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Kraus v. Taylor4/3/1998
No. 2720 Philadelphia 1997
*PET. FOR REARGUMENT FILED 4/16/98 *
Timothy Kraus (appellant) challenges the denial of the post-trial motions he filed after an unfavorable verdict in his negligence action against James E. Taylor and Harris Fuels, Inc. (appellees). This litigation requires us to consider when intoxication evidence may be admitted against a pedestrian plaintiff in a suit arising from a collision with an automobile. We are also required to consider when a history of drug and alcohol abuse is admissible against a plaintiff who alleges permanent injury. We affirm.
Appellee Taylor struck appellant on October 20, 1990, while driving a vehicle owned by appellee Harris Fuels. At the time of the accident, approximately midnight, appellant was walking across Street Road in Lower South Hampton Township, Pennsylvania, on his way to work at a nearby gas station. Appellant filed a negligence suit against appellees seeking damages for medical expenses and for permanent injury. The case was tried before a jury in October of 1996. At trial, the court admitted evidence that appellant had a blood alcohol content in excess of 0.25 percent at the time of the accident. The court also admitted medical records establishing that appellant suffers from chronic drug and alcohol abuse. At the close of evidence, the court granted appellee Harris Fuels' motion for a non-suit. Following deliberations, the jury found that appellee Taylor was negligent but that his negligence was not a substantial cause of the accident. Accordingly, the court recorded a verdict against appellant and discharged the jury. Appellant filed post-trial motions, which were denied on June 9, 1997. Appellant timely appealed the judgment to this Court.
Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of appellant's chronic drug and alcohol abuse because the evidence was irrelevant, prejudicial, and privileged. We disagree.
Our standard for reviewing the relevancy of evidence admitted at trial is well established. At the outset, the admissibility of evidence is a matter addressed solely to the discretion of the trial court and may be reversed only upon a showing that the court abused its discretion. Evidence is considered relevant if it logically tends to establish a material fact in the case, tends to make the fact at issue more probable, or supports a reasonable inference or presumption regarding the existence of a material fact.
Commonwealth v. LaCava, 542 Pa. 160, 174, 666 A.2d 221, 227-28 (1995) (citations omitted). Here, appellant sought damages for permanent injury. Such a claim requires the jury to evaluate the claimant's life expectancy. Evidence of appellant's chronic drug and alcohol abuse strongly suggests that his life expectancy deviates from the average. Cf. Capan v. Divine Providence Hospital, 410 A.2d 1282, 1288 (Pa.Super. 1980) (affirming exclusion of hypothetical question concerning life expectancy which did not mention decedent's chronic alcoholism). Accordingly, the evidence of appellant's drug abuse tended to establish a material fact and was therefore relevant. Moreover, actuarial tables were submitted to the jury, at appellant's request, to help them evaluate his life expectancy. When such tables are submitted in a personal injury case, the jury must be permitted to consider individual characteristics that impact on the injured party's life expectancy. See Helm v. Eagle Downs-Keystone Racetrack, 561 A.2d 812, 813 (Pa.Super. 1989) (discussing the appropriate charge when actuarial tables are submitted to a jury).
Appellant relies on Labrador v. City of Philadelphia, 578 A.2d 634 (Pa.Cmwlth. 1990) for the proposition that evi
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