Opinion ID: 1374687
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of the Purported Silence of Sierra Pacific Employees was Properly Admitted.

Text: Sierra Pacific claims that numerous times, Appellant's Opening Brief, p. 35, the trial court allowed in as evidence testimony regarding the silence of Sierra Pacific employees. It cites, however, only one example. Counsel for Soria asked Alan Gorejko, a products safety investigator for deHavilland and a member of the Board's investigatory team, if Sierra Pacific employee Dave Folkins, head of Sierra Pacific's maintenance department and also a member of the investigatory team, had at any time registered an objection to findings and conclusions of the metallurgical examinations done in Washington. Counsel for Sierra Pacific objected on grounds of irrelevancy and lack of foundation. The district court overruled the objection. Gorejko responded that Folkins stated he would like his experts to review the evidence. Gorejko also stated that Folkins at no time personally objected to the test's results. Our discussion of relevancy above is applicable here, and convinces us that the evidence was properly admitted. The official meetings with the Board were held with the purpose of learning the cause of the accident. Folkins was a member of the investigatory team. He was a primary representative of the company which was obviously under Board scrutiny. The Board was developing facts in order to issue a report of their conclusions and opinions. Sierra Pacific was potentially subject to federal sanctions. Certainly, Folkins was obligated to speak up if he was in possession of any contrary facts, and indeed, it would make absolutely no sense for him to keep silent. For this reason, the fact that Folkins did not object to the findings of the investigators or bring any other additional evidence to the Board is relevant as to the veracity of these findings. We therefore affirm the district court on this point.