Court Opinion

ID: 9638967
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:00:13.071194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:11.060527
License: Public Domain

concurring.
I concur in the result only, because I believe that the plaintiffs (appellees herein) utterly failed to carry their burden of proof and persuasion as appellants in Superior Court, and that, therefore, Superior Court erred in reversing the trial court.
*18The majority accepts the Superior Court’s characterization of the issue in this case as whether the trial court’s ruling allowing defense cross-examination of plaintiffs’ witness on “collateral sources” prejudiced the plaintiffs’ case. Both Superior Court and the majority of this Court acknowledge that the record is inadequate to show whether plaintiffs actually called the witness and, if so, whether cross-examination of said witness about “collateral sources” actually took place. Nevertheless, the Superior Court assumed that said witness testified and assumed that such cross-examination probably took place.
In my opinion, such an assumption has no place in appellate review and it was error for Superior Court to (1) make that assumption, and (2) use the assumed facts as the predicate for its decision to reverse the trial court. The majority perpetuates the error of that unwarranted assumption. It was the obligation of the plaintiffs, as appellants in Superior Court, to ensure that the record on review would be adequate to permit meaningful scrutiny. Mechanisms exist for reconstruction of a record where, as here, a critical gap appears. Pa.R.A.P. 1923 and 1924. The lacuna in the record should be held against plaintiffs-appellees herein who failed to place upon and preserve for the record sufficient data to support its position and convince a reviewing court that the trial court’s decision was erroneous.
Moreover, my reading of the appellate record — such as it is — leads me to believe that Superior Court’s assumption is materially false. The briefs on appeal, the trial court’s opinion denying the post-trial motions and the reproduced portions of the transcript of the in-chambers discussion of plaintiffs’ motion in limine indicate to me that plaintiffs’ witness did not in fact, testify as to the plaintiff-husband’s “lost wages.” The trial court actually ruled that there were no lost wages for the three year period for which the plaintiff-husband’s salary was paid. Accordingly, it is doubtful that defendant would have cross-examined that witness on “collateral sources” of payments of lost wages *19since there was probably no evidence of wages lost for that period.
Of course, the above discussion illustrates the problem in this case — a reviewing court should not be dealing in “probablies” and "doubtfuls” when it comes to the record. In this case, there is a significant gap in the record which precludes meaningful appellate review, and plaintiffs-appellants below must be held accountable for that gap. Superi- or Court should on that basis be reversed, and the order of the Court of Common Pleas reinstated.
Having said that, I must note my disagreement with the majority’s unqualified statement of law that “an erroneous evidentiary ruling on damages, in a case where the jury has found for the defendant on the liability issue, is harmless and does not entitle the plaintiff to a new trial.” At 1252. While the cases cited by the majority1 to support that proposition did find the erroneous evidentiary rulings to be harmless in those cases, they do not support the blanket proposition that erroneous evidentiary rulings on damages are always harmless where the jury finds for the defendant on liability. To the contrary, this Court has recognized that, in some cases, a jury’s verdict on the liability issue may well have been undermined by an erroneous admission of evidence pertaining to damages, such as evidence of payments from “collateral sources.” See, e.g.: Lengle v. North Lebanon Township, 274 Pa. 51, 117 A. 403 (1922); Palandro v. Bollinger, 409 Pa. 296, 186 A.2d 11 (1962); see also Trump v. Capek, 267 Pa.Super. 355, 406 A.2d 1079 (1979). Thus, while I express no opinion as to whether or not an erroneous evidentiary ruling on “collateral sources” in this case would have been harmless or prejudicial error,2 *20it is clear that such evidence can, in certain circumstances, prejudice a plaintiff and improperly influence a jury so as to call into question the reliability of its verdict on liability.
McDERMOTT and PAPADAKOS, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.

. Downey v. Weston, 451 Pa. 259, 301 A.2d 635 (1973); Middleton v. Glenn, 393 Pa. 360, 143 A.2d 14 (1958).

. I express no opinion because of the state of the record which precludes me from knowing whether or not there was error. Moreover, even if there was error, the determination of harmless versus prejudicial error might depend upon whether “bad evidence” of “collateral sources” came in or whether plaintiffs were simply not permitted to introduce "good evidence” of one component of their damages.
*20The prejudicial effect of the latter might be significantly less than that of the former.