80 Hawai'i 212, Walsh v. Chan

• Decision Date: 27 December 1995
• Docket Number: No. 17426,17426
• Citation: 908 P.2d 1198
• Parties: 80 Hawai'i 212 Timothy J. WALSH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Serena CHAN, Defendant-Appellee, and Ernest Pong, John Does 1-5, Jane Does 1-5, Doe Partnerships 1-5, Doe Corporations 1-5, and Doe Governmental Entities 1-5, Defendants.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 1198

908 P.2d 1198

80 Hawai'i 212

Timothy J. WALSH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Serena CHAN, Defendant-Appellee and Ernest Pong, John Does 1-5, Jane Does 1-5, Doe Partnerships 1-5, Doe Corporations 1-5, and Doe Governmental Entities 1-5, Defendants.

No. 17426.

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

Dec. 27, 1995.

Randall Y.S. Chung and Daryl M. Arakaki of Matsui, Chung, Sumida & Chang, Honolulu, for defendant-appellee-petitioner Serena Chan.

David C. Schutter and Paul V. Smith of David C. Schutter & Associates, Honolulu for plaintiff-appellant-respondent Timothy J. Walsh.

Before MOON, C.J., and KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA and RAMIL, JJ.

MOON, Chief Justice.

In this negligence case stemming from an automobile accident, plaintiff-appellant Timothy J. Walsh appealed from the First Circuit Court's: (1) order granting defendant-appellee Serena Chan's motion for entry of judgment; (2) order denying Walsh's motion for new trial; (3) order granting Chan's motion to set aside taxation of costs; and (4) judgment in favor of Chan. By opinion filed September 20, 1995, the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) vacated the judgment and orders appealed from and remanded the case for a new trial on damages. See Walsh v. Chan, 80 Hawai'i 188, 907 P.2d 774 (Haw.Ct.App.1995).

In so holding, the ICA concluded that the trial court erred in granting Chan's motion to preclude the admission of the oral testimony of Terri Pynchon, the driver of the vehicle in which Walsh was a passenger at the time of the accident. The ICA reasoned, inter alia, that, because Pynchon's testimony was both relevant and not prejudicial, Walsh's motion for new trial should have been granted.

We granted certiorari and take this opportunity to review the ICA's ruling with respect to Pynchon's testimony. For the reasons discussed below, we agree with the ICA that Pynchon's testimony was relevant, but we disagree with the ICA's conclusion that the testimony's probative value was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence in this case. We therefore reverse the portion of the ICA's decision vacating the trial court's order denying Walsh's motion for new trial on that basis. The ICA's opinion is affirmed in all other respects, and the case is remanded for a new trial.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts forming the basis of the dispute in the present case are exhaustively set forth in the ICA's opinion. See Walsh, at 189-90, 907 P.2d at 775-76. Therefore, we briefly recount only the pertinent facts.

On November 13, 1990, Walsh was a passenger in a car driven by Pynchon. While waiting to make a right turn at the intersection of Campbell Avenue and Kapahulu Avenue in the City and County of Honolulu, Pynchon's car was struck from behind by another vehicle driven by Chan. Prior to trial, Chan admitted liability; therefore, the sole issue for the jury to consider was whether Walsh sustained any injuries as a result of the accident, and, if so, the nature and extent of those injuries and damages.

Also, prior to trial, Walsh named Pynchon as a trial witness to testify as to her own injuries, purportedly to bolster the existence of Walsh's injuries and to refute the anticipated testimony of the defense's accident reconstruction expert that the force generated by the impact between the two vehicles involved in the accident was insufficient to cause injury. Chan moved in limine to preclude, inter alia, the admission of Pynchon's oral testimony as to her injuries on the grounds that such testimony was irrelevant and unduly prejudicial.

In support of her motion in limine, Chan argued that Walsh could not establish the proper foundation for the admission of Pynchon's testimony because Walsh: (1) would have to establish that Pynchon's anatomy and physical condition were the same or substantially similar to that of Walsh at the moment immediately before the accident; (2) had neither done any discovery regarding Pynchon's physical condition nor disclosed any of Pynchon's medical records; and (3) had not listed as witnesses any of Pynchon's treating professional health care providers or any expert witnesses to opine as to the design of the driver's and passenger's seats in Pynchon's car and the effect any design differences may have had upon the forces generated by the collision at issue.

Walsh argued that Pynchon's testimony was relevant to whether the collision between Chan's and Pynchon's cars was sufficiently strong so as to cause injury generally. After a hearing on May 10, 1993, the trial court granted Chan's motion in limine, thus precluding Pynchon from testifying.

