Opinion ID: 1661430
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ON REHEARING (Ordered February 4, 1971).

Text: BLACK, J. Defendant-appellant Zimmerman and his nonappealing codefendant, one Mukalla, were convicted together of negligent homicide. The two were informed against on account of the violent collision of an automobile driven by Mukalla with a partially loaded petroleum tank truck operated by the defendant Zimmerman. One Anstett, a passenger in the Mukalla car, was fatally injured. As the causal events began, the truck was proceeding south on Greenfield in Detroit. The automobile was proceeding north on the same street. Zimmerman turned left toward a private driveway and had nearly completed his turn when Mukalla's car crashed into the right rear side of the truck. The force of the collision was such that the truck was driven sideways with sufficient force to separate the tank from the truck chassis and overturn it. The issue of speed of the oncoming automobile was tried out as between the codefendants with as much if not more vigor than the prosecutor displayed in pursuing his duties. For specific details, see Division 1's recount of the trial record ( People v. Zimmerman [1968], 12 Mich App 241, 245-251). Zimmerman's conviction was affirmed on appeal. This Court granted leave to review for the purpose of considering two questions: Whether the proffered expert testimony  of one not an eyewitness  was admissible on the question of speed of the oncoming automobile, and whether the trial judge's refusal to permit such non-eyewitness to give his opinion, of the minimal rate of approach-speed of the oncoming automobile, amounted to an abuse of discretion. We agree that no reversible error was committed and therefore affirm. In Washburn v. Lucas (1964), 373 Mich 610 this Court criticized the admission of opinion testimony of a like expert witness, the main issue being that of causal negligence. There Justice SOURIS wrote, for our majority (p 625): Finally the witness was asked whether he had an opinion `as to a range of speed of the Lucas car in connection with this accident at the time of the impact?' The witness had such an opinion, and gave it, again there being no objection. He was not, as the reader will gather, an eyewitness of the collision. The facts upon which his opinions were founded included a measurement examination of the scene of collision, examination of damage done to 1 of the cars after the collision, photos and other information given admissibly by other witnesses. Later we said (p 626) that the foregoing is written in effort to eliminate future reception in our trial courts of like opinions. It is well, alleged conflict of Washburn with Dudek v. Popp (1964), 373 Mich 300 considered, that our reasons for elimination of such dispensable testimony should now pass in review. In 1874 Mr. Justice CAMPBELL wrote for the Court ( People v. Morrigan, 29 Mich 4, 7): The experience of courts with the testimony of experts has not been such as to impress them with the conviction that the scope of such proofs should be extended. Such testimony is not desirable in any case where the jury can get along without it; and is only admitted from necessity, and then only when it is likely to be of some value. Then came to our reports, in steady succession, the citations and quotations which the Court gathered in In re Estate of Astolas (1935), 273 Mich 189, 193, 194 ( Morrigan, supra, included). Perhaps the soundest of all reasons, for limiting unto necessity what we loosely refer to as expert testimony, appears in McNally v. Colwell (1892), 91 Mich 527 (followed expressly in Vial v. Vial [1963], 369 Mich 534, 537). Quoting McNally at 536, 537: It is best to limit expert testimony to its proper uses, since it is not now held in the highest esteem; nor has it been found to be free from the infirmities and temptations that belong to human nature. And since a man's opinion cannot be met and tested, as could his testimony to the existence of a fact, expert evidence, while useful in many cases, is dangerous in all, and should be restricted, for the purpose of accuracy in determining the truth, which is the aim of all judicial investigation, to those cases where its use is well nigh indispensable because of questions of science or skill being involved, in which a special and peculiar knowledge is desired in order to arrive at the truth. These observations were not new, when written. The reader desiring to pursue them may read with profit entire §§ 390(392) and 391(393), headed Infirmity of expert testimony, appearing in 2 Jones, Commentaries on Evidence (Blue Book edition, 1913) pp 970-973. The sections conclude: We cannot close this section without reproducing from two New York cases dicta which are convincing expressions of judicial distrust. `We may assume, also, that their [the experts'] minds were affected by that pride of opinion, and that kind of mental fascination with which men are affected when engaged in the pursuit of what they call scientific inquiries.' `He [the expert] comes on the stand to swear in favor of the party calling him, and it may be said he always justifies by his works the faith that has been placed in him.' In this case there was eyewitness testimony as well as ample proof of physical facts [1] from which the jury could reach a permissible judgment of the conduct of each driver, that is, whether such conduct did or did not amount to negligence and, if so, whether it was causal or remote. For instance the eyewitness Bloom testified respecting the lateral and longitudinal positions of the respective vehicles as of the approximate time of impact, and to having