Opinion ID: 2637458
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: testimony as to medical expenses

Text: ¶ 26 The Gorostietas allege that the trial court erred in not allowing Marie Gorostieta, Dalinda's mother, to testify regarding the amounts contained in the medical bills incurred as a result of Dalinda's injury. Parkinson counters that Marie Gorostieta's testimony as to the amounts charged for medical services would have been hearsay and thus inadmissible when offered for the truth of the amounts contained therein.
¶ 27 In order to thoroughly understand this issue, the background of the case must be explored. The Gorostietas filed their complaint in August 1995 and within one month served Parkinson with two sets of discovery. Parkinson timely responded to all of the Gorostietas' discovery requests. However, the Gorostietas had not responded to Parkinson's discovery requests after more than two years. ¶ 28 In addition, the trial judge issued a pretrial order on May 30, 1997, for both parties to produce and exchange witness lists and exhibit lists no later than October 1, 1997. The Gorostietas failed to comply with this order. ¶ 29 Therefore, Parkinson moved for summary judgment, seeking dismissal. It was only after Parkinson's motion for summary judgment that the Gorostietas finally responded to her discovery requests. In addition, only after Parkinson moved for summary judgment did the Gorostietas serve her with notice that they would adopt her witness list. The Gorostietas failed, however, to ever produce an exhibit list. ¶ 30 The judge refused to grant Parkinson's motion for summary judgment but ordered that sanctions be imposed prohibiting the Gorostietas from introducing any exhibits at trial. ¶ 31 Trial courts are given broad discretion regarding the imposition of discovery sanctions because it is they that must deal first hand with the parties and the discovery process. See Morton v. Continental Baking Co., 938 P.2d 271, 274 (Utah 1997). We will interfere only if an abuse of discretion is clearly shown. See id. Persistent dilatory tactics that frustrate the judicial process are adequate to trigger rule 37 sanctions, and the choice of the appropriate sanctions is within the trial judge's discretion. See id. ¶ 32 Rule 16 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure [6] provides that if a party or the party's attorney fails to comply with a pretrial order, the court may make such orders with regard thereto as are just, and among others, any of the orders provided in Rule 37(b)(2)(B), (C), (D). Utah R.Civ.P. 16(d). Rule 37 of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure provides: If a party . . . fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery, . . . the court in which the action is pending may make such orders in regard to the failure as are just, and among others the following: . . . (B) an order . . . prohibiting [the disobedient party] from introducing designated matters in evidence . . . . Id. 37(b)(2). [7] ¶ 33 Given the repeated dilatory conduct of the Gorostietas' attorney and the failure to comply with the pretrial order, there is ample evidence that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by ruling that the Gorostietas could not introduce any exhibits at the time of trial. ¶ 34 Nevertheless, while it is true that the Gorostietas had been precluded from introducing any exhibits, the medical expenses could have been proffered into evidence for appeal purposes but they never were. Therefore, the bills are not before us as a part of the record for our review and neither is a transcript of the doctor's testimony. As previously stated, the burden is upon the appellant to provide an adequate record for review, and without an adequate record, we must assume the regularity of the proceedings below. See State v. Wetzel, 868 P.2d 64, 67 (Utah 1993).
