Opinion ID: 2362237
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Admission of the Photographs of Davis' Car

Text: The admission of photographs depicting the extent of the damage to Davis' car presents the same concerns as counsel's improper remarks. Maute argues that the photographs of the minimal damage to Davis' car are admissible because they support a commonsense inference that Davis' subjective complaints are not credible. This inference is not permissible because it is not meaningfully different from the minimal damage/minimal injury inference that we have already found improper in these circumstances. [9] Of course, even where the sole issue at trial is damages, photographs of the plaintiff's car could conceivably serve some valid purpose other than supporting the minimal damage/minimal injury inference. As a consequence, photographs of the plaintiff's car are not per se inadmissible. Instead, the admissibility of the photographs must turn on whether the risk that the jury will draw an improper inference from the photographs substantially outweighs the probative value of the photographs under D.R.E. 403. [10] The trial court evidently agreed with this analysis and admitted the photographs (over Davis' objection) on the following basis: [The photographs are] relevant because the testimony is that she turned to the right and there is  I presume the photographs are going to show the damage to the right rear. That's all part of the case. But, but you are limited in what you can say about it, other than this is the photograph of the accident. If you try to draw any inference from that, then it would be inappropriate, and outside of the evidence. The trial court did not, however, issue a limiting instruction when the photographs were admitted. Instead, in charging the jury at the end of the trial, the court issued the standard instruction that the jury's verdict must be based solely on the evidence in the case. This is not a meaningful limiting instruction in this context. Preliminarily, we note that the parties agreed on the nature and the location of the damage to Davis' car, and the only issue at trial was the extent of Davis' personal injuries proximately caused by the accident. As a result, we can discern no relevancy to the photographs other than to suggest that Davis could not have sustained serious injuries from an apparently minor accident, and this inference is impermissible. Even assuming that the photographs are relevant to some material issue and are admissible under D.R.E. 403, the trial court was required to provide an explicit instruction limiting the jury's use of the photographs. Specifically, the court should have immediately instructed the jury that there is no evidence of a correlation between the damage shown in the photographs and the severity of Davis' personal injuries. The court's failure to provide this instruction was reversible error.