Opinion ID: 2429232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Case Against Reidlinger

Text: The eight remaining points concern alleged errors during the trial in which Julia Reidlinger was the defendant. Plaintiffs' Point II complains the trial court improperly sustained defendant's objections when plaintiffs sought to introduce evidence of the decedent's habit of stopping to offer aid at the scene of an accident. Plaintiffs claim this evidence was probative of decedent's motive for going to the scene of the accident and relevant to the issue of comparative negligence. They contend defendant admitted the importance of such evidence in closing argument by discussing the lack of evidence as to why decedent was in that location. During trial two attempts were made by plaintiffs to introduce evidence of Sergeant Oldaker's habit of stopping to help distressed motorists. Georgia Summerlin, decedent's aunt, testifying by deposition, was asked whether Oldaker had a reputation for trying to help people in distress. She replied: Yes, he did. He wouldif conditions were permitting he would stop to try to help. If they weren't he wouldhe always had a CB in his car, and he would call for ambulance and police. Reidlinger's counsel objected on grounds of lack of materiality and relevancy. When the court asked the purpose for the testimony, plaintiffs' counsel argued that it went to comparative fault, but made no mention of habit, nor was there an offer of proof. The court sustained the objection as to the ... question and answer as to reputation. Felicitas Oldaker, widow of decedent, was asked, During the two years preceding your marriage, were you ever in a situation where Larry would ever stop and help people in distress? Defendant objected to this question as immaterial and irrelevant, and plaintiffs argued it was highly probative and relevant on the material issue of comparative fault. Again, no offer of proof was made and the trial judge sustained the objection. Substantial deference is shown a decision of the trial court as to the admissibility of evidence, which will not be disturbed absent a showing of abuse of discretion. Iota Management Corp. v. Boulevard Investment Co., 731 S.W.2d 399, 412 (Mo.App. 1987). The trial court abuses its discretion when its ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances then before the trial court and is so unreasonable and arbitrary that the ruling shocks the sense of justice and indicates a lack of careful deliberate consideration. Richardson v. Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co., 723 S.W.2d 912, 915 (Mo.App.1987). The test for relevancy is whether an offered fact tends to prove or disprove a fact in issue or corroborates other relevant evidence, Carlyle v. Lai, 783 S.W.2d 925, 928 (Mo.App. 1989), and evidence of Sergeant Oldaker's alleged habit of helping distressed motorists has no clear bearing on the facts in issue. Further, it is of little moment that defendant's counsel, in closing argument, spoke of the lack of evidence as to why Oldaker was at that location. She was, in fact, responding to plaintiffs' closing argument which made reference to Sergeant Oldaker's trying to help, concluding with, that's what the ordinary man was doing when he got killed, trying to help somebody like he had all his life. Defendant's argument was a fair retort, to be viewed liberally by the law. Titsworth v. Powell, 776 S.W.2d 416, 422 (Mo.App.1989). Point II is denied. Plaintiffs next complain the trial court erred in overruling their objections to defense counsel's allusions to mechanical defects in respondent's car, a defense neither pleaded nor proved, thus prejudicing the jury as it offered an alternative explanation of the accident, negating inferences of negligence. Plaintiffs allege a pattern of prejudicial references to such defect. Plaintiffs, however, did not object to several of these references, and though the trial court overruled most of those objections made, no motion for mistrial or other relief was requested. In this connection the trial judge, during closing argument, instructed the jury that argument of counsel was not to be considered as evidence. The mere happening of an accident does not establish negligence on the part of a motorist. Powell v. Watson, 526 S.W.2d 318, 327 (Mo.App.1975). Defendant, by her pleading, denied she was negligent, and both she and her witness, Noble Lauderdale, testified to that effect. Witness Lauderdale did testify he saw a puff of smoke near the left wheel. In Coffel v. Spradley, 495 S.W.2d 735 (Mo.App.1973), the court discussed testimony concerning sudden brake failure, comparing it to proof of sole cause, sudden emergency and unavoidable accident, saying that [e]ach of the proofs is for the purpose of showing the defendant is free of the negligence alleged, and although they are asserted by affirmative evidence, they are not matters constituting avoidance, and hence are not required to be affirmatively pleaded. Id. at 740. The court found that the evidence was a denial of plaintiff's cause of action and proper under a general denial with the risk of non-persuasion on the issue of defendant's negligence still remaining with the plaintiff. Id. Such defense remains viable and a defendant is allowed to introduce evidence which tends to establish his freedom from negligence. Cowell v. Thompson, 713 S.W.2d 52, 54 (Mo.App.1986). This is what defendant did and was clearly within her right so to do. Point III is denied. Plaintiffs next complain Instruction No. 6 was improper, as the facts hypothesized therein were not supported by the record. Specifically, they claim there was no evidence that Sergeant Oldaker failed to keep a careful lookout and that the lane referenced in the instruction was reserved for traffic, as it was blocked by defendant's vehicle. Instruction No. 6 reads: In your verdict you must assess a percentage of fault to Lawrence Everett Oldaker, if you believe: First, Lawrence Everett Oldaker either: failed to keep a careful lookout, or left a place of safety and stood in a lane reserved for moving traffic and in the immediate path of the automobile operated by Peters, and Second, Lawrence Everett Oldaker in any one or more of the respects submitted in Paragraph First, was thereby negligent, and Third, such negligence of Lawrence Everett Oldaker directly caused or directly contributed to cause the death of Lawrence Everett Oldaker. An issue submitted by an instruction must be supported by the evidence; the submission of any proposition without sufficient evidentiary foundation is error. Kenagy v. Zarda Development Co., Inc., 726 S.W.2d 378, 380 (Mo.App.1987). Appellate review is conducted in the light most favorable to the submission of the instruction, and if the instruction is supportable by any theory, then its submission is proper. Kim v. Conway & Forty, Inc., 772 S.W.2d 723, 727 (Mo.App.1989). The evidence and inferences therefrom are viewed most favorably to the party offering the instruction and all contrary evidence and inferences are to be disregarded. Mozelewski v. Shannon, 774 S.W.2d 849, 850 (Mo. App.1989). The record demonstrates that there was little or no lighting on the highway, the roadway virtually dark. Harold Peters, the driver who hit the Reidlinger vehicle in the final collision, testified that Oldaker had his back to him and was three feet into the traffic lane when Peters first saw him. Oldaker had his back to Peters, in Peters' driving lane against the normal flow of traffic. The witness stated that he never saw the face of the decedent and never saw him move. Noble Lauderdale's testimony would place decedent looking into the Reidlinger car just before the collision. Lauderdale heard Peters' car coming and jumped for the safety of the median. The evidence also supports the theory that decedent left a position of safety, placing himself voluntarily in a traffic lane. Decedent left his car and came across the highway from the southbound lanes, going over the median wall. He was standing in the fast traffic lane. Plaintiffs' argument that the situation was somehow akin to construction work is strained and unpersuasive. The lane in which decedent was standing was clearly reserved for traffic, albeit that part of it was obstructed by respondent's car. The evidence supports the instruction given and plaintiffs' Point IV is without merit. Point V challenges the trial court's action in overruling their objection to the impeachment of Harold Peters by introducing only a part of his deposition. Plaintiffs claim this distorted the evidence and violated what they term the `rule of completeness,' i.e., that reading only an incomplete part of a deposition is misleading and confusing because connecting the omitted portions to the portions that were initially read, by means of a subsequent introduction in the trial, is essentially ineffective. Missouri, however, has not adopted this rule. Plaintiffs cite Peppers v. