Buziashvili v. Inman

• Decision Date: 11 February 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-5209,96-5209
• Citation: 106 F.3d 709
• Parties: 46 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 510 Nelly BUZIASHVILI, Individually and as Widow of Michael Buziashvili, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James INMAN and Veanna Inman, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 709

106 F.3d 709

46 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 510

Nelly BUZIASHVILI, Individually and as Widow of Michael Buziashvili, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James INMAN and Veanna Inman, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 96-5209.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 3, 1996.

Decided Feb. 11, 1997.

Jerrold L. Becker (argued and briefed), Lockridge, Becker & Valone, Knoxville, TN, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

George H. Buxton, III (argued and briefed), Buxton & Wilkinson, Oak Ridge, TN, for Defendants-Appellants.

Before: MERRITT, KENNEDY, and GUY, Circuit Judges.

RALPH B. GUY, Jr., Circuit Judge.

In this wrongful death action, defendants appeal from a jury verdict awarding $500,000 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages. Joint and several liability was imposed upon the husband and wife defendants.

On appeal, defendants claim error in a number of particulars that we will discuss. Upon examining the entire trial record, we conclude that the judgment against James Inman should be affirmed but the judgment entered against his wife, Veanna, should be vacated.

I.

The decedent, Michael Buziashvili, immigrated with his family to the United States from Russia in 1973. The Buziashvilis settled in a community primarily composed of Georgian immigrants in New York City. Michael found work as a cab driver and continued to drive a cab six to seven days a week until 1988 when he invested his savings in a jewelry business in partnership with his nephew, Albert Tizov. Together they opened a small jewelry store in a mall in Queens, New York. For the purpose of buying jewelry at wholesale, Buziashvili and Tizov often travelled to jewelry trade shows. It was at such a show in Boston, Massachusetts, that they first met defendant James Inman, who was a wholesale jewelry merchant. Inman sold jewelry primarily at trade shows, but he occasionally sold from his home in Tennessee. Inman's wife, defendant Veanna Inman, was also involved in operating the wholesale jewelry business.

It appears from the record that purchases were made from the Inmans on four occasions, the first being at the Boston trade show and subsequently at a trade show in Cleveland. Buziashvili and Tizov also travelled to the Inmans' house in Tennessee on two occasions to buy jewelry. Typically, $20,000 to $30,000 worth of jewelry was purchased. All of the jewelry purchased was represented to be 14K gold, and the price paid was determined by the weight of the jewelry.

At some point in time, a disagreement arose between Buziashvili and Tizov and the Inmans. Buziashvili and Tizov claimed the jewelry that the Inmans were selling them was not 14K gold, but was only 11K gold. They further claimed that they had a number of dissatisfied customers to whom they had to make refunds and that they ended up scrapping about one-third of the jewelry purchased from the Inmans. It is the Inmans' version of the dispute that the jewelry sold was as represented, and that Buziashvili and Tizov had been stealing jewelry from them during the course of the jewelry display that preceded the purchases. Notwithstanding the claims and suspicions of the parties, they continued to do business with one another.

Tizov testified at trial they had repeatedly discussed with the Inmans the problem with the jewelry purchased, and each time the Inmans promised to make it up to them by giving them some jewelry free the next time or giving them a discount on the jewelry they purchased. This never occurred, however.

On July 3, 1989, Tizov and Buziashvili flew from New York to Tennessee to purchase more gold from the Inmans and allegedly to resolve the dispute relative to the jewelry previously purchased. Because large quantities of valuable jewelry were kept by the Inmans in their house, the house was surrounded by a chain-link fence with a gate that could only be opened by remote control from inside. In addition, the Inmans had one or more watchdogs and kept a number of firearms on the premises. On or about July 3, 1989, the Inmans were also in the process of installing a closed-circuit television system in their house that would monitor the area of the basement they used for the display and sale of jewelry on those relatively rare occasions when purchasers came directly to the house.

