Opinion ID: 1195187
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The ICA'S interpretation of Takayama

Text: The ICA held that the admission of Dr. Parsa's testimony in rebuttal contravened the general rule we set forth in Takayama that a party is bound to give all available evidence in support of an issue in the first instance it is raised at trial and will not be permitted to hold back evidence confirmatory of its position to offer on rebuttal. Ditto, at 101-102, 947 P.2d at 976-977 (citing Takayama, 82 Hawai`i at 496, 923 P.2d at 913). Ditto had alleged fraud in her complaint and had presented evidence of alleged fraud through her expert, Dr. Lassa, who testified in detail on the differences between cosmetic and plastic surgeons. Because fraud had been an issue from the outset of her case, the ICA reasoned that Ditto should have called Dr. Parsa during her case-in-chief. Id. at 102, 947 P.2d at 977. Furthermore, the ICA was perplexed by Ditto's decision to reserve testimony about hospital privileges for rebuttal, given the possible relationship between an alleged inability to perform surgery at a hospital as a result of lack of qualifications and a physician's duty to disclose material facts to his or her patient. Id. Unable to discern a legitimate reason as to why Ditto did not call Dr. Parsa during her case-in-chief, the ICA concluded that Dr. Parsa's testimony, along with Ditto's argument before the jury, prejudiced a substantial right of Dr. McCurdy by subjecting him to fraud liability in violation of the common law rule in Takayama. Id. at 26-27, at 102-103, 947 P.2d at 977-978. We disagree. The general rule we established in Takayama does not necessarily apply where evidence sought to be presented on rebuttal is `negative of a potential defense,' even if the evidence is also confirmatory of an affirmative position upon which the party seeking to present the evidence bears the burden of proof. Takayama, 82 Hawai`i at 497, 923 P.2d at 914 (citations and brackets omitted). The affirmative of the issue upon which Ditto had the burden of proof was that Dr. McCurdy failed to disclose he was not a board certified plastic surgeon and that this was a material fact. Ditto did so through her own testimony and that of her expert witness, Dr. Lassa. The potential defense was that Dr. McCurdy's lack of certification was not material because there was no difference in qualifications between cosmetic surgeons and plastic surgeons. Dr. Parsa's rebuttal testimony contradicted the potential defense by proving that, at least with respect to hospital privileges, Hawai`i hospitals recognized a difference in qualifications between cosmetic and plastic surgeons, and cosmetic surgeons could not get hospital privileges to perform breast surgery merely on the basis of ABCS certification. Thus, although the evidence could have been introduced in Ditto's case-in-chief, it was negative of Dr. McCurdy's potential defense. In other words, Ditto did not have to prove in her case-in-chief that Dr. McCurdy's credentials did not qualify him for hospital privileges; she had to prove only that his credentials or lack thereof were a material fact and that he failed to disclose it. Finally, merely because the trial court in Takayama excluded the rebuttal evidence offered, it does not necessarily follow that the trial court's admission of the rebuttal evidence in this case was an abuse of discretion. The ICA appears to have interpreted Takayama to mean that, where evidence could have come in during a plaintiff's case-in-chief, it is necessarily an abuse of discretion to allow it in rebuttal. See Ditto, at 102-103, 947 P.2d at 977-978. Such interpretation, however, would require plaintiffs to anticipate and present evidence countering each potential defense during their case-in-chief. For the above reasons, we hold that the trial court did not err by admitting Dr. Parsa's testimony in rebuttal.