Court Opinion

ID: 9531637
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:13:34.733658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:33.565730
License: Public Domain

PETERSON, C. J.,
concurring.
I concur in the analysis and result of the majority, but write separately to express my disagreement with a proposition of law which has improvidently appeared in previous opinions, and which is referred to in the majority opinion.
On page 7 of the majority opinion reference is made to a line of cases which are claimed to stand for the proposition that no offer of proof is required when an objection is sustained upon cross-examination.1 In my quick research, the earliest reference to the rule that I have found is Arthur v. Parish, 150 Or 582, 591, 47 P2d 682 (1935). There, the court, in affirming a lower court’s order setting aside a judgment and granting a new trial stated, “No offer of proof is necessary as the matter arose on cross-examination.” The opinion contains no citation of authority to support the proposition.
Careful analysis of the cases cited in the footnote will reveal that in most, if not all of the cases, the statement is dictum. Dictum or not, no good reason exists for dispensing with the requirement that an offer of proof be made in such a circumstance. The need is as great for an adequate record on appeal whether the question arises on direct examination or cross-examination. Without knowing what the answer of the *13witness would have been, the appellate court cannot determine whether the trial court’s error in sustaining the objection caused any harm to the appellant, nor can it intelligently pass upon the trial court’s ruling. Schweiger v. Solbeck, 191 Or 454, 473-74, 230 P2d 195 (1951).

 Cases which make reference to this proposition include Shepler v. Weyerhaeuser Company; 279 Or 477, 510, 569 P2d 1040 (1977), State v. Davidson, 252 Or 617, 622-23, 451 P2d 481 (1969); Stillwell v. SIAC, 243 Or 158, 162, 411 P2d 1015 (1966); Beemer v. Lenske, 241 Or 47, 49, 402 P2d 90 (1965); and Arthur v. Parish, 150 Or 582, 591, 47 P2d 682 (1935).