observed the Mukalla car as it approached the point of collision. He was sworn as a witness for defendant-appellant and testified, upon examination by the latter's counsel: Q. ( By Mr. Perlman ) What is your opinion as to the speed of that vehicle (that of defendant Mukalla) when you saw it? A. The car was traveling fast, I thought fifty miles an hour. Regarding the admissibility of Mr. Bloom's estimate of speed, see Harnau v. Haight (1915), 189 Mich 600; People v. Schwartz (1921), 215 Mich 197; Jones v. Detroit Taxicab & Transfer Co. (1922), 218 Mich 673; Zylstra v. Graham (1928), 244 Mich 319; Stehouwer v. Lewis (1929), 249 Mich 76; Tyler v. Weed (1938), 285 Mich 460; Hammock v. Sims (1946), 313 Mich 248, and O'Brien v. Wahl (1953), 335 Mich 601. In any view of the case there was no necessity for resort to a non-eyewitness opinion of speed, or for even partial encroachment by expert opinion upon the jury's function of finding facts and drawing inferences. In view of the above we do not discuss the second stated question at length. It is true that discretion is vested with the trial judge, either to receive or reject the opinions of experts, once the nature of the case and the proffered testimony properly invoke such discretion. To the point see cases cited in People v. Hawthorne (1940), 293 Mich 15, 23 and the observation which, in 1879 was written for the Court by Justice COOLEY in McEwen v. Bigelow, 40 Mich 215, 217: The court is not obliged to receive the evidence of every person called who may appear to have some little knowledge of the business, but who has no personal knowledge of the matters in controversy. He must decide within the limits of a fair discretion whether the experience of the supposed expert had been such as to make his opinions of any value. It is the need for such testimony that counts  a factor that is absent here  and it is admissible only when the ordinary knowledge and experience of mankind will not enable the trier or triers of fact to determine what inferences should be drawn properly from complex facts previously shown in evidence. The corresponding likeness of a civil action for ordinary negligence, and a criminal prosecution under the statute pursuant to which Mukalla and Zimmerman were convicted (CL 1948, § 750.324 [Stat Ann 1954 Rev § 28.556]), is noted expressly lest our decision be misunderstood and extended beyond the Court's effort in Washburn, supra to eliminate future reception in our trial courts of like opinions. In neither instance is proof of criminal intent required. People v. McKee (1968), 15 Mich App 382, 385. As the Court observed in People v. McMurchy (1930), 249 Mich 147, 168 with respect to the cited statute: One may be civilly and criminally responsible for the negligence which causes death, though there may be some factors that would discharge one from liability for civil negligence but would not act as a release from criminal negligence. The method of determining negligence in both instances is the same.; and further (p 170): Just as we can ascertain civil liability by certain rules, so also can we determine criminal liability by similar rules. From this the reader will perceive that we here adopt no broad rule banning expert testimony, or opinion evidence which is based in part or in whole upon facts that are known personally to the witness and verified by him. We simply affirm anew Washburn's bar and apply it to prosecutions brought under the cited statute where, as here, there is no need for an expert opinion or opinions to support or oppose factual proof, already in evidence, which enables the jury and the court to render verdict and pass judgment. The foregoing does not of course trench upon the admissibility of that class of opinions which, in Kelley v. Richardson (1888), 69 Mich 430, was written descriptively for the Court by Justice CAMPBELL. His text, to which reference is now made, begins and proceeds (pp 436, 437): The phrase `expert testimony' is not entirely fortunate as designed to cover all cases where a witness may give his opinions. That is done, in a multitude of cases, by witnesses who have no more personal fitness than any one else, but who have been so placed as to have seen or heard things which can only be described to any one else by giving the impression produced on the mind or senses of the witness. These cases are so common that few persons ever think that what are rightly called facts are at the same time no more nor less than conclusions. Thus, impressions of cold or heat, light and darkness, size, shape, distance, speed, and many personal qualities, physical and mental, are constantly acted on as facts, although not uniformly judged by all observers, for the simple reason that the facts cannot be otherwise communicated. Any person can give such impressions without special experience or special intelligence. Beyond these every-day matters, known to all men, are things which most, if not all, persons can become qualified to judge by more or less opportunities of observation, local or habitual, but which require no peculiar intelligence. Then there are branches of business or occupations where some intelligence is requisite for judgment, but opportunities and habits of observation must be combined with some practical experience. This seems to be the beginning or lower grade of what may be properly termed `experts'; a word meaning only the acquisition of certain habits of judgment, based on experience or special observation. I vote to affirm. SUPPLEMENT (December 21, 1970): This case, having been previously assigned to the writer according to our internal practice, was received on briefs October 6 last. Pursuant