Opinion ID: 2446397
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Damages evidence

Text: Ransopher contends the court erred in sustaining an objection to his attempt to testify about a general loss of business which befell him after the alleged slander occurred. In a proceeding in the judge's chambers, Ransopher proffered testimony that he had fewer contracts and that his confidence in his ability to sell his services had diminished. Chapman contends we should ignore this point because Ransopher did not abstract his objection. Ransopher's abstract does contain Chapman's relevancy objection and statement to the trial court that Ransopher should not be allowed to testify to a loss of business which cannot be tied to Chapman's allegedly slanderous statement. In addition, the abstract displays the argument which took place before the trial court on the point. We regard that as sufficient. We have examined the record and learned that after the in-chambers proceedings Ransopher testified without further objection that he had had four building contracts in 1988 but only one in 1989. It seems to us that the point became largely moot. The only item, of those in controversy, that Ransopher failed to get before the jury was his testimony that he had lost his self confidence as a result of the alleged slander. We decline to rule on the point. The trial court may see the evidence entirely differently upon retrial in view of our ruling on the slander per se issue. The relevancy of evidence is a decision left to the trial court's discretion. See A.R.E. 401; Simpson v. Hurt, 294 Ark. 41, 740 S.W.2d 618 (1987). The evidence may be presented differently, and the court may choose to exercise his discretion differently with respect to the evidence which the sustained objection would have excluded.