Opinion ID: 1960187
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether the trial court erred in excluding from evidence a certain photograph.

Text: ¶ 22. Goodman's entire case centered on the fact that he slipped on extraslippery mud, a condition which was concealed and caused by APAC. APAC's defense was that Goodman's own negligence caused or contributed to his injuries, and, in furtherance of this defense, APAC offered a photograph (Exhibit 6) of the job site on the morning of the accident. Phillip Foreman, the job site general superintendent, testified that he took the photograph within minutes after Goodman's fall. The photograph showed the consistency of the mud that existed on the project that particular morning, the position of Goodman's truck on the job site, the areas where asphalt had previously been laid, the projected path that Goodman had traveled, as well as the accumulation of mud puddles due to rainfall the night before. The trial court excluded the photograph, ruling that it failed to show the exact spot where Goodman fell, and as such was irrelevant. [3] ¶ 23. APAC argues that the photograph had probative value because it would have assisted the jury in seeing the construction site as it existed the morning of the accident. APAC relies on M.R.E. 401 which defines relevant evidence as evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Goodman responds that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the photograph as it did not provide any assistance to the jury. ¶ 24. The comment to M.R.E. 401 explicitly states that if any evidence has probative value at all, the rule favors its admission. As the proffered photograph depicted the scene at the time of Goodman's accident, the trial court would have been justified in allowing it into evidence. See Nelson v. Phoenix of Hartford Ins. Companies, 318 So.2d 839, 843 (Miss.1975). As such, the trial court committed error in excluding the photograph and APAC should have been allowed to demonstrate to the jury the open and obvious general conditions of the work site, but not to show where Goodman fell.