Opinion ID: 2430058
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rulings As To Evidence. Three separate rulings are questioned.

Text: (a) The plaintiff called the witness, George Disinger, who had been operating the Jonesboro Airport since 1943 and had worked in airplane mechanics since 1937. Disinger was a pilot with over 3,000 hours to his credit, and had a commercial license with instructor's rating from the Federal Government. He was familiar with the planes involved in the collision, and testified as to these planes. It was shown that the Beechcraft plant had a tricycle retractable mechanism for landing. The witness had examined the Beechcraft plane immediately after the collision, and some time later had taken a moving picture of the plane and the landing gear. Disinger was asked: When the nose wheel is down in locked position, such as indicated here on the model, defendant's Exhibit 1, is it possible to break that bell crank you have referred to with a lick against the front wheel or nose wheel? The witness was allowed to answer the question over objection. Then Disinger was asked: What is your opinion whether or not the nose wheel was or was not being retracted at the time it broke the bell crank? That question was also allowed to be answered over the objection of the appellant. Appellant says the Court erred in allowing Disinger to give an opinion as an expert witness on these matters. We see no error committed by the Trial Court in allowing the witness to answer the questions. The appellant concedes the witness' qualifications to testify as a mechanic; but insists that he is not qualified to testify as to stresses, strains, and strength of materials. We have previously stated some of Disinger's experience and qualifications; and we think it was proper to allow him to answer the questions. The question of the competency of the witness to express an opinion is largely within the discretion of the Trial Court. Fireman's Ins. Co. v. Little, 189 Ark. 640, 74 S.W.2d 777; and Arkansas Power & Light Co. v. Morris, 221 Ark. 576, 254 S.W.2d 684. The jury alone determines the value of, and the weight to be given, expert testimony. Home Indemnity Co. v. Jelks, 187 Ark. 370, 59 S.W.2d 1028; and Western Union Tel. Co. v. Turner, 190 Ark. 97, 77 S.W.2d 633. (b) The witness, Disinger, had also taken a picture of the Beechcraft plane after the accident; and he was allowed to set up a moving picture projector and exhibit the moving picture to the jury. Appellant insists most vigorously that Disinger was allowed to make oral comments about the pictures as he was showing them; and appellant claims that this was fatally defective. We have carefully read the testimony, and it was shown that the picture could be stopped at any time and any questions could be asked by counsel for either side as to what the picture showed and the record made as in case of a still picture. The showing of the picture consumes between four and five minutes. With the transcript and the picture before us, we are thoroughly able to understand Disinger's testimony. Every time he stated what the picture showed, he was cautioned: No comments; and the showing of this picture was no more than the showing of any still picture. We see no error. (c) Finally, on the matter of evidence, appellant complains that he was not allowed to introduce into evidence the report which he made to the Civil Aeronautics Authority several hours after the collision. Certainly the report was not a part of the res gestae, because the making of the report was too far removed from the time of the collision to constitute res gestae. Fordyce v. McCants, 51 Ark. 509, 11 S.W. 694, 4 L.R.A. 296; and St. L. I. M. & S. Ry. v. Enlow, 115 Ark. 584, 171 S.W. 912. Neither was the report offered to impeach the testimony of any witness called by the appellee. All the report could have done would have been to constitute a self-serving declaration of the appellant; and was, therefore, inadmissible. Donaghey v. Williams, 123 Ark. 411, 185 S.W. 778; and Webster v. Goolsby, 130 Ark. 141, 197 S.W. 296. IV. Excessiveness Of The Verdict. The jury returned a verdict for the appellee for the sum of $62,887.50 and the appellant claims that this amount is grossly excessive. It is a large sum of money; but the appellee and her children suffered a great loss. Mr. Busby was 32 years of age at the time of his death. He was survived by a wife and two children, who were aged 9 and 5 respectively. Mr. Busby had been flying 12 or 13 years; he was a flight instructor; his earnings were $300 a month plus commissions on sale of planes; he used all of his income for the support of his family. There is no evidence of any conscious pain or suffering; but a man of Mr. Busby's age had an expectancy of 38 years. His salary of $3,600 a year, not taking into consideration the commissions from the sale of planes, would make a sum appreciably greater than the verdict, even calculated to its present cash value. What the two children have lost in the death of their father can hardly be placed in dollars and cents. While the verdict is large, we cannot say that it is so grossly excessive as to shock the conscience. V. The Conduct Of The Trial. Finally, we come to the assignment which has given us the most serious concern. The appellant insists that he was deprived of the fair and impartial trial which the law guarantees to every litigant; and the appellant says this result came about because of three factors: (a) the Trial Judge asked the witnesses a total of 160 questions in the course of the trial; (b) the Court invited the jurors to ask questions of the witnesses while they were testifying; and (c) during a