that Oxford had retained counsel in regard to the matter of Ms. Gaylard's alleged injury. Notwithstanding the fact that Ms. Taylor initially objected and said that she should not talk to the attorney without talking to her supervisor first, she did not say or imply that her employer had retained counsel. Thus, Ms. Gaylard's attorney could not have violated Rule 4.2. Because this was the only basis on which the circuit court sustained the objection, it was error to sustain the objection, made during cross-examination of Ms. Taylor, to the use of her statement as a prior inconsistent statement.
Even if this communication had occurred after Ms. Taylor had been contacted by attorneys for Oxford, and even if Ms. Gaylard's attorney had known that Ms. Taylor was a "party," it would still have been error for the circuit court to sustain the objection and bar admission of the evidence. The Rules of Professional Conduct are "self-imposed internal regulations" and do not play a role in determining the admissibility of evidence. Stringer v. State, 372 So. 2d 378, 382-83 (Ala.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 372 So. 2d 384 (Ala.1979); cf. Terry Cove North, Inc. v. Marr & Friedlander, P.C., 521 So. 2d 22, 23-24 (Ala.1988) ("The sole remedy is the imposition of disciplinary measures.").
This Court has held repeatedly that the burden is on the appellant to establish that errors committed by the circuit court probably prejudiced him. Abbott v. Allstate Ins. Co., 507 So. 2d 905, 908 (Ala.1987); American Furniture Galleries, Inc. v. McWane, Inc., 477 So. 2d 369, 373 (Ala.1985); Watson v. McGee, 348 So. 2d 461, 463 (Ala. 1977).
The circuit court's error in sustaining the objection was not harmless. The jury could have viewed the evidence as presenting essentially a conflict between Ms. Gaylard's testimony and Ms. Taylor's testimony as to whether Ms. Gaylard was scalded in the shower and, if so, how it happened. As to how it happened, Ms. Gaylard contended at trial that Ms. Taylor regulated the water temperature, while Ms. Taylor contended that Ms. Gaylard regulated it. In the first part of her recorded statement, Ms. Taylor said that she had regulated the water temperature:
Although Ms. Taylor later in the conversation asserted that Ms. Gaylard had regulated the temperature of the water herself, the contradictions within the recorded statement simply present a further question for the jury as to which statement by Ms. Taylor it was to believe. The fact that she "corrected herself" later in the conversation does not render the entire recorded statement consistent with Ms. Taylor's trial testimony.
There is also a conflict between the statement and Ms. Taylor's trial testimony regarding when Ms. Gaylard first complained that her legs had been burned in the shower.[2] The alleged scalding would have taken place on Wednesday, December 16. At trial, Ms. Taylor asserted that Ms. Gaylard did not complain of having been burned until the following week on Ms. Taylor's Monday visit, or perhaps later. Oxford sought to prove that Ms. Gaylard did not complain of the alleged burn until well after it had supposedly occurred. In her statement, however, Ms. Taylor stated that Ms. Gaylard complained of the burns the very next visit:
Evidence presented by Ms. Gaylard and her daughter indicated that they tried to treat the burns at home, but that they got worse rather than better. In late December, Ms. Gaylard was admitted to a hospital for treatment of second degree burns on her legs. Oxford contended that this condition was not caused by the alleged scalding, but there was substantial evidence, at least from Ms. Gaylard's testimony, that it was. Further, the record does not support a holding, as suggested by Justice Houston's dissent, that sustaining the objection was harmless error because Ms. Gaylard's feet were not burned. This Court is not in a position to make a finding that, because Ms. Gaylard's feet were not burned, her injuries could not have occurred the way she said they did, so the judgment is not due to be affirmed on this ground in spite of the error in disallowing the use of Ms. Taylor's statement.
In short, the conflicts between the testimony of Ms. Gaylard and that of Ms. Taylor were crucial to the jury's resolution of the case. The recorded statement was inconsistent with Ms. Taylor's trial testimony in at least two material respects, and thus it was not harmless for the circuit court to disallow its use for cross-examination of Ms. Taylor. Consequently, the judgment is hereby reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
SHORES, KENNEDY, INGRAM, and BUTTS, JJ., concur.
HOOPER, C.J., and MADDOX and HOUSTON, JJ., dissent.
*369 HOOPER, Chief Justice (dissenting):
I must respectfully dissent. I concur with Justice Houston on all points in his dissent. I address only the issue of Attorney Dean's communication with Ms. Dorothy Taylor.
