Opinion ID: 2067926
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Un-Redacted ARC Report.

Text: Petitioner next contends that the Circuit Court committed reversible error by allowing Respondents to offer as evidence the Un-Redacted ARC Report. She maintains that it was irrelevant because it detailed the condition of the Subject Property five years after she and Ms. Queen moved out. She asserts that she was prejudiced by this evidence because it described the paint at the Subject Property, for the most part, as intact. Respondents, however, rejoin that Petitioner's experts reasonably relied upon the un-redacted report in forming their opinions, therefore rendering it admissible under Maryland Rule 5-703. Maryland Rule 5-703 provides, in pertinent part: (a) In general. The facts and data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the hearing. If of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field in forming opinions or inferences upon the subject, the facts or data need not be admissible in evidence. (b) Disclosure to the jury. If determined to be trustworthy, necessary to illuminate testimony, and unprivileged, facts and data reasonably relied upon by an expert pursuant to section (a) may, in the discretion of the court be disclosed to the jury even if those facts and data are not admissible in evidence. Upon request, the court shall instruct the jury to use those facts and data only for the purpose of evaluating the validity and probative value of the expert's opinion or inference. Thus, four elements must be satisfied for a document to be admissible under this rule. The document must be (1) trustworthy, (2) unprivileged, (3) reasonably relied upon by an expert in forming her or his opinion, and (4) necessary to illuminate that expert's testimony. In the present case, Petitioner does not argue that the Un-Redacted ARC Report was privileged or untrustworthy. Instead, she asserts that it was neither relied upon by her experts, Dr. Paulson and Mr. Cavaliere, nor necessary to illuminate their testimonies. Petitioner contends that the trial judge abused her discretion in concluding otherwise because, so she claims, Mr. Cavaliere testified (in deposition) only that paint on the Subject Property contained lead and Dr. Paulson testified (in trial) only that Petitioner was poisoned there by ingestion of lead. We disagree. `[T]he admissibility of evidence, including rulings on its relevance, is left to the sound discretion of the trial court, and absent a showing of abuse of that discretion, its rulings will not be disturbed on appeal.' Dehn v. Edgecombe, 384 Md. 606, 628, 865 A.2d 603, 616 (2005) (quoting Farley v. Allstate Ins. Co., 355 Md. 34, 42, 733 A.2d 1014, 1018 (1999)). An abuse of discretion lies where no reasonable person would share the view taken by the trial judge. In re Adoption/Guardianship No. 3598, 347 Md. 295, 312, 701 A.2d 110, 118 (1997). Recently, this Court observed: [A] ruling reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard will not be reversed simply because the appellate court would not have made the same ruling. The decision under consideration has to be well removed from any center mark imagined by the reviewing court and beyond the fringe of what that court deems minimally acceptable. King v. State, 407 Md. 682, 697, 967 A.2d 790, 799 (2009) (quoting North v. North, 102 Md.App. 1, 13-14, 648 A.2d 1025, 1031-32 (1994)). In the instant case, we cannot conclude that the trial judge's ruling was so far removed from the center mark that no reasonable person could have taken the same view. First, the trial judge did not abuse her discretion in determining that Petitioner's experts relied on the Un-Redacted ARC Report. As Petitioner's counsel laid the foundation for Dr. Paulson's opinion, it was patent that Dr. Paulson relied on the Un-Redacted ARC Report. Indeed, when Petitioner's counsel presented Dr. Paulson with the Redacted Version, he asked, Can you tell me [if] that's a fair and accurate yet redacted copy of the report that you relied upon to determine that there was lead paint at [the Subject Property]? (italics added). Dr. Paulson testified that it was. Additionally, Mr. Cavaliere testified in his de bene esse deposition that he formed his opinion that the Subject Property contained lead-based paint by reviewing the Un-Redacted ARC Report, which his technicians prepared. Second, the trial judge did not abuse her discretion in concluding that the Un-Redacted ARC Report was necessary to illuminate the testimonies of Petitioner's experts. In testifying to his expert opinion that Petitioner was poisoned by lead at the Subject Property, Dr. Paulson referred to the report generated by ARC, which, as we observed, apparently was the Un-Redacted ARC Report. He stated, we have documentation from an inspection done of the home at that address that there was lead paint on the surface, on multiple surfaces at that address. Lead-based paint was found at over 20 sites at that address when the home was inspected in May of 1999. (italics added). The Un-Redacted ARC Report clarified that the detection of lead-based paint at a particular location does not mean necessarily that the paint is peeling or chipping. It also undermined the connection asserted by Dr. Paulson between lead paint on ... multiple surfaces of the Subject Property and Petitioner's poisoning by clarifying that, in the report cited by Dr. Paulson, the paint on the surfaces was actually intact. Petitioner counters that Dr. Paulson's reference to lead-based paint on the surfaces of the Subject Property is taken out of context, suggesting that what he really meant was only that there was lead-based paint in places or