recess of the Court the jurors went to the Judge and asked if a witness could be recalled for further questioning. Because of these matters, appellant claims he is entitled to a new trial; and because of the seriousness of these charges we have examined the transcript page by page. [4] We have concluded that the trial was fairly conducted and no new trial should be ordered. The trial consumed five days, and involved a collision of two airplanes. The witnesses who knew and flew airplanes used a vocabulary that, while clear to pilots and flyers, is almost an unknown language to persons who are not air-minded; and in order to understand the testimony, the Court and the jury asked many questions. For instance, questions were asked about such matters as the down-wind leg, the base leg, the final approach, left-hand rectangular flight pattern, altitudes, banking, visibility, bell crank, range of vision in banking, and many other such matters, which certainly needed explanation to a jury of laymen. Again, when small hand-size model planes were offered to depict the two planes involved in the collision, the Court very wisely inquired and learned the pertinent fact that neither model plane was constructed to scale; and one juror asked and was informed that the windows in one of the model planes were different from those of the plane it was supposed to depict. On the very vital matter of the correct way to land a plane, both the Court and the jury asked as to permissible variances in elevation and course in the down-wind leg and the base leg of the descent. When the witness, Disinger, was telling the point of impact on the Cessna plane, he said: About four feet on the root of the wing on the rear spar at a slight angle to the spar. It was certainly proper for the Court to ask the witness: What do you mean by root?; and What is the spar in a wing? If this had been a case involving the collision of two automobiles, probably most of the members of the jury would have understood the expressions used by the witnesses: but in a case involving the collision of two airplanes, it was certainly essential that the jury understand the terminology used by the witnesses. Nearly all of the questions asked were propounded to experienced aviators, like the witness, Disinger, and the witness, Fulkerson; and we conclude that the jury showed a becomingly keen desire to understand the testimony. On the second day of the trial, and before any objection or motion for new trial was made by appellant, the Court on its own motion told the jury: The Court is asking these questions simply for the purpose of determining the law to be given to the jury, and   , as I have told you in the general instructions at the time the general charge was given to the jury panel, no question asked by the court is ever intended or meant as a comment upon the testimony or credibility of any particular witness. The court is asking these questions simply for the purpose of determining the law, the various statutes to be determined in instructing the jury, and for no other purpose. On the morning of the third day of the trial, appellant's counsel in chambers made the first objection to interrogation by the Court or the jury. This was in the form of a motion for mistrial; and the proceedings in chambers consume eight pages of the transcript. It would unduly prolong this opinion to copy all of these pages; but the gist of such proceedings is that the appellant insisted that the questioning by the Court and the jury had    unintentionally prejudiced our rights of defense in this case. The Court explained to the counsel: The entire inquiry by the jurors was with reference to whether or not they could ask questions and whether or not they could have a particular witness back   . At a time when the Court had told the jury they might have a recess under the usual admonition of the Court, and as the Court stepped down from the bench, one of the jurors motioned to the court and in the presence of the entire jury panel in open court made this statement: `Judge, is it proper for a juror to ask questions', to which the court replied: `Yes, ma'am', this in the presence of the entire jury panel, `but if you ask an incompetent question, the court will have to so instruct you'   . Let the record show that as soon as the juror made this statement, counsel was immediately informed at that time. No objection was made by counsel on either side as to whether it is proper for a juror to ask questions   . The court is not trying to try your lawsuit. The court has some obligation to see justice is done and jurors can intelligently pass on the facts   . I am afraid you gentlemen are overlooking one thing: trial of a lawsuit is not a battle of wits. Trial of a lawsuit in a court of justice is to arrive at justice, and that is what the court is trying to do. After overruling the motion for mistrial in chambers, the Judge immediately in open court told the jury: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the court in the general instructions at the time the entire jury panel was present in court instructed the jury that from time to time the court might ask questions, either for the purpose of determining the law applicable to the case, the instructions to be given, or for the purpose of clarifying something in the court's mind. The court in this case has asked a number of questions. The jury is instructed and told at this time, as they were in the general instructions, that no question asked by the court is intended or meant as any comment upon the weight of the evidence or the credibility of the witness. The jury is the sole and exclusive judge of the evidence, of the weight thereof, and