Court Opinion

ID: 9452759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:51:09.77228+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:20.910359
License: Public Domain

FAHY, Circuit Judge:
I concur in affirmance, but have a few words of explanation of my position regarding the use of the accident report made to the Coast Guard and, also, the allowance of the expert in motorboat operation to testify as he did to the cause of the accident. As to the former, if error there was, and I am not convinced there was none, it was harmless. The discrepancies between the witness’ live testimony and his report, considered in the context of all the evidence, I think could not have affected the result reached by the judge who decided the case.
As to the expert’s testimony, I am not ready to accede to the correctness of permitting him to testify as to the cause of the accident. See 2 Jones, Evidence § 417, at 787 (5th ed.), though Mr. Wig-more apparently sees no difficulty. 7 Wigmore, Evidence § 1921, at 18 (3d ed.). Had this been a jury trial I might feel obliged to reverse; but a judge alone decided the case, and when objection to the testimony was made the judge stated, “It is his opinion, that is all.” True, the fact that it was his opinion on the ultimate question poses the problem, but the statement of the judge indicates she was more perceptive about the matter than a jury might have been.
On the case as a whole, I find no firm ground for reversal, nowithstanding the doubts I have expressed.