Opinion ID: 1281541
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Analysis of the Evidentiary Ruling

Text: In 1981, 18 months after Nally's suicide, Pastor Thomson taught a series of classes of biblical counseling. The class sessions included question and answer periods that were tape-recorded. During one session, a student questioned Thompson on whether a person who committed suicide could be saved. Thompson replied, in a manner consistent with Reformation Protestant theology views regarding sin, grace and faith, that a person neither acquires salvation by his own works nor forfeits salvation by the commission of subsequent sins. Plaintiffs sought to introduce the tape recording at trial on the basis that it provided inferential proof of Thomson's advice to Nally during the three counseling sessions in 1979. The court held extensive hearings outside the presence of the jury on the admissibility of the recording to determine whether its content was relevant. During the in camera sessions, the court pointed out that even if the recording were admitted, there was no evidence Thomson spoke similar words to Nally during their counseling sessions or that such words could have contributed in any way to, or proximately caused, Nally's death. The court also observed that the best way to establish what Thomson told Nally was through direct examination. Eventually, the court ruled it would not admit the recording, on the basis that its relevancy is such that it would necessitate the undue consumption of time, would create substantial danger of undue influence to the jury and could confuse the issues and be misleading to the jury. (See Evid. Code, § 352.) In determining whether the trial court properly exercised discretion in excluding the tape, we consider the relationship between the evidence and the relevant inferences to be drawn from it. (See Kessler v. Gray (1978) 77 Cal. App.3d 284, 291 [143 Cal. Rptr. 496].) The Court of Appeal stated that the tape recording was relevant to prove Pastor Thomson's own personal state of mind on the question of suicide and suicide counseling and how other counselors were trained on these issues. The court asserted that the statements on the tape [were] relevant to prove the probable content of the counseling the defendants offered [to] the plaintiffs' suicidal son. The tape recordings tend to establish the customary approach the Church's counselors used when counseling suicidal individuals. These conclusions appear to misstate the relevant evidence. First, as the trial court found, the tape does not tend to prove that defendants in any way encouraged Nally to commit suicide or acted recklessly in disregard of Nally's emotional state prior to his suicide. (See People v. Jones (1954) 42 Cal.2d 219, 222 [266 P.2d 38].) Although there is some indication in the record that Nally may have attended some of defendants' Bible classes between 1974 and 1979, there is no evidence that Thomson was ever asked about salvation and suicide during a lecture prior to 1980 or that he would have given a similar response at that time if he had been so asked. Moreover, as Thomson himself testified, his responses to questions in the classroom setting would by their very nature differ from the way he handled an individual counseling session because he would have considered the emotional state of the individual and his particular counseling needs during the counseling session. In addition, the evidence was simply too temporally remote to establish any causal connection with Nally's suicide. As Justice Cole's dissent in the Court of Appeal observes, what was said in an extemporaneous answer, which did not precisely reflect the thoughts of Pastor Thomson, given almost two years after the incident at issue is at best marginally relevant to prove what was said at the time in question. The trial judge made a carefully considered decision after considerable deliberation. Clearly, there was a basis for the trial court's ruling that admission of the tape created substantial danger of misleading the jury and prejudicing the defendants. Based on the foregoing, we disagree with the Court of Appeal's conclusion that the response given by Pastor Thomson to an inquiry by a seminary student almost two years after Nally's suicide could assist in establishing what Pastor Thomson told Nally during the individual counseling sessions. Finally, California trial judges have considerable discretion under Evidence Code section 352 to exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. ( Michail v. Fluor Mining & Metals, Inc. (1986) 180 Cal. App.3d 284, 286 [225 Cal. Rptr. 403].) Because the record shows that the trial court carefully and properly weighed the prejudicial effect of the evidence against its probative value, the Court of Appeal erred in finding that a substantial abuse of discretion occurred in excluding the evidence.
We conclude the trial court correctly granted a nonsuit on all causes of action. The suicide of a young man in the prime of his life is a profound tragedy. After considering plaintiffs' arguments and evidence, however, we hold that defendants had no duty to Nally on which to base liability for his unfortunate death. The judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed and the Court of Appeal is directed to enter judgment affirming the judgment of nonsuit and dismissing the action.