of the credibility of the witnesses, and no question asked by the court should be taken by the jury as any inference or comment by the court in any manner on the testimony of any witness or the credibility of any witness or the weight you should give them. The questions asked by the Court and the jury certainly served to clarify the testimony so that we, as an appellate Court, are better able to understand the factual situation than we would have been if such questions had not been asked. No question asked by the Court was objectionable as violating rules of evidence; and no questions, separately or altogether, show any view of the Court or the exertion of a conscious or unconscious influence on the jury's verdict. In Sharp v. State, 51 Ark. 147, 10 S.W. 228, and in Arkansas Central R. Co. v. Craig, 76 Ark. 258, 88 S.W. 878, we had occasion to discuss the conduct of the Trial Judge in asking questions; and what we said in those cases is our rule in Arkansas today. We quote excerpts from these two cases and reaffirm them as the governing principles: The judge has the right, in a criminal prosecution, to interrogate the witnesses but he has no right to usurp the place of the state's attorney, `and prescribe the order of introduction of the witnesses, and become active in their examination;' nor has he the right to assume the duties resting on the prisoner's counsel in the general conduct of the defense. He may ask questions which the attorneys had the right to propound, and failed to ask, when the answers to the same may tend to prove the guilt or innocence of the accused. It would be a reproach to the laws of the state if he was required to sit and see the guilty escape, or the innocent suffer through a failure of parties or their attorneys to ask a witness a necessary question.    In all trials the judge should preside with impartiality. In jury trials especially, he ought to be cautious and circumspect in his language and conduct before the jury. He should not express or intimate an opinion as to the credibility of a witness, or as to controverted facts. For the jury are the sole judges of fact, and the credibility of witnesses; and the constitution expressly prohibits the judge from charging them as to the facts.    Any expression or intimation of an opinion by the judge, as to questions of fact or the credibility of witnesses, necessary for them to decide in order for them to render a verdict, would tend to deprive one or more of the parties of the benefits guarantied by the constitution, and would be a palpable violation of the organic law of the state. [51 Ark. 147, 10 S.W.231] Counsel for appellant contends with much force that the judgment should be reversed because the presiding judge during the trial propounded questions to the witnesses for plaintiff and defendant. The contention is not that these questions were improper, had they been propounded by counsel for plaintiff, but the contention is made that by propounding a number of questions the judge thereby assumed the role of attorney, and in that way indicated to the jury his opinion of the evidence, and prejudiced the rights of the defendant. It is true that a judge, under our law, should neither directly nor indirectly indicate to the jury his opinion of the facts in the case when the same are in dispute, and when the jury are to determine what the facts are.    It seems to be the general rule well supported by the decided cases, that the trial judge has the right to propound such questions to witnesses as may be necessary in order to elicit pertinent facts, in order that the truth may be established. Of course, this must be done in a reasonable and impartial way, so as not to indicate his opinion of the facts, and thereby prejudice the rights of the parties.    It is not usually necessary that the judge should propound many questions to witnesses, and for the judge to take the case out of the hands of counsel and take the lead in the examination of witnesses might at times be improper and prejudicial. But it would be a reproach to the law if he were required to sit still in either a civil or criminal trial, and see justice defeated through the failure of counsel to ask a witness a [pertinent] question. [5] Regarding the right of jurors to ask questions, the general trend of the holdings is summarized in 58 Am.Jur. 311 in this language: The fact that the trial judge gave the jury permission to interrogate a witness without any special request from them for the privilege has been held not to constitute error so long as the questions asked are germane to the issue. Conceding the propriety of permitting a juror to examine a witness, the examination may be carried out in such a manner or under such circumstances as to warrant the trial court in declaring a mistrial or granting a new trial, or if it fails or refuses to do so, to warrant a reversal by the reviewing court; this largely depends upon the facts of the individual case. But it may be said that, generally speaking, the courts have been reluctant to require a reversal or new trial because of the manner in which a juror examined a witness. It has been held not to be error to permit questions by the jurors concerning matters that might properly have been elicited on the direct examination of the witnesses, if they are such as tend to clarify material points in the testimony. We have gone into this matter in considerable detail to show that the trial was fairly conducted and that the appellant's motion for mistrial was properly denied. After considering all of the appellant's assignments, we conclude that the judgment should be affirmed. ROBINSON, J., HARRIS, C. J., and WARD, J., dissent.