City of Indianapolis v. Swanson
Decision Date | 10 May 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 583S164,583S164 |
Parties | CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, Appellant, v. Richard L. SWANSON, Appellee. |
Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
John P. Ryan, Corp. Counsel, City of Indianapolis, David F. McNamar, Michael R. Franceschini, Steers, Sullivan, McNamar & Rogers, Indianapolis, for appellant.
C. Warren Holland, Holland & Tabor, Charles G. Reeder, Stewart & Reeder, Indianapolis, for appellee.
This cause comes to us on a Petition to Transfer from the Fourth District Court of Appeals. Said Petition was brought by Defendant-Appellant City of Indianapolis (hereinafter "the City"). Plaintiff-Appellee Richard Swanson originally brought this personal injury action against the City alleging that the City's negligence in erroneously signing a roadway curve caused him to be injured in an automobile accident. A Marion Circuit Court jury found the City negligent and awarded Swanson $185,000. The trial judge entered judgment on the verdict. The City appealed to the Fourth District contending that certain of the trial court's evidentiary rulings were contrary to law and therefore represented an abuse of discretion. The City also challenged the propriety of some of the trial court's jury instructions. The Fourth District found no reversible error and affirmed the trial court. We now find the Fourth District and the trial court in error in several respects and accordingly vacate the opinion of the Court of Appeals, 436 N.E.2d 1179 (Ind.App.1982) and reverse the trial court.
During the early morning hours of May 25, 1975, Richard Swanson and passenger Anita Karto were traveling in an automobile along Sargent Road in suburban Indianapolis. Although the weather was clear and dry, it was dark and Swanson was unfamiliar with the roadway. A warning sign along Sargent Road showed a left reverse curve warning of a curve to the left and then to the right. Actually, the initial curve to the left was very slight and the more significant curve was sharply to the right and then to the left. Swanson drove his car to the left as he approached the curve to the right and traveled through a fence, striking an apple tree. His head hit the steering wheel and passenger Karto received various bruises and contusions. Swanson claims in this suit that he has suffered grand mal epileptic seizures, depression and a personality disorder as a result of his accident. The City raised ten issues for review on appeal. We now consider only the following issues in which we find reversible error:
1. whether the trial court abused its discretion by limiting the scope of the City's cross-examination of Swanson; and
2. whether the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to permit two of the City's witnesses to testify.
During its cross-examination of Swanson, the City attempted to introduce evidence that while selling illegal drugs to Officer Thomas Breen, Swanson told Breen that his injuries were fraudulent and made other statements which conflict with his direct testimony and with the testimony of his other witnesses. Specifically, the City sought to question Swanson about a conversation he allegedly had with Breen on March 16, 1979. The trial court consistently rebuffed each attempt to introduce this testimony claiming that its relevance was so grossly outweighed by its prejudicial character as to be unfair and inadmissible. The majority of the Fourth District agreed with the trial court and affirmed the exclusion of this evidence. We agree, however, with dissenting Judge Young who found that the trial court abused its discretion by limiting the City from cross-examining Swanson about his dealings with and his statements to Breen.
The City's counsel, Attorney McClelland, sought to lay a proper foundation for his examination of Swanson in regard to Breen. The trial judge prevented him from doing so, however, as the following excerpt from the record of this case reveals:
MR. McCLELLAND: I understand.
The City therefore made the following offer of proof:
We find Swanson's alleged statements to Officer Breen relevant to the issues before the trier of fact since the statements were in direct conflict with Swanson's testimony and went to the very heart of his claim against the City. Swanson claimed that the City's negligence caused his accident resulting in grand mal epilepsy and personality changes which prevented him from a normal life and from making a living. It is significant that the record shows conflict in the evidence as to whether or not Swanson had grand mal epilepsy. Dr. Rehn testified that Swanson did not have trauma induced epilepsy but rather hyperventilation syndrome. He further testified that the electroencephalograms (EEG)...
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