Opinion ID: 1830645
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the trial court erred in failing to admit into evidence the proffered testimony of reuter?

Text: ¶ 21. Kmart next contends that the trial court abused its discretion and committed reversible error in finding the proffered testimony of Reuter irrelevant and in excluding it from the jury. Our standard of review for the admission of or refusal to admit evidence is well settled. `[A]dmission or suppression of evidence is within the discretion of the trial judge and will not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion.' Broadhead v. Bonita Lakes Mall, Ltd. Partnership, 702 So.2d 92, 102 (Miss.1997) ( quoting Sumrall v. Mississippi Power Co., 693 So.2d 359, 365 (Miss.1997)); General Motors Corp. v. Jackson, 636 So.2d 310, 314 (Miss.1992); Walker v. Graham, 582 So.2d 431, 432 (Miss.1991). Furthermore, for a case to be reversed on the admission or exclusion of evidence, it must result in prejudice and harm or adversely affect a substantial right of a party. Hansen v. State, 592 So.2d 114 (Miss.1991). ¶ 22. In the present case, testimony was elicited from Hardy on cross-examination that he had no independent recollection of how many levels of paint cans were stacked in the end display at the time of his fall. Hardy then testified on redirect examination that photographs taken by his private investigator approximately one week after the accident accurately reflected his recollection of the end cap at issue. To rebut Hardy's testimony that the end-cap depicted in the photographs was the actual end-cap as it existed on the day in question, Reuter testified that weekly directives were received from the corporate office instructing the local stores to change the corporate end-cap displays every Friday and/or Saturday night in preparation for the sale advertisements which would be published in the Sunday newspaper. Thus, corporate end-cap displays, as opposed to in-store end-cap displays, would have been changed weekly in accordance with corporate policy. Reuter was then asked on direct examination, If the accident occurred on Wednesday (June 23, 1990) when would the end-cap have been changed after the accident. Hardy's attorney objected on the basis of speculation. BY MR. WETZEL: I'm going to object, Your Honor. The witness has testified earlier he didn't build the end-cap and that he doesn't know who built the end-cap, and wasn't responsible for building the end-cap. That's his testimony earlier. I object on the basis that there's been no predicate laid as to whether or not he can say whether it was built to corporate accepted standards.... BY MR. WETZEL: I'm going to object to his testimony, Judge. If he doesn't know the difference then what purposewhat relevancy does it have as to whether he says, I don't know if it's a corporate or in-store directive. The purpose of this question, I don't know what the relevancy is. It has no probative value to how this particular display was erected. . . . . BY MR. WETZEL: I'm going to object, Your Honor, because the man has already testified that he does not know when this end-cap was built, he doesn't know when it was taken down, he doesn't know who built the thing. This man is speculating. ¶ 23. Counsel for Kmart responded that the testimony was being offered to rebut Hardy's claim that the photographs introduced accurately depicted the paint can end-cap at the time of his fall. The trial court sustained Hardy's objection and found the testimony to be irrelevant. Counsel for Kmart made a proffer in which Reuter testified that the paint can end-cap at issue would have been changed on the Friday or Saturday night after the accident on Wednesday, which affects the probability that the photographs taken a week after the accident did not accurately depict the paint can end-cap as it existed on the day of the incident, Wednesday, June 23, 1990. Thus, in other words, Reuter was giving his opinion that the end-cap display in the present case was a corporate end-cap. ¶ 24. Reuter's proffered testimony was something of which he had no personal knowledge. No expert at trial testified to this conclusion nor was Reuter proffered as an expert concerning corporate end-cap displays. Thus, his testimony is in the form of a lay opinion, and thus subject to Mississippi Rule of Evidence 701 which states: If the witness is not testifying as an expert, his testimony in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which are (a) rationally based on the perception of the witness and (b) helpful to the clear understanding of his testimony or the determination of a fact in issue. ¶ 25. Moreover, the comment to Rule 701 explains the two-part test for the admissibility of lay witness opinion testimony. First, the testimony must assist the trier of fact. Second, the opinion must be based on the witness's firsthand knowledge or observation. M.R.E. 701. cmt.; see also Wells v. State, 604 So.2d 271, 278-79 (Miss.1992) (applying this same two-part test). The second prong of the test is in accordance with M.R.E. 602 requiring that a witness who testifies about a certain matter have personal knowledge of that matter. ¶ 26. Reuter's testimony is clearly not admissible pursuant to Mississippi's evidentiary Rules 602 and 701. A layperson, such as Reuter, is qualified to give an opinion because he has firsthand knowledge which other laypeople, i.e., the jury, do not have. Wells, 604 So.2d at 279. Here, Reuter testified unequivocally that he did not know whether the end-cap was a corporate end-cap or not. In fact, Reuter admitted that he did not even know how long that end-cap had been there. Reuter testified as follows: Q. It is not a fair statement, Mr. Reuter, that you do not know which person within the employment of K-Mart set up this display which is shown in Exhibits 2 and 3? A. That would be a fair statement. Q. All right. And you do not know how long prior to May 23rd, 1990, that this particular display was configured or set up in this particular configuration, do you? A. Prior to May 23rd? Q. That is correct, sir? A. No. I do not know. Q. All right. So you have nothing by which to determine how long this configuration as shown in Exhibits 2 and 3 were set up; whether it was a week, a month, three months prior to that date, do you? A. No. Accordingly, Reuter is not a witness with firsthand knowledge of whether the end-cap in question was a corporate end-cap or an in-store end-cap. His proffer that the end-cap on the day in question was a corporate directed end-caps and would have been changed on Friday or Saturday and thus, the two photographs could not accurately depict the end-cap as it existed at the time of the accident, is merely speculative and apparently based on his personal opinion. This testimony was not admissible because it is speculative and Reuter had no personal knowledge of the facts to which he testified to in the proffer. Jones v. State, 678 So.2d 707, 710 (Miss.1996). Consequently, the trial judge did not err as a matter of law in excluding Reuter's proffered testimony from the jury. This assignment of error is without merit.