The case proceeded to trial, and the jury awarded Walsh $8,600.00 in special damages ($6,100.00 in medical expenses and $2,500 in lost wages) and no general damages. Asserting that Walsh's damages conclusively established that he had failed to satisfy the requirements of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 431:10C-306(b)(2) (Spec.Pamp.1987), ¹ in that his damages did not exceed the medical-rehabilitative limit for expenses provided in HRS § 431:10C-103(10)(A) (Supp.1989), ² Chan moved for entry of judgment in her favor, pursuant to Hawai'i Rules of Civil Procedure (HRCP) Rule 58. The trial court agreed with Chan's interpretation of HRS § 431:10C-306, and, after denying Walsh's motion for new trial, entered judgment in favor of Chan. This timely appeal followed.

As previously stated, the ICA reversed the trial court's judgment and orders and remanded the case for a new trial, holding, inter alia, that, because the trial court erroneously granted Chan's motion in limine to preclude Pynchon's testimony concerning her alleged injuries, Walsh's motion for new trial should have been granted. ³ The ICA noted:

As to whether Pynchon's testimony was irrelevant, the jury heard Chan's [accident] reconstruction expert testify that the force of impact was not sufficient to cause Walsh's injuries. Conversely, Walsh's reconstruction expert testified that the impact was strong enough. Because of the conflicting expert testimonies, Pynchon's testimony regarding her own injuries was clearly relevant to the factual issue of whether, and if so, to what extent, the rear-end collision caused Walsh's injuries.

As to whether Pynchon's testimony was prejudicial, no unfair prejudice existed because Walsh named Pynchon as a prospective witness on the issue of damages in his pre-trial statement filed and served on Chan on May 4, 1992.

Because Pynchon's testimony was not irrelevant or prejudicial, we hold that the trial court erred when it excluded Pynchon's testimony regarding the fact that she also suffered injuries in the accident and, accordingly, reverse [the trial court's order denying Walsh's motion for new trial].

Walsh, at 196, 907 P.2d at 782. Chan timely filed a petition for writ of certiorari on September 29, 1995, which we granted by order filed October 9, 1995.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The sole issue we address today on certiorari is whether the ICA erred in vacating the trial court's order denying Walsh's motion for new trial on the basis that Chan's motion in limine to exclude Pynchon's oral testimony should have been denied. Although the trial court did not state its basis for granting Chan's motion in limine in its order, the memoranda in support of and in opposition to the motion indicate that Chan sought exclusion of Pynchon's testimony solely on grounds of relevance, pursuant to Hawai'i Rules of Evidence (HRE) Rules 401, ⁴ 402 ⁵ and 403. ⁶ As we have previously noted,

[D]ifferent standards of review must be applied to trial court decisions regarding the admissibility of evidence, depending on the requirements of the particular rule of evidence at issue. When application of a particular evidentiary rule can yield only one correct result, the proper standard for appellate review is the right/wrong standard. However, the traditional abuse of discretion standard should be applied in the case of those rules of evidence that require a "judgment call" on the part of the trial court.

Craft v. Peebles, 78 Hawai'i 287, 293-94, 893 P.2d 138, 144-45 (1995) (quoting Kealoha v. County of Hawai'i, 74 Haw. 308, 319-20, 844 P.2d 670, 676 (1993), reconsideration denied, 74 Haw. 650, 847 P.2d 263 (1993)) (citations and quotation marks omitted). Based on the foregoing reasoning, evidentiary decisions based on HRE Rule 401 are reviewed under the right/wrong standard of review. Evidentiary decisions based on HRE Rule 403, which require a "judgment call" on the part of the trial court, are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. See Sato v. Tawata, 79 Hawai'i 14, 19, 897 P.2d 941, 946 (1995) ("[T]he determination of the admissibility of relevant evidence under HRE 403 is eminently suited to the trial court's exercise of its discretion because it requires a 'cost-benefit calculus' and a 'delicate balance between probative value and prejudicial effect.' " (Citations and brackets omitted.)). An abuse of discretion occurs where the trial court has "clearly exceeded the bounds of reason or disregarded rules or principles of law or practice to the substantial detriment of a party litigant." Id.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Pynchon's Testimony Is Relevant Under HRE Rule 401.

Under HRE Rule 401, evidence is relevant if it has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." We agree with the ICA's conclusion that Pynchon's testimony regarding her injuries in the present case was relevant because the jury had been presented with conflicting opinions by Chan's and Walsh's accident reconstruction experts regarding the sufficiency of the force generated by the collision between the two vehicles to cause Walsh's injuries. As Professor Bowman notes, "any evidence that...