Opinion ID: 1750964
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the excluded portion of the deposition.

Text: This brings us to the second question in the lawsuit, and that is whether there was error in excluding those portions of the Burditt deposition which the trial court did not permit the plaintiff to read to the jury. As has been noted, this exclusionary ruling was made in chambers with no stenographic record. This is most unfortunate and it is not a desirable trial practice. The specific ground of objection to evidence tendered is often a controlling factor on appeal. The court rule contemplates that depositions will be read question by question, so that objections to specific questions can be made and ruled upon. [9] And where the arguments of counsel and reasons of the court do not appear on the record, the appellate court can only speculate on the basis for the ruling and the correctness thereof. In this case, however, we are assisted in part by the opinion of the trial court as rendered on the record at the time the motion for a new trial was made. The pertinent portion of that opinion is as follows: Now those portions of the deposition which were excluded were those having to do with an alleged prior statement made by the defendant Burditt wherein he at least indicated in one portion, as I recall, that a man was driving the car; that was his first impression, or something of the sort. That portion was excluded because of the failure of the person who took the deposition to lay a proper foundation. In other words, no question was asked, `Who do you say, Mr. Burditt, was driving the car when you first saw it?' No answer was elicited to such a question, so there is nothing in the deposition to show that any statement being made by the witness at the time of the taking of the deposition was inconsistent with the statement which is alleged he had given sometime prior thereto. The court excluded that portion of the deposition having to do with this claimed prior inconsistent statement because of the lack of foundation. As attempted in the deposition, it amounted to no more than offering the prior statement as an exhibit and not for the purpose of impeaching a statement being made in the deposition because no such questions were asked of him. This ruling does not jibe with the record in the case. Immediately prior to the excluded portion of the deposition the following questions and answers appear: Q. Could you tell me the sex of the passengers in the car?
Q. The sex of the passengers in the car? A. It looked to me like a man and a woman. Q. And which side was the woman sitting on? A. I have a picture in my mind that when that car first started to come around, like that, that this woman was behind the wheel, that is just the impression I got, and I still have that picture in my mind. It seems when we hit, she was over to my side of the car, what I mean, not my side, I mean the side that I hit on the car. Q. Then you saw the woman in the car just before you hit? A. I don't know what I saw then, I can't tell you. (Emphasis supplied.) Surely the substance of Burditt's testimony at that point was that a woman was behind the wheel, and it certainly represented a proper foundation to permit the plaintiff to present prior inconsistent statements for impeachment purposes. If the right of the plaintiff to impeach Burditt on this point were the controlling issue in the lawsuit, our appellate result would be clear at this juncture. But the mere impeachment of Burditt is not the ultimate question to be decided. Plaintiff has not appealed the judgment entered in Burditt's favor against him. Plaintiff has appealed only the judgment rendered in Roby's favor against him. The erroneous ruling excluding Burditt's prior inconsistent statements is not reversible in this appeal from the verdict and judgment in favor of Roby unless the excluded portions of the deposition constituted substantive evidence which the jury should have been permitted to consider in determining whether Roby was or was not the driver of the car in which Mrs. Kingsley was injured. A complete discussion of the substantive value, if any, of the excluded portions of Burditt's deposition will be had in a later section of this opinion in connection with the substantive effect, if any, of the testimony of William Burditt on separate record.