Opinion ID: 2000504
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Denial of admission of petition into evidence.

Text: During the trial of her negligence claim against Todd, Beyer argued that Todd was entirely at fault. Todd made an offer of proof of Beyer's amended petition in which Beyer alleged that Comer, Gardner, and Todd were all negligent in operating their vehicles and that such negligence was a proximate cause of Beyer's injuries and damages. The district court sustained Beyer's relevancy objections to Todd's offer of proof and the petition was not admitted into evidence. Todd contends on appeal that this was error. We find no abuse of discretion by the district court in refusing to allow defendant to introduce Beyer's amended petition as a factual admission by Beyer that Gardner and Comer were negligent. The rule is well-settled in Iowa that admissions in the pleadings, if not amended or withdrawn, stand as conclusive proof of the admitted facts. Smith v. Bitter, 319 N.W.2d 196, 199 (Iowa 1982); see also Long v. McAllister, 319 N.W.2d 256, 258 (Iowa 1982) (When a fact alleged in a pleading is admitted, the fact is no longer an issue.); 29A Am.Jur.2d Evidence §§ 774-75, at 141-43 (1994). Our court of appeals has explained the rule this way: A party cannot take a position contradictory to or inconsistent with [the] pleadings, and the facts that are admitted by the pleadings are to be taken as true against the pleader, whether or not they are offered as evidence. Admissions in the pleadings may render proof of the admitted facts unnecessary or render proof contradicting them inadmissible. Miller v. AMF Harley-Davidson Motor Co., 328 N.W.2d 348, 352 (Iowa App.1982). We believe that the above explanation of the rule shows that only admissions of factual matters made in pleadings, and not merely allegations or statements of legal theories, are admissible as evidence. See Kirk v. Union Pacific R.R., 514 N.W.2d 734, 740 (Iowa App.1994) (district court properly excluded original petition from evidence at trial; excerpt from original petition offered by defendant was only an allegation of claimed negligence of defendant, and did not constitute an admission of a particular point of fact); Blinder, Robinson, & Co. v. Bruton, 552 A.2d 466, 474 (Del.1989) (judicial admissions which are binding on the tendering party are limited to factual matters in issue and not to statements of legal theories); Lazane v. Bean, 782 S.W.2d 804, 805 (Mo.Ct.App.1990) (legal conclusions are not admissible as admissions against the pleader's interest); 29A Am.Jur.2d Evidence § 770, at 137 (to constitute a judicial admission, the statement must be one of fact, not opinion). As noted above, Todd sought to introduce Beyer's amended petition to show that she initially alleged that Comer, Gardner and Todd were all negligent. The offered statements only amount to an allegation of negligence, or legal theory, not an admission by Beyer of a factual matter concerning those persons. Accordingly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to allow Todd to introduce Beyer's amended petition as evidence. We find no error on this issue and affirm.