Court Opinion

ID: 9644235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:50:41.73339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:10.106275
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
dissenting:
I find no basis in the record for the majority’s statement that “[i]t is obvious that if appellant had used due diligence he could have discovered the article in question prior to, or at the time of trial.” Majority opinion 247 Pa.Super. at 425, 372 A.2d at 899. The article was five years old; it had not been mentioned in Dr. Hayashi’s pretrial report (R. 220a-221a), or otherwise pretrial. Nor can I accept the majority’s statement that “[i]t is clear that . . . the article . . . *428would only be used to impeach appellee’s expert .... [T]he article is not such evidence as would be likely to result in a different verdict.” Id. As the majority acknowledges, majority opinion 247 Pa.Super. at 423, n. 6, 372 A.2d at 898, n. 6, Dr. Hayashi testified that according to the article (“by Dr. Yerushalmy’s classification”) the baby had only a 5% chance of living. To me it seems quite possible that the jury accepted this, and decided that since despite such odds the baby had lived, appellee must not have been negligent.
Appellant has reproduced what appears to be the article, at pages 224a-246a of the record. From this it appears that in fact “by Dr. Yerushalmy’s classification” the baby had a very high chance of living (about 26 deaths per thousand, or a 2.6% death rate), which would mean that the testimony at trial was a gross misstatement.
In refusing to grant a new trial because of this misstatement the lower court said:
First, we are on an excursion outside the record in determining the content of the article . . . . Additionally, there is the question whether the article . . . is in fact the correct article. Thirdly, the subject matter . necessarily requires the assistance of expert testimony to establish its meaning and significance. Finally, there is the question . . . whether they [the doctor’s statements] played any part in procuring the verdict . ...
Record at 4a.
With respect to the last of these reasons: As I have already stated, to me it seems quite possible that the jury was affected by the doctor’s statements. With respect to the other three reasons: These reasons would support the conclusion that a new trial should not be awarded now. The lower court, however, used them to support the conclusion that a new trial should not be awarded ever, and with that conclusion I disagree. There is at least a possibility that the verdict was the result of demonstrably untrue testimony. Given that possibility, in my opinion the lower court should have conducted a post-trial hearing to determine whether in fact there is any question about the identity and content of *429the article, and (availing itself of expert testimony) whether the article was as grossly misstated as appellant asserts. Then the lower court would be able to engage in a sound exercise of its discretion in deciding whether to grant a new trial.
Granted that any trial is to some extent an imperfect event, still, a distinction is to be drawn between imperfections attributable to lack of skill or preparation, and imperfections attributable to disregard for the truth. When considering the former, it may be reasonable for a court to deny a new trial; life must go on, and other cases are waiting. When considering the latter, however, a court should be quick to act; the purity of its own process is at issue.
I would remand for further proceedings.