In connection with the July 3, 1989 trip, it is clear that Tizov, at least, by his own admission, did not intend to rely on the goodheartedness of the Inmans to make them whole for the alleged short-weighting that had previously occurred. Tizov came equipped with special pockets built into his pants in which he intended to hide jewelry that he was going to steal from the Inmans. Whether the Inmans had similar intentions to extract their own pound of flesh from Tizov and Buziashvili is not clear, except that two other men were hidden in the Inmans' house when Buziashvili and Tizov arrived. It is not clear from the record whether these men, who were hidden upstairs, were able to observe what went on in the basement sales area by way of a television monitor or whether they were able to position themselves in some manner to observe that area.

What occurred next is the crux of the factual dispute in this litigation. After apparently exchanging pleasantries with the Inmans, Buziashvili began discussing with James Inman either the purchase of more jewelry or what Inman was going to do, if anything, to make good for past shortages. Tizov, in the meantime, asked Mrs. Inman to go upstairs and get him a glass of water, and while she was gone, he began stuffing jewelry in the hidden pockets of his pants. At this point in time, the two men from upstairs, one of them armed with a shotgun, descended upon Buziashvili and Tizov. It is the Inmans' contention that mutual combat then followed among the five men present and that Buziashvili began choking James Inman. Inman claims that to ward off Buziashvili, he hit him in the head with a handgun that had been on the table with the jewelry. Tizov testified that Inman hit Buziashvili in the head several times with the gun. Inman further claims that he and Buziashvili struggled for control of the weapon, and in the course of the struggle the weapon discharged and the bullet entered Buziashvili's skull and killed him. Inman also contends that Tizov, upon being caught stealing jewelry, pleaded with Inman not to call the police and promised that he could raise $100,000 which he would give to the Inmans if they would let him go.

It is Tizov's version that the Inmans demanded $100,000 from Tizov under the threat of serious harm coming to him. There is no doubt that at some point Tizov's hands and feet were bound with tape. Inman contends that tying up Tizov, as well as all other actions taken by him and the other two men present, were merely to hold Buziashvili and Tizov on the premises until the police could arrive and arrest them for the jewelry theft.

The police, although ultimately summoned, were not immediately called. Inman first placed one or more calls to his attorney and also called a neighbor. Someone eventually called the police, but it was 75 minutes after the shooting occurred before the police arrived. What happened after the police arrived and in the ensuing days and weeks is only very sketchily set forth in the record. ¹ We are able to deduce, however, that Tizov was allowed to return to New York with no criminal charges placed against him. Ross Haines, a criminal investigator for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, travelled to New York and took a statement from Tizov in which he admitted stealing from Inman on the day that Buziashvili was killed as well as on an earlier occasion. ² The balance of what Tizov told Haines was exculpatory as to him and Buziashvili and inculpatory as to James Inman and the other two men who were present on that date. Although no details are set forth, it was a trial stipulation that "James Inman, was convicted on August 1, 1990, of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, and robbery and was incarcerated for one year before being released on probation." ³ Although there is no indication of what evidence was offered in the criminal trial of James Inman, we do know that police found almost $30,000 hidden in Inman's attic and that some of the bills had blood on them. Tizov indicated in his trial testimony that he and Buziashvili had brought $30,000 with them for the purchase of jewelry. Forensic evidence also established that neither Tizov nor Buziashvili's prints were found on any of the firearms found in Inman's house, and that a forensic pathologist testified that Buziashvili suffered at least twelve blows to the head by a blunt instrument, which may well have been sufficient to have caused death even if he had not been shot. The pathologist further testified that it was beyond dispute that the firearm was being held against the head of Buziashvili when it discharged.

II.

On appeal, the Inmans claim there were eleven trial errors, any one of which would require reversal. Since we have indicated that we believe the claims of errors relative to the judgment against Veanna Inman are well taken, we first address those claims.

Notwithstanding that plaintiff knew the jury in the wrongful death case would be made aware that Inman had already been convicted of assaulting, killing and robbing Buziashvili, a very broad approach was taken insofar as the complaint filed in this case is concerned. Several theories of recovery were alleged. Among those that would be relevant to defendant Veanna Inman are civil conspiracy, criminal conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, outrageous conduct, negligence, gross negligence, theft, conversion and damage to property. Apparently, included within the parameters of the negligence count is the claim that Veanna Inman, as co-owner of the property on which the death of Buziashvili occurred, had a duty to summon aid which she breached.

Taking the record in the light most...