Opinion ID: 1935799
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: whether the lower court erred in excluding the testimony of the witness, wayne ward, concerning the conversation between him, the store manager, chuck wurth, and the plaintiff immediately after mrs. drennan fell?

Text: At trial, Drennan sought to introduce the testimony of Ward, a customer in the store at that time, concerning conversations between Drennan, Wurth and Ward in the store immediately after Drennan fell. Ward's proffered testimony indicated that Wurth offered to pay all of Drennan's medical bills. In addition, Ward would have testified that he stated to Drennan, here is my name in case you have to sue these people. The trial judge sustained Kroger's objection to the testimony concerning Wurth's offer to pay Drennan's medical bills. The trial judge said that Kroger could explore Ward's statements about a possible lawsuit against Kroger, but not without opening the door as to the context of these statements which involved Wurth's offer to pay the medical bills. In order to avoid opening the door as to the offer to pay medical bills, Kroger did not question Ward as to his statements regarding a possible lawsuit against Kroger. Based on the record before this Court, Drennan objected at trial only to the statements involving Wurth's offer to pay the medical bills. Drennan simply did not desire to have Ward's statements about the possibility of a lawsuit entered into evidence. Therefore, the sole issue must be whether the trial court improperly excluded Wurth's offer to pay Drennan's medical bills. M.R.E. 409 provides as follows: Evidence of furnishing or offering or promising to pay medical, hospital, or similar expenses occasioned by an injury is not admissible to prove liability for the injury. The statements made by Wurth are clearly not admissible for the purpose of proving liability. See Thompson, 528 So.2d at 295 (concluding that trial court properly sustained objection to evidence concerning store's provision of medical bills). Although Drennan contends that the statements were admissible for the purposes of attacking Wurth's credibility, there is no requirement that we address that argument since there was no foundation in the record with which to find this testimony inconsistent. Accordingly, this assignment of error is without merit.