Court Opinion

ID: 9735836
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:32:20.652233+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:01.889566
License: Public Domain

PAPADAKOS, Justice,
dissenting.
Although I commend my colleague who has done a superb job in describing the differences between scope of review and standard of review and alerting the bench and bar not to interchange their use as though they are synonymous, I cannot join in the conclusion that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in ordering a new trial. I must therefore dissent.
The gist of the majority opinion is that the trial judge committed “very serious trial error” in allowing into evidence the fact that the ambulance crew left the scene of the incident without staying to offer assistance. The majority and the trial judge are of the view that this evidence highly prejudiced the jury against the ambulance service. I think that the majority makes a mountain out of a molehill.
The evidence against the ambulance crew was overwhelming to establish their negligence in allowing the decedent, who was *138being taken to a mental institution, to jump out of the ambulance and over the railing to the river below. This fact alone was sufficient to support the verdict of the jury and the fact that the crew showed callousness or hard heartedness did not make the crew more negligent. At best, the introduction of this evidence was mere surplusage and constituted harmless error, if it was error.
If this evidence had not been introduced and the jury had brought in a verdict for the ambulance service, I believe that the conscience of the court would have been shocked and a new trial would have been granted to the plaintiff, the evidence of negligence against the ambulance service being so clear and convincing as to its negligence. I cannot believe that justice will not produce the same verdict in a new trial.
Since I believe that the evidence which offends the majority is, at most, harmless error, I respectfully dissent and would affirm the Commonwealth Court.