Court Opinion

ID: 9751040
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 16:00:28.199801+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:33.344976
License: Public Domain

*165JOHNSON, Judge,
concurring:
I agree wholeheartedly with those portions of the excellent opinion of Judge Brosky which conclude (a) that HLA testing has been found to be a reliable technique, (b) that such tests are relevant to a determination of paternity, and (c) that HLA blood test results may be introduced as some evidence of paternity. I also agree that when a proper foundation has been laid, the results of such tests are admissible to prove the likelihood of paternity without prejudice to the party’s right to challenge the reliability of either the test methods or the results in an individual case.
The careful analysis of the various standards which should determine the admissibility of scientific evidence in paternity cases, as set forth by Justice Stewart speaking for the majority of the Supreme Court of Utah in Phillips v. Jackson, Utah, 615 P.2d 1228, 1233-36, 1237-38 (1980), leads me to conclude that we should either refrain altogether from pronouncing guidelines which, in the majority opinion, seek merely to form a “starting point in the establishment of a proper foundation,” or we should attack the problem more broadly with a view to providing the trial court and the practicing bar with guidelines as nearly complete as may be possible.
While I do not necessarily disagree with the four factors set forth in the majority opinion, I have some concern that their inclusion, to the exclusion of other factors, might result in undue, or inappropriate, emphasis being afforded those listed.
In the final analysis, the trial court is vested with a large measure of discretion in determining whether the scientific evidence and conclusions of an expert are admissible. It is not clear to me that the formulation of special rules to govern admissibility of HLA blood test results—as distinguished from other scientific evidence—serves either our adversary system of justice or the parties involved. I would prefer to leave to our trial courts the admittedly difficult task of formulating any special rules which may be required, secure in the belief that our appellate system *166remains available to guard against manifest abuse which results in prejudice to either contending party.