Court Opinion

ID: 9756744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 21:50:50.783629+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:29.010902
License: Public Domain

Justice ALBIN,
concurring.
I concur with most of the majority’s analysis, though I do find the admissibility of the photographs to be a close issue. Because I believe that lay testimony describing the force of impact and personal injury is permissible, photographs corroborating that testimony by depicting vehicular damage must be admissible too. I disagree with the majority that there is “certainty of proportion” in relation to force of impact and personal injury. See ante at 32, 921 A.2d at 1119. Based on its common knowledge and experience, and depending on the condition of the victim and all of the surrounding circumstances, a jury may infer that a slight impact *37in a motor vehicle accident generally results in a slight injury. To the extent that the photograph corroborates the nature of the impact, the photograph has probative value. On the other hand, with or without a photograph, the jury is not required to draw what may seem a natural inference — slight impact equals slight injury — if it is inconsistent with the available evidence.
To accept plaintiffs argument that the admissibility of a photograph is conditioned on expert testimony explaining how biomechanical forces caused personal injury in a motor vehicle crash would likewise require expert testimony in every motor vehicle accident involving personal injury to prove causation, even without a photograph. Because I cannot accept that proposition, I concur with the majority.