Opinion ID: 1750025
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Allstate's Reliance on a Legal Opinion by Counsel

Text: In his fifth point on appeal, Dodson argues that the trial court erred in allowing witnesses to testify about a legal opinion secured by Allstate regarding Dodson's physical therapy clinic and its lawfulness under the Arkansas Physical Therapy Act. Dodson argues that he was blind-sided at trial by Allstate's defense of reliance on legal opinion, and that as an affirmative defense, Allstate should have pled it in the answer. Allstate replies that it did not submit this legal-opinion letter at trial, it did not rely on it as a defense, and the jury was never instructed that the legal-opinion was a defense to the defamation claim. However, when it came out in testimony that this legal opinion was obtained by Allstate, the trial court properly admitted the testimony because the evidence showed the defendants' motive and intent, and also showed that Dodson's opinion from the State Medical Board was controverted. Again, this is an issue regarding the admission of evidence, which is reviewed by this court under an abuse of discretion standard of review. O'Fallon, supra . Clearly, Allstate did not assert that it relied on a legal opinion as a defense to liability, and no instructions were given to the jury regarding such a defense. Instead, it appears that Allstate offered the evidence that it sought a legal opinion by counsel to counter the legal opinion obtained by Dodson from the State Medical Board regarding the legality of his physical-therapy practice. Just as in the previous issue, it appears that Dodson attempts to claim the benefit of obtaining a legal opinion, but does not want to allow Allstate to claim the same benefit with its own opinion. Again, under the circumstances, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting this evidence, and Dodson fails to show that he was prejudiced by the admission of this evidence. Furthermore, Dodson fails to offer any sufficient legal authority that such evidence necessarily must be admitted as an affirmative defense rather than as just another piece of evidence. This court will not consider the merits of an argument if the appellant fails to cite any convincing legal authority in support of that argument, and it is otherwise not apparent without further research that the argument is well taken. Ouachita Trek and Development Company v. Rowe, 341 Ark. 456, 17 S.W.3d 491 (2000); Matthews v. Jefferson Hospital Ass'n, 341 Ark. 5, 14 S.W.3d 482 (2000).