Court Opinion

ID: 9645524
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:27:51.204692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:29.193985
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
For the reasons expressed in my concurring opinion in Waddle v. Nelkin, 511 Pa. 641, 649-50, 515 A.2d 909, 913-14 (1986) and my dissenting opinion in Yandrich v. Radic, 499 Pa. 271, 272-78, 453 A.2d 304 (1982), I dissent. In my opinion the presumption of due care of a deceased or incapacitated party remains viable and necessary regardless of this Commonwealth’s shift, by statute, from a contributory negligence to a comparative negligence state. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 7102.
The majority takes an inordinately narrow view as to “the proper use of a presumption ... either to direct a party to come forward with the evidence, i.e., the burden of production, or to direct a party to assume the burden of persuasion, i.e., the burden of proof____ Regrettably, the law of presumptions has been unnecessarily confused by court decisions equating the term with ‘fact’ or ‘evidence.’ ” Majority at 211. In point of fact, this presumption — the presumption that a deceased or incompetent was using due care at the time of the accident — has been and should be given some weight as evidence to be weighed by the jury with any conflicting evidence, and the jury should be instructed to view the presumed fact (of due care) as the equivalent of testimony by the decedent or incompetent that he was using due care at the time of the accident. Yandrich v. Radic, supra at 499 Pa. 277, 453 A.2d 306-07 (and cases cited therein). The value of the presumption of due *215care stems from the general knowledge of human experience and the strength of the instinct of self-preservation and the desire to avoid pain and injury. Id. This human instinct and experience did not disappear when this Commonwealth enacted the comparative negligence statute, nor is it any less viable when applied on behalf of a deceased or incompetent defendant. The respective burdens of proof, production and persuasion are a separate and distinct issue.