Alabama Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2 states:
The comment to the rule states:
(Emphasis added.)
The record is unclear as to whether Attorney Richard C. Dean, Jr., knew, when he telephoned Ms. Taylor, who would be one of those persons mentioned in the comment to the rule, whether she was represented by counsel. Dean contends that he spoke with Taylor before he filed the lawsuit, but Taylor was unsure when she spoke with Dean. The record does not affirmatively state that Ms. Taylor was represented by counsel when Dean contacted her. Also, the record does not indicate whether Homemakers of Montgomery, Inc., had attorneys on its staff or on retainer. However, a reasonably prudent attorney should know that corporations routinely have in-house counsel or have retained counsel.
The following things are clear. First, Attorney Dean was procured by Ms. Gaylard for the purpose of filing a lawsuit against Homemakers based on the alleged acts or omissions of Taylor. Second, Dean contacted Taylor by telephone, knowing that her acts or omissions could be imputed to Homemakers, and knowing that her statements could constitute admissions on the part of Homemakers. Third, Dean recorded the telephone conversation without Taylor's consent. Fourth, at the outset of the telephone conversation, Taylor told Dean repeatedly and in plain language that she did not want to speak with him because she believed that her employer would not want her to do so. Fifth, Dean repeatedly violated Taylor's requests to be excused from speaking with him, and he continued to pressure her until she spoke with him. Based upon the facts of this case, it is not clear whether Attorney Dean violated the letter of Rule 4.2. However, it is clear that Dean violated the spirit of Rule 4.2.
Alabama passed the nation's first code of lawyer ethics in 1887, and it has a rich heritage as the leader in legal ethics. Rule 4.2 of our present Rules of Professional Conduct has been passed down from our first Code of Ethics. See 118 Ala. XXIII-XXXIV. This first Code of Ethics was written by Col. Thomas Goode Jones, who was later Governor of Alabama.[3] Benjamin P. Crum, The Alabama Code of Legal Ethics, 2 Ala. Lawyer 245-58 (1941). However, Governor Jones was not the original author of the concepts embodied in his code of lawyer ethics.
In 1836, David Hoffman published Hoffman's Course of Legal Studies, which contains perhaps the first outline of a legal code of ethics for American lawyers. George M. Akers, Hoffman's Fifty Resolutions, 14 Ala.Lawyer 171 (1953). These resolutions are reminiscent of a noble breed of lawyers and should stir the conscience of every Alabama lawyer.
In Hoffman's resolutions, he addressed the issue now before this court:
As quoted at 14 Ala.Lawyer 186. (Emphasis added.)
The lawyer has an advantage over the layman. The lawyer, being more knowledgeable of the law and perhaps more cunning than the layman, can use knowledge and experience to lay a trap for the other. The purpose of cross-examining a witness is often to lay a trap for the witness. I would hope that with both parties' attorneys present and with the judge overseeing the proceeding, such a trap will lead to the truth. The layman being interviewed by an opponent's attorney or a potential opponent's attorney is not on a level playing field.
The spirit of our present Rule 4.2 is to level the legal playing field. In this case, Attorney Dean, knowing that he planned to sue Homemakers and knowing that Ms. Taylor had no attorney to assist her, manipulated Ms. Taylor. Dean felt free to use whatever artifice and coercion was necessary to interrogate Ms. Taylor because he knew that she had no attorney to object to his repeated and uninvited questions. The record shows that Taylor told Dean repeatedly and in certain terms that she did not want to talk with him, could not talk with him, and would not talk with him. Nevertheless, Attorney Dean persisted and coerced her into saying what he wanted her to say. There is little doubt that if Dean had contacted Taylor in the presence of an attorney for Homemakers or Taylor, or by writing only, as Hoffman suggests, this issue would not be before this Court.
Lawyers who find themselves in Attorney Dean's situation should do three things: (1) identify themselves to the prospective defendant; (2) advise the prospective defendant that they represent the prospective plaintiff; and (3) communicate with the prospective defendant in writing only, with no oral response being received. Attorneys who adhere to this three-pronged approach in communicating with unrepresented prospective defendants will not only bring honor to the legal profession, but will preserve the administration of justice, consistent with the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct. Lawyers should always strive to maintain the Alabama Bar's high standard of ethics; and now, it is time for the Bar to strive for a higher standard. The trial judge in this case has given us an excellent example to follow.
