Court Opinion

ID: 9938377
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 19:03:04.83569+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:56.419575
License: Public Domain

Does a witness's isolated answer to a particular question, removed from the totality of the testimony of that witness which explains or qualifies that answer, satisfy our scintilla-of-evidence sufficiency standard? To me, it does not. I believe that we must review all of the testimony of a particular witness to determine whether there is any evidence to take a plaintiff's case or a defendant's affirmative defense to the jury. In this case, if I read only certain of Brown's answers to certain questions addressed to him, I could arrive at a metaphysical judgment that I saw a gleam, glimmer, spark, or trace of evidence from which I could logically infer that Mrs. Creel was contributorily negligent. If I analyze all of Brown's testimony and all other evidence introduced, that gleam, glimmer, spark, or trace disappears, and I am of the opinion that it would be logically unreasonable for a jury to conclude that Mrs. Creel was contributorily negligent. Therefore, I agree that the affirmative defense of contributory *Page 689 
negligence should not have been submitted to the jury.