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co., 316 Mo. 1104, 295 S.W. 757 (1927), to support their contention. This Court examined the question in State v. Graves, 352 Mo. 1102, 182 S.W.2d 46 (1944), footnoting Missouri cases on the question, including Peppers, and observed: We think there was no reversible error in the trial court's ruling, in view of the decisions in this state ... Of these, the Littig case [ Littig v. Urbauer-Atwood Heating Co., 292 Mo. 226, 237 S.W. 779 (1922)] sustains the court's ruling that the entire competent part of the transcript bearing on the point under inquiry should be read by the impeaching party. But nearly all the later cases cited tend to support appellant's contention; since they hold the impeaching party need read only such portion of the document as tends to impeach the witness, leaving it to the opposing party to read the remainder insofar as it may tend to rehabilitate the witness. And the Peppers case only holds the document should be shown to the witness if he asks to see it; declaring the practice condemned in the Littig case merely was garbling the facts, and failure of the cross-examiner to read the questions and answers about which he was inquiring. State v. Graves, 182 S.W.2d at 52-53. Point V is denied. Plaintiffs next contend the trial court erred in allowing respondent to improperly argue the comparative fault of two non-parties, the Highway Commission and Harold Peters. Appellants rely on Jensen v. ARA Services, Inc., 736 S.W.2d 374 (Mo. banc 1987), and Fahy v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 740 S.W.2d 635 (Mo. banc 1987), for the proposition that fault is to be apportioned only among those at trial. The issue, however, is not apportionment, but the alleged negligence of Reidlinger. Defendant may introduce any evidence that tends to establish that she is not guilty of the negligence charged. See Birmingham v. Smith, 420 S.W.2d 514, 516 (Mo.1967); Hoehn v. Hampton, 483 S.W.2d 403, 409 (Mo.App.1972). More recently, in Simpson v. Smith, 771 S.W.2d 368 (Mo. App.1989), the court addressed a similar point where error was alleged in allowing argument that the sole cause of the death of plaintiff's [sic] deceased was the negligence of someone other than the defendant. Id. at 372. The court found no error, holding that MAI 1.03 does not prevent a defendant from introducing evidence and arguing that the acts of one other than the defendant were the sole cause of the accident. Id. at 373. Point VI is denied. The next allegation of error concerns a reference made during cross-examination to the possibility of decedent's widow, Felicitas Oldaker, returning to her native Philippines. The challenged exchange follows: Q. Do you have any plans to MR. PICKETT: Your Honor, I object. This is irrelevant and immaterial. THE COURT: I don't think there's a question pending. Q. (By Mr. Furry) Do you have any plans to return to the Philippines after this litigation is over? MR. PICKETT: Same objection, Your Honor, irrelevant and immaterial. THE COURT: Overruled. A. I plan to visit my family and will return to the United States. On direct examination, the witness had been examined concerning her connections with the Philippines, her homesickness and problems encountered with winters in the United States. Because the subject had been broached on direct it cannot be said the trial court's ruling constituted an abuse of discretion. See Lewis v. Envirotech Corp., 674 S.W.2d 105, 112 (Mo.App.1984). This point is denied. Plaintiffs, in Point VII, claim error in what they characterize as defense counsel's impugning the ethics and integrity of plaintiffs' counsel and expert witness during closing argument. The portion of closing argument referenced by appellants follows: Now, that's not fair. Just isn't fair, isn't simple justice to come in here and ask you to bring them a million, hundred thousand dollar judgment against this young lady. They want money and he's a very astute lawyer. He brought in a next door neighbor, flew her in from Virginia. He hired an economist for eight or nine hundred dollars to write a report. How much more did he get for testifying and coming in here and blow up these numbers? Well, look at this. His personal consumption out of this $635,000 is only $123,000. You think the guy that makes all the money, he's only going to get $123,000 out of it? This professor has quite a business and listen, he's a qualified guy. There is no question. He's an economist. I'm sure a nice fellow but this is his business and he makes money at it, $50,000 last year. He only makes $40,000 as a full time professor. Sure, I could have got him to write a report. Had he written a report for me, he would have put in the fact that