Court Opinion

ID: 9612688
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:10:38.541074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:52:05.359133
License: Public Domain

*465Goodloe, J.
(dissenting) — I dissent from the majority opinion which holds that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in granting Kirk's motion in limine excluding all testimony of her three abortions. Kirk's depression was a major element in the amount of damages awarded to her. The fact that she was depressed before the accident may well have been in part or all on account of the abortions. Therefore, the relevance of the abortion evidence is a question of fact that should have been given to the jury in their deliberations.
ER 403 reads in part: "Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice”. (Italics mine.) I disagree with the majority that "[t]he relevance of the [abortion] evidence to the facts in issue is tenuous." Majority opinion, at 462. Rather, I believe that the evidence is probative and that the jury should have had the evidence before it in determining the emotional damages suffered by Kirk caused by her depression.
ER 403 sets forth a balancing test. For the trial court to exclude evidence its probative value must be substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Any unfair prejudice to Kirk does not outweigh its probative value. The majority cites three federal cases that discouraged the admission of the prior sexual history of civil plaintiffs in light of its highly prejudicial nature. However, in each of these cases, the sexual history of the plaintiff had no relevance to the suit before the court.
The first case involved admitting evidence that the plaintiff had contracted venereal disease during the course of his marriage. In re Air Crash Disaster Near New Orleans, 767 F.2d 1151 (5th Cir. 1985). The cause of action was for wrongful death of plaintiff's wife and children when an airplane crashed into and completely destroyed the family home. The court in In re Air Crash correctly decided that evidence of plaintiff's venereal disease was not relevant to his emotional state, especially since he admitted on the stand that he had been unfaithful to his wife during *466the marriage.
The second case involved a suit for injuries received in an automobile accident. The contested evidence was the theory that plaintiff's depression was the result of a "conversion reaction" caused by plaintiff's separation from his wife and that he wished to marry his secretary with whom he had meanwhile been living. Kilarjian v. Horvath, 379 F.2d 547 (2d Cir. 1967). The court only refused to admit the evidence that plaintiff had been living with his secretary and that he wished to marry her. The defendant was free to admit the evidence of plaintiff's separation from his family and other emotional problems. The prejudice of the evidence involving his secretary substantially outweighed its probative value since it had no relevance.
The third case involved evidence of the plaintiff's bisexuality or homosexuality after he had been arrested for solicitation to engage in a homosexual act. Cohn v. Papke, 655 F.2d 191 (9th Cir. 1981). The court correctly decided that the fact the plaintiff is bisexual or homosexual has no relevance whether he would solicit someone to engage in a sexual act. Also, it stands to reason just because someone is heterosexual is no indication that he or she will solicit a sexual encounter with someone of the opposite sex. The excluded evidence had no probative value.
Kirk is distinguished from all three cases in that the excluded evidence was probative information so, although prejudicial, its prejudicial nature in no way substantially outweighs its probativeness. The trial judge abused his discretion when he granted Kirk's motion in limine excluding such probative evidence. I would remand to the trial court on the issue of damages.
Dore, J., concurs with Goodloe, J.