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Fielder v. Magnolia Beverage Co.4/29/1999
"as pure as the driven snow". This Court held that the state was permitted to impeach the defendant by inquiring into past arrests as well as other bad acts given the defendant's testimony. See also Pierce v. State, 401 So.2d 730, 732-33 (Miss.1981) (prosecution was permitted to impeach defendant's claim that he had sold drugs).
. To a large extent, the outcome in this case depended on the credibility of the witnesses. The jury should not have been led to believe, erroneously as it turns out, that Moss was the best driver the company employed. This testimony by Moss's employer was not only self serving, it could only have been false given Moss's driving record. The plaintiffs should have been given an opportunity to impeach Davis's testimony. The trial court's error in not allowing cross-examination on this issue was far from harmless.
. I also Dissent to the majority's holding on issues II (the trial court erred in refusing a guest passenger instruction) and III (the trial court erred in consolidating the two cases for trial). The majority admits that Instruction P-6 is a correct statement of the law particularly when combined with Instructions D-23 and D-25. The majority, nonetheless, finds the trial court's denial of the instruction to the plaintiff was harmless.
. In the typical case involving a two-car accident with injuries to a guest passenger, there will rarely be any negligence attributable to the guest passenger. Where both drivers are alleged to have been negligent, the question of liability to the guest can be a confusing one. The guest should not be penalized because the driver of the car in which he was riding may have been negligent. To a certain extent, Instruction P-6 was an attempt to clarify the confusion that can arise in this situation. A better solution in cases such as this is to have separate trials. The fact that the plaintiff driver may share in the liability for the accident but the guest passenger does not causes a conflict to arise with respect to a single lawyer representing both the plaintiff driver and the passenger. The lawyer defend the plaintiff driver with no negative consequences to the passenger who, by operation of law, cannot be negligent.
. For these reasons, I believe it was error to deny P-6 as well as to consolidate the cases for trial. Accordingly, I respectfully Dissent.
SULLIVAN, P.J., JOINS THIS OPINION.
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