Opinion ID: 1893716
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the court erred in allowing hearsay testimony by dr. fineburg regarding statements by his employees?

Text: Dr. Fineburg examined Moody on June 20, 1989. Dr. Fineburg testified by deposition to the following information contained in Moody's medical file: [t]he history relates right shoulder and neck pain for several days. Fall, seen at the emergency room two days ago, here for recheck. My physical examination shows my abbreviations for paraspinal muscle tenderness, and spasm, and was treated with local creams. I have not seen him since. There is a note out to the side written by my office manager, it's her handwriting on the side. It says 8/3/89, and then in parentheses it says from MVA. And I asked her about this, what this meant; this was not written at the time of my office visit. She said this  he came in on that date, on 8/3/89, and said that was not from a fall, it was from an MVA. I was not aware he came in at that time. I was not aware of any additional history other than what I originally mentioned. Moody's precise hearsay objection to Dr. Fineburg's testimony is not that the notation 8-3-89 from M.V.A. was admitted into evidence, but that Dr. Fineburg was allowed to testify as to subsequent oral statements made to him by an employee regarding the alleged circumstances under which this notation was entered into his office records. The defendants argue that the testimony of Dr. Fineburg was not inadmissible hearsay, that Moody waived his objection by failing to object during Dr. Fineburg's deposition, and that in any event, Moody was not prejudiced by this testimony. Prior to the deposition testimony of Dr. Fineburg being admitted at trial, Moody's counsel entered an objection on the record: BY MR. HUNTER: No, sir. I have no problem with the bottom entry of 6/20/89 being entered. I'm objecting to the hearsay testimony of the witness, Dr. Fineburg, regarding what someone in his office may or may not have told him since that person is not here for cross-examination. I'm willing to show to the Court the printed deposition, exactly what it shows with regard to any stipulations and so forth so the Court can review it. The following was apparently stipulated between the parties prior to the taking of Dr. Fineburg's deposition: That all objections, except as to the form of the questions and the responsiveness of the answers, are reserved until time as this deposition, or any part thereof, may be used or is sought to be used in evidence. However, at the outset of the deposition, as was recorded and played for the jury at trial, the following discussion took place between the lawyers: BY MR. WHITFIELD: I was going to get to that. In the sense I intend to use this as a trial deposition, we need to make sure that all of the objections to the doctor's testimony need to be made on the record so that they can be cured if possible here today. Certainly those objections which are uncurable sitting here today in the doctor's office we will have to take up before the Court. So, I would submit that we follow the civil procedure rules with reference to objecting on the record to any type of form or even procedural or substantive objection that one or the other of us has. BY MR. CUMBEST: With that being the stipulation, with reference to that statement we still reserve our rights to object to protect any future question that might be posed. BY MR. WHITFIELD: All right. The record has been made doctor. It is clear that defense counsel intended to make it incumbent on plaintiff's counsel to make any objections he wished to reserve for purposes of objecting at trial during the deposition. It is also equally clear that Moody's counsel wished to stipulate, and apparently there was a stipulation, that all objections, except as to the form, were reserved until the deposition was to be used at trial. Whether or not Moody's counsel properly preserved his hearsay objections must be answered by looking at the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. Miss.R.Civ.P. 30(c) states the following: (c) Examination and Cross-Examination; Record of Examination; Objections. Examination and cross-examination of witnesses may proceed as permitted at the trial. The testimony of the witness shall be recorded either stenographically or as provided in subsection (b)(4) of this rule. If requested by one of the parties, the testimony shall be transcribed upon the payment of the reasonable charges therefor. All objections made at the time of the examination to the qualifications of the person taking the deposition, or to the manner of taking it, or to the evidence presented, or to the conduct of any party, and any other objection to the proceedings, shall be noted upon the transcription or recording. Evidence objected to shall be taken subject to the objections. In lieu of participating in the oral examination, parties may serve written questions on the party taking the deposition, who shall propound them to the witness and see the answers thereto are recorded verbatim. (Emphasis added). Further, Miss.R.Civ.P. 29 states: Unless the court orders otherwise, the parties may by written stipulation (1) provide that depositions may be taken before any person, at any time or place, upon any notice, and in any manner and when so taken may be used like other depositions, and (2) modify the procedures provided by these rules for other methods of discovery, except that stipulations extending the time provided in Rules 33, 34 and 36 for responses to discovery may be made only with the approval of the court. (Emphasis added). According to these rules, Moody's counsel covered his tracks for purposes of preserving his objection to the alleged hearsay statement. The parties stipulated that the substantive objections would be reserved until trial. As mentioned above, Miss.R.Civ.P. 30(c) provides that [a]ll objections ... to the evidence presented ... shall be noted upon the transcription or recording. It was noted in the record at the outset in the form of a stipulation that objections would be reserved until trial and it was stated just a little further into the deposition that the lawyers would be required to object. Moody is not to be deemed procedurally barred because he clearly raised the objection at trial. The next question is whether or not the trial court allowed impermissible hearsay testimony to be submitted to the jury by way of Dr. Fineburg's video deposition. Miss. R.Evid. 801(c) defines hearsay as follows: `Hearsay' is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted. The statement Moody objected to was Dr. Fineburg's recollection of his office manager's explanation to him about the notation to the side of the medical history, 8-3-89 from M.V.A. Dr. Fineburg testified as to an oral statement from his office manager that Moody came into the office on August 3, 1989, and told her his injuries resulted from a car accident as opposed to a fall. Defendants argue that the statement was not offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted, but was merely put in evidence by Dr. Fineburg as an explanation for the presence of the notation on the document. The defendants' argument is persuasive. Dr. Fineburg certainly did not give this explanation to prove the truth of the matter asserted  i.e., to prove that Moody changed his story regarding the cause of his injuries. In fact, Dr. Fineburg explained that the notation should be completely discounted because it was not part of the original history. The doctor mentioned the notation because it was on the face of the document, it was confusing without explanation, and it needed to be explained away as not part of what he considered the medical history of this patient. There was no objection to the notation itself, and the testimony objected to merely explained the notation's presence on the document. See Eselin-Bullock v. National General, 604 So.2d 236 (Miss. 1992).