to that assignment the foregoing opinion was submitted for consideration of the other Justices November 2. December 2 Justice ADAMS submitted to us his opinion for reversal, together with his opinion of the like-issue case of O'Dowd v. Linehan, No 52,402. Some comment upon our manifest differences is now in order. First: Though the honor is enviable, I did not initiate or propose the need test which our Brother attributes to me. That was done long before our time, and was continued to release of 1964 Washburn v. Lucas, 373 Mich 610, by a long line of distinguished lawyers and judges going back to Greenleaf's evidentiary era. And when Justice CAMPBELL wrote in 1874  for the Court  that expert testimony is not desirable in any case where the jury can get along without it and is only admitted from necessity, [2] he originated for Michigan that same need test which, I submit, is something judicially better than an order moderne for free and easy hiring of so-called expert witnesses who, being in the business openly for big fees, offer prepossessed expert opinions for sale to those whose usual concern is that of overcoming the fact testimony of lay witnesses. Whatever the delicate description of such practice may be in legal drawing rooms, once it is put forth from the witness stand without grim cross-examination for the mercenary character thereof ( O'Dowd is a good example), the result is no less than effectively prejudicial hired testimony, manufactured for profit and sold to the few litigants whose pocketbooks are fat enough to supply the wherewithal. In the foregoing opinion I have quoted Jones at length. Let us hear more, now that the need test has been challenged (a part of the emphasis was supplied by the author; the rest is supplied by the present writer): § 372[374]. The expert not to decide questions of fact. Expert testimony being an exception to the general rule of law excluding opinions from evidence, and trenching, as it does, upon the province of the jury, is not to be extended beyond the necessities of the case.    Whatever liberality may be allowed in calling for the opinions of experts or other witnesses, they must not usurp the province of the court and jury by drawing those conclusions of law or fact upon which the decision of the case depends. Although this view has been earnestly criticized, it is sustained by the undoubted weight of authority, and any lawyer who has had much participation in the actual trial of cases will understand that in many cases trials would become a mere farce if zealous experts were allowed to directly express their opinions upon the very issue to be tried. It would be impossible to reconcile the conflicting decisions in which the courts have considered the subject of the admissibility of opinions where objection was made that to receive them would allow the witness to trench upon the province of the jury. It is the general disposition of the courts to restrict the admission of expert testimony within the strict bounds of the necessity on which it is founded. Indeed, this kind of testimony has always been regarded by conservative jurists with disfavor. Earl, J., has said: `The rules admitting the opinions of experts should not be unnecessarily extended. Experience has shown that it is much safer to confine the testimony of witnesses to facts in all cases where that is practicable, and leave the jury to exercise their judgment and experience upon the facts proved. Where witnesses testify to facts, they may be specifically contradicted, and if they testify falsely, they are liable to punishment for perjury. But they may give false opinions without the fear of punishment. It is generally safer to take the judgments of unskilled jurors than the opinions of hired and generally biased experts.' 2 Jones, Blue Book of Evidence (1913 Bancroft-Whitney edition), pp 908, 910. A pure coincidence of procedural timing has brought this Zimmerman prosecution for negligent homicide, and the wrongful death action of O'Dowd v. Linehan, Docket No. 52,402, to this Court for submission but a month apart. In each case expert witness William E. Billings was engaged by the defendant to prepare and testify. In Zimmerman Mr. Billings was not permitted to testify to the rate of speed of the oncoming Mukalla car, not having been there to see it and the fortuitous events having been observed, in whole or in part, by several testifying eyewitnesses. In O'Dowd Mr. Billings was permitted to testify to certain opinions, all based upon ex parte investigations made by him long after the fatal event. Justice ADAMS has fairly described Mr. Billings' performance in his opinion of O'Dowd. I offer no comment upon that performance beyond observing that even Justice ADAMS concedes that Mr. Billings went too far in his zeal to aid the Linehan defense. That admission alone is sufficient to justify my objection to this Michigan-new notion that an expert in traffic might assist the jury when, factual proof being available and already received, the jury needs no such assistance. It is true that the courts of some of the states permit these accident reconstruction experts to testify freely. It is also true that the contending parties occasionally vie for their partisan support; the winner usually being the one with the most cash. Mr. Billings for instance hails from Cleveland. Granting his ability and industry, he has not been over-modest in making his specialty widely known. These cases ( Zimmerman and O'Dowd ) are token of the fact. Last winter Mr. Billings accepted a lead part in Michigan's 21st Institute of Advocacy, conducted March 6, 7. The institutionary topic was Automobile Product