Opinion ID: 1223875
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Videotapes of straddle carrier's operation

Text: Clark also sought to introduce two videotapes of a Series 510 straddle carrier  the first (Clark's tape) produced by Clark and the second (the plaintiff's tape) by the plaintiffs' design expert  into evidence as exhibits. Clark's tape depicted the straddle carrier moving, turning, and stopping. Clark did not claim that the tape constituted an attempted to reconstruct Tabieros's accident or to demonstrate the straddle carrier's operation under conditions similar or identical to those extant at the time of the accident. Rather, Clark sought to introduce the videotapes to allow the jury to see[ ] the machine go back and forth, start and stop, move around. Just to show the jury what the machine is like so they have an appreciation for what this machine is. Because this machine is so unique. It's not something that any juror has seen before. Perhaps some of them have, but it's not likely because it's kept locked away in this special area that Matson has where nobody else is allowed except workers. They will not have an understanding of what the machine does and what it looks like, especially when we get into the area of design. There's probably going to be a lot of talk here about design and how it could have been designed in a different way and about different carriers, how other carriers are designed. There's going to be testimony and pictures about what other carriers look like, how other carriers operate. In order for the jury to understand what this carrier is and what it did and what it looks like, what it sounds like when it's operating, they're going to have to see a videotape of it because the carrier just doesn't exist anymore. [26] Without ever viewing the proffered exhibit, the circuit court granted the plaintiffs' motion in limine to exclude Clark's tape, ruling: I'll grant the motion. And the reason I'm granting it is that it's not a recreation, it's irrelevant. And, second, even if relevant, it would allow the jury to speculate as to what transpired on the date of the alleged incident. And, therefore, I'll preclude the evidence under 403 of the Hawai`i Rules of Evidence. Clark later renewed its offer of the tape as an exhibit, emphasizing that it would enable the jury to get a sense of what the straddle carrier sounded like while in normal operation. Clark's efforts, however, were to no avail; the circuit court confirmed its earlier ruling excluding Clark's tape. Clark was equally unsuccessful in moving the plaintiff's tape into evidence; the circuit court disallowed it  sight unseen and without explanation. Later, the court confirmed its ruling, clarifying that it was relying on HRE 403, despite Clark's offer that the plaintiffs' tape was necessary to impeach the testimony of the plaintiffs' expert regarding the functioning of the straddle carrier's warning horn and the accuracy of the data that he had collected. Clark's counsel suggested that, were the circuit court to take a look at the plaintiffs' tape, the court could then decide whether or not it's, in fact, prejudicial, but the court demurred, noting that Clark could have my law clerk look at it and renew your motion for admission at another time. Very much at issue at the trial under review in this appeal was Tabieros's alleged contributory negligence in failing to avoid the large, noisy, and obtrusive straddle carrier. Accordingly, evidence that would tend to show that Tabieros could and should have avoided the straddle carrier and/or that certain salient features of the machine, such as its sound and size, would give adequate warning of its presence, was obviously relevant. See HRE 401, supra at note 23. The fact that the videotapes were not produced or offered as reconstructions of Tabieros's accident renders them no less potentially relevant to the issue of contributory negligence. In this connection, we have previously recognized that [f]ilms or videotapes of experiments by an... engineer[ ] or other witness qualified as an expert on the cause of accidents, offered merely to illustrate the principles used in forming an opinion, do not require strict adherence to the facts and are admissible in evidence, provided such films or tapes are not misleading in and of themselves and provided it is made clear that they are offered only as illustrations of the principles involved. Loevsky, 70 Haw. at 428, 773 P.2d at 1126 (quoting 3 C. Scott, Photographic Evidence § 1317 (2d ed. Supp.1987)) (emphasis in original). [27] Cf. Yap v. Controlled Parasailing of Honolulu, Inc., 76 Hawai`i 248, 255, 873 P.2d 1321, 1328 (1994) (quoting Loevsky, 70 Haw. at 426-27, 773 P.2d at 1125, for propositions that when a test or experiment is an attempt to reenact the original happening, the essential elements of the experiment must be substantially similar to those existing at the time of the accident. And although the decision whether to admit evidence of experiments rests largely in the sound discretion of the trial judge, it is well settled that reconstruction experiments are incompetent unless the essential elements of the experiment are shown to be substantially similar to those existing at the time of the accident (citations, brackets, and internal quotation marks omitted)). Thus, to the extent that the circuit court relied on HRE 401 and 402, see supra notes 23 and 24, in disallowing the receipt of the two videotapes into evidence on relevancy grounds, we hold that it erred. As we have noted, the circuit court also relied on HRE 403, see supra note 22, in excluding the videotapes of the straddle carrier. It is unclear to us in what way the probative value of the tapes  admitted subject to the appropriate cautionary instruction, see supra note 27  might have been substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, or waste of time. Certainly, the tapes were not cumulative of any other evidence in the record. In any event, because the circuit court excluded both Clark's and the plaintiffs' tapes without first (or, to our knowledge, ever) viewing their contents, we hold that the circuit court committed an abuse of discretion. See Lau, 82 Hawai`i at 437, 922 P.2d at 1050; Loevsky, 70 Haw. at 423-24 n. 6, 773 P.2d at 1123 n. 6.