 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Kaeo v. Davis5/14/1986
with notice of the suit by publication, was absent but represented by counsel. Counsel convinced the trial judge that the prejudicial effect of evidence of Davis' consumption of alcoholic beverages outweighed its probative value, and the jury heard nothing about the activities of the driver and his passengers during the afternoon of January 12, 1979. Thus, at trial the focus of the case was the alleged knowledge on the City's part that the winding road was unsafe and a failure to render it safe.
At the close of evidence the case was submitted to the jury on
interrogatories propounded by the trial judge. The special verdict returned by the jury found the negligence of Davis and the City caused the accident, 99% of the negligence was attributable to Davis and 1% to the City, and the plaintiff suffered damages amounting to $725,000. A judgment holding Davis and the City jointly and severally liable for the damages, reduced by sums of $99,316 and $5,000 previously paid in settlement by Hawaiian Electric Company and Ford Motor Company, was entered.
II.
We begin our consideration of the appeal from the judgment and the cross-appeal by addressing the City's claim that the trial court committed reversible error in excluding from trial "testimony, whether live or by deposition, and all other evidence from any other source which would indicate that Defendant Alfred K. Davis had consumed alcohol prior to the accident in question."
A.
Whether Alfred K. Davis operated the errant vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or not undoubtedly was "an important circumstance bearing on the issue of his negligence." Soriano v. Medina, 648 S.W.2d 426, 428 (Tex. Civ. App.--San Antonio 1983) (citation omitted). "Our laws give a [party] the right to introduce evidence of those relevant and material facts which logically tend to prove the issues involved and which is not otherwise excluded." State v. Smith, 59 Haw. 565, 567-68, 583 P.2d 347, 349-50 (1978); see Hawaii Rules of Evidence (Haw. R. Evid.) 401 and 402. "The test of admissibility is not one of absolute proof of an ultimate fact in controversy." Bonacon v. Wax, 37 Haw. 57, 61,
reh'g denied, 37 Haw. 106 (1945); see also State v. Irebaria, 55 Haw. 353, 356, 519 P.2d 1246, 1248 (1974). For relevancy is not "dependent upon the conclusiveness of the testimony offered, but upon its legitimate tendency to establish a controverted fact." Bonacon v. Wax, 37 Haw. at 61.
Here, the trial court ruled out all evidence of drinking by Davis, whatever its source, on grounds that "you need other evidence besides a mere consumption of alcohol to bring it into evidence" and "in today's society, any indication of drinking . . . and driving can raise undue prejudice against [the driver]." We think the evidence of drinking and Davis' other conduct had a tendency to establish his negligence as the proximate cause of the harm that befell the plaintiff.
"Had the manner in which the [Davis] car was driven been wholly beyond criticism, the fact of [Davis'] intoxication would have been wholly irrelevant," McKenna v. Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft, 57 Haw. 460, 467, 558 P.2d 1018, 1023 (1977), and the trial court's ruling would be beyond reproach. But such was not the case; as the court noted in its oral ruling, there was evidence of speeding and of the driver taking his eyes
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hawaii DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|