Opinion ID: 1058693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exclusion of Mr. Qualls's Alcohol-Related Conduct

Text: I also believe the trial court erred by excluding all evidence of Mr. Qualls's alcohol-related conduct, including conviction for driving under the influence, aggravated assault and associated jail time. In particular, the trial judge refused to admit as irrelevant proffered testimony that Mr. Qualls drove a motor vehicle on April 13, 1996 [two years before he was injured] while intoxicated and accompanied by his children; that his blood alcohol exceeded .10 percent; that he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail; that in 1997 he was charged with assaulting his wife while intoxicated and resisting arrest to which he pleaded guilty. I believe the excluded evidence of alcohol-related conduct was highly relevant to the issue of causation of Mr. Qualls's brain injury. Vanderbilt's theory was that Mr. Qualls's brain injury had not been caused by negligence but had been caused by a malignant cardiac arrhythmia, a symptom of delirium tremens Mr. Qualls had experienced as a result of his withdrawal from alcohol. The plaintiff elicited testimony from its experts that Mr. Qualls had not been an alcoholic and had not been suffering delirium tremens. Vanderbilt sought to cross-examine these witnesses, Dr. Rodney Folz and Dr. Barry Shaw, by questioning them about their knowledge of Mr. Qualls's prior alcohol-related conduct. Referring to this evidence prior to trial, the trial judge stated: if [plaintiff's counsel] attempts to say that alcohol was not in the blood system of Mr. Qualls or that he did not have an alcohol problem or thatvarious things that he might bring up, that you would be allowed to ask againrevisit that issue in rebuttal form. Despite the plaintiff's evidence aimed at convincing the jury that Mr. Qualls had not been an alcoholic and had not been suffering from delirium tremens, the trial judge refused to allow Vanderbilt to offer countervailing evidence of Mr. Qualls's prior alcohol-related conduct. In doing so, the trial judge erred, and this error was not harmless when considered in conjunction with the other errors that occurred in this trial.