Court Opinion

ID: 9765623
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:10:45.218533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:12.359309
License: Public Domain

PHILLIPS, Justice,
concurring.
Although I share to some extent the concerns expressed by the dissent regarding the excessive use of marginal “experts” in modern trial practice, I believe that the testimony of the fact witnesses, taken together, constitutes more than a scintilla of evidence to support the verdict in this case for the Havners. Accordingly, I join in the court’s judgment.
The factual evidence in the record is detailed in the court’s opinion. Taken in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, it provides some evidence that Havner was taken suddenly and against her will by her assailant from inside the store, that E-Z Mart chose not to equip the store with various available safety devices, that one or more of those devices could have been successfully activated by Havner, and that the local police could have arrived on the scene within one minute after receiving the alarm. Finally, the failure of the police investigation, focusing on Havner’s past friends and acquaintances, is some evidence that the crime was perpetrated by a stranger.
Whether some, most, or even all of the expert testimony proffered in this case was conjecture or surmise is thus an interesting, but at this juncture irrelevant, inquiry. I agree that this cause should be remanded to the court of appeals to review the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s finding as to causation.
COOK, J., joins in this concurring opinion.