the median marriage is only 6.9 years and would have been way less. MR. PICKETT: I object to the argumentative nature of something that wasn't brought out on cross and impugning people's integrity when they are not here. THE COURT: Overruled. MR. PICKETT: Inflammatory argument, totally improper. THE COURT: Objection overruled. The witness to whom counsel refers in closing argument is Gerald W. Olson, called as an expert witness by appellants. Olson operates a Kansas corporation, Olson Economic Research, Inc., and at appellants' counsel's request Olson prepared a report for him, charging approximately $800 to $900. Olson prepares approximately 50 to 100 of these reports per year, making just over $50,000 in this business in 1987. He described his familiarity with Department of Health statistics showing the average length of a marriage in 1984 as 9.5 years, with a median length of 6.9 years, and use of these statistics, he admitted, would have put his projections of economic loss at a lower figure. It is within the discretion of the trial judge to determine the prejudicial effect of final argument and the judgment of the trial court on the matter will not be disturbed unless an abuse of that discretion occurs. Hoover's Dairy, Inc. v. Mid-American Dairymen, Inc., 700 S.W.2d 426, 434 (Mo. banc 1985). Ordinarily, the trial judge is in the best position to gauge the effect of the argument. Wadlow By Wadlow v. Lindner Homes, Inc., 722 S.W.2d 621, 632 (Mo.App.1986). It is also permissible for counsel to draw his own conclusions from the evidence even though these inferences at first blush may appear both illogical and erroneous. Titsworth v. Powell, 776 S.W.2d 416, 420 (Mo.App.1989). While the language of the argument was in part tasteless and demeaning in tone, we find no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court. The only reference to plaintiffs' attorney was that he was an astute lawyer, which in context might seem a slur, but on its face is a compliment, though the tone of voice might have indicated otherwise. We find no error in this particular. The comments made regarding the expert were within permissible parameters; moreover, the error claimed by appellants pertains to damages, an issue not reached by the jury in light of its verdict for defendant. Even assuming error arguendo, no prejudice could have resulted from the trial court's ruling. See Moore v. Rollmo Corp., 575 S.W.2d 859, 862 (Mo. App.1978). Finally, plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in not granting their motion for a new trial because of the cumulative effect of the trial errors, but having found no error, we rule the point against them. The action of the trial court in granting respondent Highway Commission's motion for summary judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings as to that claim. The judgment as to respondent Reidlinger is affirmed. Affirmed in part; reversed in part and remanded. ROBERTSON, C.J., COVINGTON and HOLSTEIN, JJ., and HIGGINS and WASSERSTROM, Senior Judges, concur. BLACKMAR, J., concurs in separate opinion filed. BENTON and THOMAS, JJ., not participating because not members of the Court when case was submitted. BLACKMAR, Judge, concurring. It is the responsibility of counsel for the party in whose favor a judgment runs to make sure that there is a proper judgment entry which will accomplish the client's purpose. Therefore, if the Highway Commission wanted a judgment which would start the appeal time running, and bar further proceedings by the plaintiff if no appeal were taken, it should have submitted a judgment entry containing the magic words of Rule 74.01, no just reason for delay. Failing that, the judgment was not appealable on its face and so the plaintiff's time for appeal did not run. Stemley v. Downtown Medical Bldg. Inc., 762 S.W.2d 43 (Mo. banc 1988), does not stand in the way of this conclusion. There both parties were quite willing to participate in the appeal, and we excused the formalities because of the newness of the governing rule. It might have been possible to remand that case so that the trial court might be approached for a suitable entry, but it seemed practical not to do so. It is a step further to say that a party may be prejudiced by an order which is not appealable on its face. Perhaps plaintiff's counsel was imprudent in not appealing earlier, when the trial judge so plainly intended an appealable order. Or the plaintiff could have sought modification of the order. But the appeal time cannot run on a judgment which is not in appealable form.