¶ 35 It is a general rule that the foundation to establish the reliability of medical expenses is to provide evidence of reasonableness and necessity. See Hansen v. Mountain Fuel Supply Co., 858 P.2d 970, 981 (Utah 1993) (noting that requirement for compensation in tort action is that expenses be reasonable and necessary) (citing Charles J. McCormick, Handbook on the Law of Damages § 90, at 323-27 (1935); 1 Jacob A. Stein, Stein on Personal Injury Damages §§ 5:1-5:3 (2d ed.1991); 22 Am.Jur.2d Damages §§ 197-206 (1988)); Simmons v. Wilkin, 80 Utah 362, 366, 15 P.2d 321, 323 (1932) (holding that special damages must be shown to be reasonable and necessarily resulting from accident). [8] Therefore, once injuries have been shown, evidence is required to show that the medical expenses accurately reflect the necessary treatment that resulted from the injuries and that the charges are reasonable. ¶ 36 The Gorostietas claim it was error for the trial court not to allow Marie Gorostieta to read or testify as to the contents of the medical bills she received as evidence of their reasonableness. Parkinson argues that any testimony offered by Marie Gorostieta regarding the medical bills would have been hearsay. We find it unnecessary to address whether this evidence would have been hearsay because this court has already ruled that under the best evidence rule, [9] a witness may not testify as to material contained in exhibits that have been previously denied admission. [10] See Intermountain Farmers Ass'n v. Fitzgerald, 574 P.2d 1162, 1165 (Utah 1978); see also State v. Ross, 573 P.2d 1288, 1289-90 (Utah 1978) (holding that trial court erred in allowing police officer to testify to contents of telephone records that were not introduced into evidence). [11] To allow a witness to so testify would present directly to the jury unsubstantiated information contained in the excluded exhibits. See Intermountain Farmers, 574 P.2d at 1165-66; Ross, 573 P.2d at 1290. ¶ 37 The best evidence rule provides that [t]o prove the content of a writing,. . . the original writing . . . is required, except as otherwise provided in these rules or by other rules adopted by the Supreme Court of this State or by Statute. Utah R.Evid. 1002. The purpose of this rule is primarily to prevent mistake or fraud. See 29A Am.Jur.2d Evidence § 1049, at 511 (1994); 32A C.J.S. Evidence § 1061 (1996); 6 Jack B. Weinstein & Margaret A. Berger, Weinstein's Federal Evidence § 1002.03[1] (Joseph M. McLaughlin, ed., Matthew Bender 2d ed.1997) [hereinafter Weinstein's ]; 4 Wigmore on Evidence § 1179, at 417 (James H. Chadbourn ed., rev.1972). Therefore, when the content of a document is material to the matter to be proved, the original writing must be produced unless it is unavailable due to an exception and its absence is not attributable to the fault of the party seeking to use it as proof of the contents therein. See Am.Jur.2d supra, § 1049, at 510; C.J.S. supra, §§ 1057, 1059. ¶ 38 The rules of evidence provide for exceptions in cases where the originals are lost or destroyed, the original is not obtainable, the original is in the possession of the opponent, or the writing concerns a collateral matter. See Utah R.Evid. 1004. Nevertheless, even if an original document meets one of the exceptions provided, secondary evidence will not be allowed if the proponent of the evidence was responsible for its absence. See Weinstein's § 1004.11[2][a]. This is due to the extensive risk that the proponent might offer false or misleading secondary evidence. See id. ¶ 39 In the instant case, Dr. Larsen, who was the treating physician, was called by the Gorostietas to testify. Because we have been provided with only partial transcripts, there is no record of his testimony. However, he was apparently never asked about the medical charges. ¶ 40 Also due to the incompleteness of the record, it is unclear as to what testimony Marie Gorostieta would have provided. However, it appears from the partial transcripts that she was to be asked to provide testimony as to the reasonableness of the charges by reading the contents of the medical bills that had not been admitted into evidence. [12] ¶ 41 The Utah Rules of Evidence and Utah case law require that the medical bills themselves be used to prove their contents. The exceptions to the best evidence rule are not applicable in this case. Furthermore, where a party has been properly sanctioned by the trial court, and thereby precluded from admitting any exhibits, we cannot allow the sanctioned party to then circumvent the law by reading into evidence the contents of the exhibits that have been precluded. This would reward the sanctioned party by putting it into a stronger position, whereby it could be allowed to mislead the trier of fact as to the contents of the inadmissible writing. Therefore, we hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to allow Marie Gorostieta to testify as to the amounts contained in the medical bills.