Court Opinion

ID: 9553825
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:35:42.994137+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:18.799152
License: Public Domain

CONNOR, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the portion of the majority opinion which holds that it was harmless error to exclude the proffered opinion testimony of the witnesses Sturgeon and Reid. In my view their testimony was not cumulative to that of the witness Echols.
Mr. Echols admitted on cross-examination by defense counsel that Mrs. Jakoski would have had to have been on sick leave for a week before he would ever have noticed it. In contrast with these other witnesses, Sturgeon and Reid emerge as having observed the effects of Mrs. Jakoski’s injuries from a unique vantage point. Sturgeon faced Mrs. Jakoski across their desks. Reid worked with Mrs. Jakoski in the two-room office which housed their section and was in constant contact with her both before and after the accident. Thus, working literally along-side her and mindful of her day-to-day condition, Sturgeon and Reid were able to provide important details about which none of the other witnesses were or could have been knowledgeable. For these reasons I view the exclusion of the testimony as affecting the substantial rights of Mrs. Jakoski and as constituting reversible, not harmless, error.
With the balance of the majority opinion I agree.