Court Opinion

ID: 9760771
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:14:01.40023+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:16.203331
License: Public Domain

Robert L. Brown, Justice, concurring. I concur in the result but believe the trial court used the wrong standard in excluding all evidence of alcohol consumption by appellee Geoffrey Philip Grace in this case. However, because the correct standard was not argued to the trial court, I cannot say that the court abused its discretion in excluding the evidence. This case appears to raise an issue which this court has not addressed directly in the past. The circuit court excluded evidence of Grace’s consumption on the basis that it was not relevant “unless there’s evidence of intoxication.” Without intoxication, the court concluded that evidence of mere consumption of alcohol would be too prejudicial. I disagree that a person must be drunk or legally intoxicated for proof of alcohol consumption to be relevant. Rather, the proper test is that alcohol consumption is relevant when accompanied by other evidence of impairment. See Clement v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 130 F.R.D. 530 (D.N.J. 1990); Kaeo v. Davis, 719 P.2d 387 (Haw. 1986). In Kaeo v. Davis, supra, the Hawaii Supreme Court vacated a judgment in favor of the defendant, who was driving the car with the injured party as a passenger, and remanded for a new trial when the trial court had excluded evidence of the driver’s drinking. The driver had consumed “several beers” that afternoon before the accident at dusk. The trial court in Kaeo had concluded, similar to the instant case, that any evidence of drinking regardless of the amount would raise undue prejudice against the driver. The Supreme Court concluded that this analysis was error and constituted an abuse of discretion: Granted, the evidence of drinking was prejudicial. Still, evidence with a capacity for unfair prejudice cannot be equated with testimony simply adverse to the opposing party; for evidence is only material if it is prejudicial in some relevant respect. 1 J. Weinstein and M. Berger, Evidence ¶ 403[03] (1985) (citation omitted). We are not willing to assume “any indication of drinking” is so unfair to the drinking driver that the opposing party must be denied his right to have relevant and material evidence considered by the trier of fact. Nor are we willing to concede the trial juries, with guidance from the trial court, are incapable of rendering objective fact determinations in trials of negligence actions in which drinking is involved. The judge’s ruling of inadmissibility, it appears, was influenced by representations that in pre-trial depositions Miss Kido and Samuel Taupo testified Davis was sober prior to the accident and the investigating officer detected none of the tell-tale signs of drunkenness when he questioned Davis at the accident scene. These, however, were matters that could have been offered instead for assessment by the trier of fact along with the evidence of drinking by the driver. The trial judge’s decision not to permit the jury to hear such evidence was an abuse of discretion amounting to error, and we cannot say it had no effect upon the outcome of the trial. Since our conclusion compels a retrial of the action, we proceed to the issue raised by the plaintiff in her cross-appeal. Kaeo, 719 P.2d at 392. The Supreme Court in Kaeo did state that had the driving of the car been wholly beyond criticism, the trial court’s ruling would have been correct. But there was evidence of speeding and the driver’s taking his eyes off the road while attempting to round a curve. The Supreme Court observed that there was enough from which the jury could conclude that the driver was impaired in his ability to perceive the damages with clarity, make decisions with prudence, and operate the vehicle with the skill and caution required by law. It is clear that mere alcohol consumption by itself cannot be equated to unfitness to drive. City of Little Rock v. Cameron, 320 Ark. 444, 897 S.W.2d 562 (1995); Clement v. Consolidated Rail Corp., supra. But when coupled with other evidence of impairment and unfitness to drive, such as erratic driving, it is relevant. Jones v. Freese, 743 S.W.2d 454 (Mo. App. 1987); McCall v. Liberty, 248 Ark. 619, 453 S.W.2d 24 (1970). That is what we have in the matter before us. The circumstances of this case were that it occurred at about 10:00 p.m. Eight teenage boys were in a ski boat operated by Grace on Lake Hamilton. Grace was 17 at the time and admitted to drinking one beer before the accident. According to two investigatory officers, Grace was not intoxicated but had a “moderate” or “medium” smell of alcohol about him at some point after the collision. There were six empty beer cans around the scene of the accident. Grace at some time after the collision tested at .04 blood/alcohol content on a field breathalyzer test, according to the proffered testimony of Officer Richard Rowlett, but admittedly field breathalyzer tests are of questionable probative value. The complaint by the Wades alleged that the ski boat was speeding and that the driver had failed-to keep a proper lookout. Grace admitted to driving 30 miles per hour. The Wades theory of the case was that the ski boat attempted to pass the party barge on the wrong side. To be sure, the central issue in this case was whether the party barge had the appropriate lighting. But any impairment of the driver, due to alcohol consumption, coupled with allegations of speeding was an appropriate matter for the jury to weigh. I am fearful that this case will be precedent for the proposition that only proof of legal intoxication is relevant in a negligence case involving reckless driving of cars or boats. That should not be the law. Nevertheless, because our trial courts are granted great discretion in this area, and because the correct standard was not argued to the trial court and, indeed, was not argued on appeal, I cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion. Holt, C.J., joins in this concurrence.