areas of the Subject Property. He did not mean, so Petitioner claims, that lead was in the top layer of paint. This may be so; however, as he was her expert witness, it was her responsibility to make certain that he explained himself in a manner that would not confuse the trier of fact (let alone appellate courts). If Dr. Paulson meant simply that lead-based paint was somewhere at the Subject Property and he did not rely on the Un-Redacted ARC Report in reaching that opinion, Petitioner had the opportunity to develop fully his testimony to be clear that that was the case. We, on appellate review, shall not reverse the discretionary ruling of the trial judge by assuming that Dr. Paulson meant what Petitioner now claims. Petitioner next complains that, even if the trial judge did not abuse her discretion in admitting the Un-Redacted ARC Report under Rule 5-703, the report was not relevant to the condition of the paint at the Subject Property while Petitioner resided there from 1990 to 1994. She points out that Respondents, as reflected in their counsel's closing argument, relied on the un-redacted report to bolster their winning argument that there was no peeling, chipping, or flaking paint at the Subject Property during that time-frame. According to Petitioner, Respondents did not lay a proper foundation for the proposition that the condition of the paint in May 1999 (as represented by the Un-Redacted ARC Report) accurately reflected the condition of the paint from 1990 to 1994. Respondents counter that Petitioner waived this contention because she did not request a limiting instruction under Maryland Rule 5-703 and did not object to the manner in which they relied on the Un-Redacted ARC Report in their closing argument. We agree with Respondents. Neither the parties' briefs, the joint stipulation, nor the record provided suggests to us that the Un-Redacted ARC Report was admitted for any purpose other than to illuminate the testimony of Petitioner's experts. Thus, Petitioner's assertionthat the un-redacted report was not relevant to the question of the paint's condition while she resided at the Subject Property takes aim only at the manner in which Respondents relied on the evidence. Petitioner concedes that she never requested a limiting instruction under Rule 5-703(b) (Upon request, the court shall instruct the jury to use those facts and data only for the purpose of evaluating the validity and probative value of the expert's opinion or inference.); however, she seeks to excuse her failure by claiming that Respondents did not raise Rule 5-703 as a basis for admitting the Un-Redacted ARC Report. Her excuse is not convincing. Even if Respondents never cited expressly the rule, the joint stipulation provided by the parties reveals that Respondents argued before the trial court that the un-redacted report was admissible because Petitioner's experts relied on it. Additionally, as with any evidence that potentially could be misused, Petitioner could have requested a limiting instruction under Rule 5-105 [27] as well. Moreover, Petitioner did not object when, during closing argument, Respondents' counsel cited the Un-Redacted ARC Report as evidence that the paint at the Subject Property was intact while Petitioner resided there. See Farley v. Allstate Ins. Co., 355 Md. 34, 733 A.2d 1014 (1999) (Even if Allstate's comments during closing arguments were prejudicial and resulted in an inadequate verdict, it was incumbent upon Farley's counsel to immediately object so that the trial judge could properly rule on the matter.). Accordingly, we resolve that Petitioner's argumentthat the Un-Redacted ARC Report did not constitute relevant evidence of the paint's condition between 1990 and 1994has been waived. In addition to waiving her relevancy objection, Petitioner also fails to establish that she was prejudiced by the Respondents' use of the Un-Redacted ARC Report, even if the report was admitted erroneously as evidence relevant to whether peeling, chipping, or flaking paint existed at the Subject Property between 1990 and 1994, as Judge Murphy's dissent persuasively reasons. We are not persuaded that a different result would have obtained if the trial court excluded the Un-Redacted ARC Report. See Flores, 398 Md. at 34, 919 A.2d at 720. Ms. Queen's testimony was the only evidence adduced by Petitioner to support the claim that the paint at the Subject Property was chipping, peeling, or flaking during Petitioner's residence. Respondents, on the other hand, adduced evidence that the paint was intact when Petitioner initially moved into the Subject Property and that no loose paint/plaster was observed in 1992 by the Baltimore City Health Department. The report prepared by the Health Department also revealed that Ms. Queen informed the inspector that Petitioner was poisoned at another property. Additionally, Respondents adduced testimony by one of the manager's of the Subject Property that Petitioner's grandparents (the tenants identified on the lease) inspected the Subject Property before Petitioner moved in and did not find any defects, as well as evidence that the Subject Property was painted and wallpapered shortly before Petitioner began residing there and that the property manager did not receive any complaints about the paint. [28] Keeping in mind that, [i]n any tort action, ... the burden is on the plaintiff to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it is more probable than not that the defendant's act caused his injury, Petitioner's argumentthat the Un-Redacted ARC Report likely changed the outcome of this casefalls short. See Med. Mut. Lib. Soc'y v. B. Dixon Evander & Assocs., 339 Md. 41, 54, 660 A.2d 433, 439 (1995).