Court Opinion

ID: 9844413
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:02:26.759388+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:34.608248
License: Public Domain

KNUDSON, Chief Justice,
with whom
McQUADE, Justice,
concurs (dissenting).
The majority opinion in this case correctly quotes the rule that a party in a law action has a right to insist upon a verdict or finding based upon the law and the evidence in the case and not, in the absence of evidence, upon mere inference or conjecture. The opinion also refers to decisions of this court and I.C. § 13-219, wherein it is stated that “whenever there is substantial evidence to support a verdict the same shall not be set aside.”
We disagree with the conclusion reached in the majority opinion wherein it states that the respondent did not submit sufficient competent evidence to sustain the verdict. Without attempting to call attention to all the evidence tending to establish respondent’s theory of the case attention is called to the following evidence submitted;
That the deceased (Dr. Williams) left the home of Mr. Hutchings at about 9:30 a. m. after being detained an hour or more on account of fog conditions; that he ate a good breakfast and was very jovial before leaving; after traveling 25 miles the right front end of his automobile struck the bridge abutment on the right-hand side of the highway with such force that the right front wheel and fender “were pushed under the car” resulting in damage repair cost amounting to $351.00.
At approximately 11:00 o’clock a. m. Dr. Williams was found alone in his car at the scene of the accident, his automobile partly over the side of the bridge at a point approximately two-thirds of the distance across the bridge. He was found with his head *437on the steering wheel in a comatose condition; one side of his face was discolored, his face was extensively bruised and was bleeding from his mouth and nose. He was shortly thereafter taken to the hospital where Dr. Hatch, the only doctor who attended him after the accident, found him in a critical condition, his face swollen, bleeding from the nose and mouth, with abrasions and bruises on his face. Dr. Hatch was in attendance until he died a short time later from a cerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Hatch signed the death certificate in which it is stated that the accident and head injury was a condition contributing to the death. Furthermore the doctor testified positively it was his opinion that striking the bridge was the fact which caused the cerebral hemorrhage resulting in the death; such opinion is clearly stated in the first question and answer quoted in the majority opinion under “On Cross-examination.”
We do not agree with the statement contained in the majority opinion relative to Dr. Hatch’s testimony that “These statements of the doctor dealing with probabilities were in each instance immediately qualified by him to the realm of possibilities.” To us it is clear that Dr. Hatch consistently held to his opinion that the accident caused the hemorrhage and that such opinion was well “within common medical reasoning.”
It is true that other witnesses expressed different opinions as to the time and cause of the hemorrhage, and there were conflicts as concerns other evidence. Dr. Giddings, as an expert, expressed his opinion as to the cause of death and effects of the happenings immediately preceding the death, based his opinion upon an autopsy performed by him after Dr. Williams had been dead and embalmed for the period of five days. The testimony of Dr. Giddings was introduced by deposition. In this connection we consider it significant to call attention to the following answer given by Dr. Giddings who performed the autopsy. When asked if he had any way of showing how long the hemorrhage occurred prior to Dr. Williams’ death, his answer was:
“A I think it is difficult in this case. As I mentioned, this body had been embalmed five days, and then -the autopsy was ordered. We always like— for complete evaluation we like to examine the body prior to embalming. I think we can he much more dogmatic in our statements under those conditions.”
Dr. Giddings acknowledged that he did not find or examine the specific leakage point in Dr. Williams’ brain where the hemorrhage occurred. When asked “were you able to ascertain how rapidly the hem*438orrhage had come on, that is the accumulation, had it been sudden, or over a gradual period, were you able to find that out?” he stated, “I could not answer that question.” As an expert he further testified that “where there is gradual seeping these patients complain of intense headache, and they usually consult a doctor, or tell friends or relatives or something that ‘this is such a severe headache I cant stand it any longer.’ ” However, without having any information whatever relative to Dr. Williams’ health history Dr. Giddings and Dr. Barnard, who based his opinion solely upon the autopsy report, expressed the opinion that the hemorrhage preceded the car accident.
In contradiction to such opinions Dr. Hatch, in expressing his opinion as to when the hemorrhage occurred, stated:
“ * * * I would say this, that I feel it is presumptious to say you know that it did happen before he ran into the bridge. I think that the picture that I saw, he well could have run into the bridge before-hand because he did have — he was bleeding, he had signs of injury, * * * ”
“ * * * It is apparent, with the facts that I have obtained in this case, that the man evidently became unconscious very suddenly and completely, and I think it would be very reasonable to assume that the trauma played a role in the picture — the injury.” * * *
It cannot be said that Dr. Hatch was not well qualified and competent to give his opinion as an expert. In fact his qualifications were admitted. The jury was fully instructed regarding the elements which determined the value of an expert opinion and they were instructed to give expert opinions such weight and value as they believed to be right and proper under the circumstances.
Evidence was introduced by respondent regarding weather and ground conditions in the area where the accident happened. A research meteorologist, quoting weather records made for the National Reactor Testing Station, testified that such records disclosed that at 8:00 o’clock a. m. on the day of the accident, in that area, "there was glaze, light on the ground and exposed objects.” When asked what was meant by “glaze” he replied:
“A Glaze is formed from precipitation at the surface- — if the surface of the ground is much cooler than the area above it, so if it is raining, as the rain falls it falls on these cold objects and so immediately becomes ice. We call it glaze. It was reported light on the ground and exposed objects.
“Q All right, you may .go ahead. That was at 8:00 o’clock?
*439“A That was at 8:00 o’clock. * * *»
He further testified that at the same time and place the temperature was 25 degrees and at 10:00 a. m. it was 29 degrees; that during the entire morning the humidity-remained at 100%. It will also he remembered that fog conditions delayed Dr. Williams for more than an hour in starting his trip and that throughout the distance between where he started and where he had the accident it was “uphill all the way.”
Under these circumstances we believe that it was purely a question for the jury to determine the facts from the conflicting testimony of all the witnesses and from all the evidence adduced at the trial arrive at a verdict. Evidently the jury concluded that the opinion of Dr. Hatch and the evidence submitted in support of respondent’s case was the more reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the circumstances established. We are convinced that there was circumstantial evidence from which the jury could conclude that weather or road conditions caused the accident and that the trauma and excitement that he experienced resulting from the accident caused the hemorrhage producing his death. It is not the privilege of this court to weigh and evaluate the testimony of each witness— that was the province of the jury. -The judgment of the lower court should be sustained.