Opinion ID: 1750025
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admission of Evidence of Results in Other Cases

Text: In his fourth point on appeal, Dodson argues that the trial court erred in allowing the admission of evidence regarding results in other cases involving different parties where Dodson was the treating physician. The issue in the other cases was whether Dodson's medical treatment (the physical therapy) and his charges were reasonable and necessary. Dodson argues that although the trial court originally ordered that these results would not be admitted, the trial court then overruled Dodson's objection to cross-examination regarding those very results. He argues that it is basic law that a judgment entered in a case between different parties is inadmissible and is not binding on strangers to that case. Allstate responds that the very nature of this case requires evidence of the outcomes in other cases in which Dodson treated one of the parties. Allstate argues that admission of such evidence is discretionary with the trial court, and that Dodson opened the door to such evidence by calling witnesses who testified about Allstate's handling of their claims in cases where Dodson was the treating physician. In looking at the citations to the abstract noted by Dodson, although he argues in his brief that the trial court specifically excluded the evidence of the results in other cases, such is not the case. For example, Dodson cites the reader to page 193 of the abstract, where the trial court stated: THE COURT: All right. Let's do it this way. You can get in evidence that they have tried these and that they've got various results and they use that for the purpose of evaluating claims. By the same token, you can't go in and say, now, look, Allstate, you tried ten of these and you lost nine of them, didn't you? MR. HARGIS: Wasn't planning to. THE COURT: Okay. Now, that'll level that out. MR. DONOVAN: Sounds good. THE COURT: That way, both of you get to talk about it but you don't get into specifics which would not be correct. The most obvious point in this discussion is that the trial court ruled that evidence of outcomes in prior trials could come in, and Dodson's attorney did not object to this ruling. In fact, he acquiesced, as did Allstate's attorney. However, now Dodson asks this court to find that there was error where his own witnesses testified that their settlement success rate decreased on cases where Dodson was the treating physician because of Allstate's allegedly injurious acts, but without showing that juries ruled in favor of Allstate at trial in those cases. The admission of evidence is at the discretion of the trial court, and this court will not reverse absent an abuse of that discretion or absent a showing of prejudice. O'Fallon, supra ; Jackson, supra . Here, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this evidence. Furthermore, we hold that Dodson made no showing that he was prejudiced by evidence that he, himself, brought forth and to which he did not object upon the ruling by the trial court.