In assessing Attorney Dean's conduct, this Court must decide whether the trial judge erred in granting Homemakers' motion in limine to prevent the use at trial of the recorded telephone conversation. From a thorough review of the transcript and both parties' briefs, I cannot say that Gaylard has met her burden of proving that the trial court erred in granting Homemakers motion in limine. Johnson v. Langley, 495 So. 2d 1061 (Ala.1986).
Even though Dean may not have violated the letter of Rule 4.2, and therefore may not be subject to discipline, the trial judge in this case recognized the egregiousness of Dean's conduct. In granting the motion in limine, he sought to prevent Dean's client from profiting from such an unfair method of obtaining evidence. In addition, his granting the motion acted as a deterrence to other attorneys contemplating use of the same unfair tactic in future cases. I commend the trial judge for his discernment and the careful balancing he *371 used in remedying for this manipulation of the justice system and its rules.
Therefore, I must respectfully dissent.
HOUSTON, Justice (dissenting).
I would affirm; therefore, I dissent.
Even if the trial court erred in granting Oxford's motion in limine and thereby barring the tape-recorded conversation from being introduced into evidence (and I would not hold that it did), from a thorough review of the record I find that error to be harmless.
Black's Law Dictionary, at 1193 (6th ed.1990) defines "[p]rior inconsistent statements" as "prior statements made by the witness which contradict statements made on the witness stand." These prior statements of self-contradiction are not admissible to prove the truth of the matter asserted but only to impeach the credibility of the witness after a foundation has been laid and the witness has been given an opportunity to affirm or deny whether such prior statements were made. See C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence, § 155.02(1) (4th ed. 1991).
Taylor's statements in the tape-recorded conversation, concerning who regulated the water faucets and the water temperature, were not inconsistent with her pre-trial deposition testimony or with her testimony at trial. Rather, as shown in that portion of the tape-recorded telephone conversation quoted by the majority, although Taylor initially indicated that she was the one who regulated the water faucets and the water temperature, she later corrected herself and in doing so made it unclear who actually had regulated the water; and she never specified, during the conversation, who regulated the faucets or the water temperature on the day in question.
Furthermore, in my opinion, the critical issue in this case was not who regulated the water faucets or the water temperature, but rather whether hot water actually caused the burns to Gaylard's legs or whether she received the burns in some other way (there was evidence of prior instances of severe redness and swelling in her legs that necessitated medical attention and evidence that she had used certain creams that could have caused burns like those she sustained). Throughout the trial, Oxford argued that the water Taylor used on Gaylard's legs was from the same bowl as the water that Taylor had used on the rest of Gaylard's body, yet the rest of Gaylard's body received no burns. Gaylard also testified that Taylor used the water to wash Gaylard's feet by pouring it down her legs; yet, there were no burns on Gaylard's feet. As Oxford states: "This defies all logic." If the water did not cause the burns to Gaylard's legs, it would make absolutely no difference who regulated the water faucets or the water temperature, because the temperature of the water would have no bearing on Gaylard's injuries.
Accordingly, even if the tape-recorded telephone conversation were technically admissible, the order keeping it out of evidence was not prejudicial error. Abbott v. Allstate Ins. Co., 507 So. 2d 905 (Ala.1987). On appeal, Gaylard had the burden not only to establish error but also to show that she was prejudiced by the error. Abbott v. Allstate; American Furniture Galleries, Inc. v. McWane, Inc., 477 So. 2d 369 (Ala.1985). Gaylard has failed to carry that burden.
MADDOX, J., concurs.
[1]  The circuit court sustained this objection after Ms. Taylor had admitted under oath that, when Ms. Gaylard's attorney contacted her, she had not heard that a legal action had been filed regarding the matter and to the best of her knowledge one had not been filed. She also admitted that at that time she had not talked to any other lawyers. There is no indication in the record that at that time Oxford had retained attorneys to represent it in regard to Ms. Gaylard's claim.
[2]  Ms. Gaylard testified that at the time Ms. Taylor emptied the pan onto her legs she said, "Oh my Lord, you've burned me; Dot you've burned me." Ms. Taylor denied that Ms. Gaylard made such a statement. This is simply a direct conflict, and the recorded statement was inconsistent with Ms. Taylor's trial testimony.
[3]  Thomas Goode Jones of Montgomery lived from 1844 to 1914 and served his State as speaker of the house, Governor, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1901, and United States District Judge of the middle and northern districts.