Liability. The official handbook of the Institute portrays the nature of a trial demonstration of Portnoy v. Anderson and Burns. Mr. Billings, as an Accident Reconstruction Engineer, was employed by the defendant Anderson to investigate, report and make ready for testimonial reconstruction. The 3-car collision investigation made of Portnoy, by Mr. Billings for hiring lawyer Hamilton, discloses a unique similarity of Portnoy with O'Dowd. His report to Mr. Hamilton advised, along with other meticulous detail: DESCRIPTION: Traveling east in a 1962 Cadillac Coupe deVille, Driver Anderson was rearended by Driver Burns, also eastbound, in a 1967 Buick Electra 4-door hardtop. As a result of that collision, Anderson's Cadillac was propelled across the center line into a head-on collision with a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 4-door sedan being driven westbound at about 50 miles per hour by Portnoy. (I gather that Burns maintains that Anderson pulled from a parked position on the south shoulder into the eastbound lane in front of him without warning and without taillights when Burns was so close to Anderson that he did not have time even to apply his brakes, and his front right corner struck the rear left corner of Anderson's Cadillac. Anderson, on the other hand, says that he was simply driving along, eastbound, at about 45 miles per hour and was rear-ended by Burns without warning.) [3] (P 66 of handbook.) I allude to the March Institute in conjunction with Zimmerman and O'Dowd solely to sharpen the point that Mr. Billings is a true professional witness whose investigatory talents, and expert opinions to be delivered in court, are for sale. His integrity as I understand is of the very best. We must presume likewise with respect to each of Mr. Billings' employers in the Zimmerman, O'Dowd and Portnoy cases. Nonetheless his zeal and that of others for the causes of their employers is the taproot of our rule that expert opinions of those who, having no knowledge of the facts in issue, are generally dispensable in Michigan actions for negligence. There is no need for such opinions when factual proof is at hand and, there being no such need, they should be excluded as an evil rendered excludable by the stark fact of available and ample factual testimony, which the jurors may and should appraise for selection themselves of such inferences as they may choose to draw therefrom. To conclude this response: It seems to me that Justice ADAMS' opinion is an open if unwitting invitation to joust prosecutions or actions for negligence by mutual employment and deployment of professional witnesses, and to spend no little money to obtain their under-oath opinions as outright partisans. This if allowed is bound to become the very iniquity of manufactured testimony which, for good reason, the Court deplored generally in Jones v. The President and Trustees of the Village of Portland (1891), 88 Mich 598, 604. Second: Justice ADAMS' opinion advises at length of that which is so well known as to render it commonplace, first that opinion testimony of speed by foundation-qualifying eyewitnesses is admissible, and second that our Court has on a number of occasions taken note of the reliability of circumstantial evidence. As to both I rejoin that we are considering here the admissibility of Mr. Billings' proffered opinion only, not his opinion of speed based on his own observations of the speeding or nonspeeding vehicle; also that the opinion he sought to deliver while on the stand did not by any known legal luminary constitute circumstantial evidence. The reason is that circumstantial evidence, once it is established by a witness having admissible knowledge thereof, constitutes a thing or things, not opinions. As such they are inflexible proofs and cannot lie, as can a witness who may be interested in the verdict to come. We said so at least in Schneider v. Pomerville (1957), 348 Mich 49, 58, and did so in the very context of all present writing, that is to say, an action wherein the issue of causal negligence is alleged and tried. The fact is that circumstantial evidence is of the essence of the best evidence rule, and is accepted properly when satisfactory direct evidence of the facts in issue is not available, or, if available, is not susceptible of that process for which jurors are duty-charged exclusively and in particular; the task of drawing inferences from direct proof. Lay aside, as presently and pertinently bootless, the products liability case, the will contest, the multiple or single automotive or grade crossing collision cases, the criminal prosecution or, for that matter, the right to prosecute, sue, or defend for or on account of any matter or thing which may be actionable civilly or criminally, where no witness or admissible demonstrative thing is available to supply the factual proof upon which judicial judgment may be made. Lay such aside for reason that the expert's utility in all such cases is both necessary and unavoidable. Having done with all such dalliance in today's situation where eyewitness proof of essential facts is present, let us advise the profession again, as was done so helpfully from time to time by our distinguished predecessors, that naked opinions of expert witnesses, having no knowledge themselves of essential or controlling facts, are by our standard to be rejected excepting only where there is no direct and available proof of such facts. In that way we can maintain the integrity and constance of the right of trial by jury, and guard against even partial usurpation, by hired interpreters of fact, of the fact-finding function of juries. As before I vote to affirm.