Court Opinion

ID: 9759977
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:36:33.67893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:07.081515
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. This case is being remanded for a second trial entirely on evidentiary rulings which neither individually nor collectively warrant reversal. The case was tried fairly and the appellants had the opportunity to present their proof on an equal footing with appellees. Thus the litigants, the county and the system itself are being put to the heavy burden of a second trial to no real purpose, as the proof fully supports the verdict. We have recognized that the admissibility of evidence is an inexact science at best, that the relevancy of evidence is a matter for the trial court’s discretion, subject only to the very limited review applicable to discretionary rulings. Hamblin v. State, 268 Ark. 497, 597 S.W.2d 589 (1980). Even when it can be said the trial court was technically incorrect in admitting or excluding evidence it is reversible only if we can determine on appeal that the rights of one party were substantially affected by such evidence. Unif. R. Evid. 103. None of the three points relied on for reversal rise to that level. It is said that evidence of the condition of the underparts of the mobile home some nine months after the collision should not have been received to show the wheel was not lost unavoidably, but due to appellant’s negligence. In the first place, the conditions described beneath the mobile home were not the kind that would be materially altered by the passage of time or distance, and the trial judge was in a far better position than we are to determine whether this evidence should have been allowed. In the second place, the majority gives no answer at all to appellees’ argument that appellants should have objected when the evidentiary deposition of the witness by whom this proof was offered was taken under a written stipulation that.all objections would be stated during the deposition. The record supports appellees’ assertion that this was the stipulation and had appellants made timely objection, appellees might have been able to show that the later conditions were unchanged from the time of the accident, at least they were entitled to that opportunity under the stipulation. Finally, even if this evidence is excluded, the outcome is not dependent on it, as there was no shortage of proof from which the jury could reasonably infer that the wheel was lost through fault alone. ■Another evidentiary error wrongfully charged to the trial court involves showing a videotape of John H. Bellamy, Jr., who was unable to attend the trial. The film is just over twenty minutes long, with no audio except background conversation. It shows John Bellamy lying in a hospital bed having his teeth brushed, being shaved by an orderly and finally being placed in a harness to be lifted by a mechanical device from his bed into a wheelchair. Each of these events would have been admissible if verbally described at the trial and the use of this type of evidence is a matter for the trial court’s discretion. Appellants’ arguments that Bellamy’s prior physical condition render this evidence inadmissible go to the weight, I believe, rather than to admissibility. Whatever may be said of the film, it is essentially innocuous and by no stretch of reasoning can it be labelled substantially prejudicial. Certainly its reception does not warrant a reversal. Next, the majority concludes that an economic expert should not have been allowed to estimate the cost of future hospital services. The witness, Pat Huntley, based his estimates on the testimony of Dr. Roy McGlamery that John Bellamy would require hospitalization forty percent of the time. Appellants submit that appellees failed to lay a proper foundation for this evidence by establishing what part of such hospitalization would be attributable to pre-existing conditions of the appellee. But Grace Bellamy testified that John Bellamy’s general health before the accident was good, but for an occasional cold; that he was hospitalized for one or two weeks each year for an annual checkup, and it is clear from Dr. McGlamery’s testimony that, unlike others with a similar handicap, John Bellamy did not require hospitalization. The trial court heard the testimony in its entirety, whereas we see only abstracted portions of it and it is far from clear that this testimony, which was offered only as an estimate for the jury’s consideration, should not have been admitted. I would not reverse on so slender a ground. It is not clear whether the majority would reverse on two other points of contention, i.e. the prior driving record of John Bellamy and the exclusion of proffered testimony as to the side effects of medications being taken by Bellamy at the time of the accident. The weakness of the latter proof is that the side effects were admittedly only “possible’ ’ there was no attempt to show that Bellamy experienced any of the ill effects which sometimes accompany these medications. As to the driving history, appellant concedes such proof is not competent to show negligence in a latter collision, but urges that appellees opened the door for this proof. The argument is wholly - without substance - neither the trial judge’s comment on voir dire, nor the remark of a witness for Bellamy that “some handicapped persons are better than average drivers because they are aware of their deficiencies and compensate for it” were of any real consequence, certainly insufficient grounds for retrial. Minor incidents of this sort intersperse almost all trials of any length or complexity and the trial court is a far better judge of the impact of such things. Giving appellants’ arguments all possible weight, there is no sound basis for concluding that appellants’ case was substantially affected to their prejudice as required by the rule cited above.