Ellice v. INA Life Ins. Co. of New York

• Decision Date: 05 July 1988
• Docket Number: No. 13349,13349
• Citation: 544 A.2d 623,208 Conn. 218
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Adele N. ELLICE, Executrix (ESTATE OF Douglas V. ELLICE), et al. v. INA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK.

Page 623

544 A.2d 623

208 Conn. 218

Adele N. ELLICE, Executrix (ESTATE OF Douglas V. ELLICE), et al. v. INA LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK.

No. 13349.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued April 14, 1988.

Decided July 5, 1988.

David M. Reilly, for appellant (plaintiff).

Lawrence L. Connelli, for appellee (defendant).

Before PETERS, C.J., and SHEA, CALLAHAN, GLASS and HULL, JJ.

CALLAHAN, Associate Justice.

Adele N. Ellice, individually and as executrix of the estate of her deceased husband, Douglas V. Ellice, instituted this action seeking to recover the proceeds of an accident insurance policy issued by the defendant, the INA Life Insurance Company of New York, to the plaintiff's decedent's employer, Shearson/American Express, Inc. The policy covered those persons listed on a schedule of insureds that included the plaintiff's decedent. Specifically, the policy insured against loss "resulting directly and independently of all other causes from bodily injuries caused by accident occurring while this policy is in force as to such Insured." The plaintiff alleged that the death of her decedent resulted from head injuries he sustained when he accidentally fell, after being startled, while ascending a stairway in his home at approximately 4 a.m. on October 20, 1982. ¹ The defendant, however, claimed that the death of the plaintiff's decedent resulted from an arrhythmia ² which caused his heart to stop, which then caused him to fall down the stairs. The defendant contended that the arrhythmia was brought about by the plaintiff's decedent's poor physical condition and preexisting heart disease. ³

A jury returned a verdict for the defendant and the court, thereafter, rendered judgment thereon. The plaintiff filed the instant appeal to the Appellate Court which appeal was then transferred to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 4023. On appeal the plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in: (1) granting the defendant's oral motion in limine, to exclude from evidence the date and manner in which the plaintiff's decedent had fractured his left arm prior to the October 20, 1982 incident; and (2) failing to instruct the jury clearly and consistently with regard to the defendant's liability under the policy in question. ⁴

I

The plaintiff first claims that the court erred in granting the defendant's oral motion in limine, which ruling excluded certain evidence concerning the plaintiff's decedent's preexisting broken arm. She argues that the date and the details of the cause of the fractured left arm that were excluded were relevant to the following issues: (1) "the producing cause of a painful arm which rendered the plaintiff's [decedent's] ability to maintain balance and to withstand surprise in the middle of the night in his attempt to ascend the darkened stairway"; (2) "the defendant's negating the causal relationship between the broken arm and any cause which would defeat recovery under the charge given"; (3) "[w]hy the plaintiff's decedent was up at four o'clock in the morning and what medication he has been taking during those days"; and (4) "[t]he same relevance that any prior condition would have as to this case." ⁵ The plaintiff further argues that the exclusion of this evidence was prejudicial in that it raised suspicions in the jury's mind because references to the date and cause of the broken left arm were excised from the plaintiff's decedent's hospital records. We disagree.

The following facts are relevant to this issue. On October 15, 1982, the plaintiff and her decedent were carrying a wheelchair down the basement stairs in their home. As they descended the stairway, the wheelchair slipped from the plaintiff's hands and knocked the decedent to the cement floor of the basement. As a result, the plaintiff's decedent fractured his left arm, which was later placed in a sling. ⁶

After the jury had been selected, the defendant orally moved in limine to exclude from evidence the date and cause of the plaintiff's decedent's fractured left arm. The defendant argued that such evidence was totally irrelevant because the plaintiff's complaint limited the cause of the injuries and loss to the October 20, 1982 incident. In addition, the defendant asserted that such evidence had no probative value and was, in fact, prejudicial because it would confuse and mislead the jury, cause the jury to give attention to an accident that was not connected to the incident in question, and was not alleged to have caused the plaintiff's decedent's loss or injuries. After oral arguments by both counsel, the trial court granted the defendant's motion in limine and ordered that related portions of the hospital records be excised. We find no error.

A

"The rules for determining the admissibility of evidence are well settled. The trial court has broad discretion to determine both the relevancy and remoteness of evidence. State v. Fritz, 204 Conn. 156, 167, 527 A.2d 1157 (1987); State v. Boucino, 199 Conn. 207, 225, 506 A.2d 125 (1986); Turgeon v. Turgeon, 190 Conn. 269, 273, 460 A.2d 1260 (1983); Hughes v. Contemporary Mission, Inc., 180 Conn. 150, 153, 429 A.2d 827 (1980). Only upon a showing of a clear abuse of discretion will this court set aside on appeal rulings on evidentiary matters. State v. Fritz, supra, 167-68, 527 A.2d 1157; State v. Boucino, supra; State v. Falcon, 196 Conn. 557, 566, 494 A.2d 1190 (1985). In considering the relevancy of evidence, we ask whether 'it tends to establish the existence of a material fact or to corroborate other direct evidence in the case. State v. Sharpe, [195 Conn. 651, 659, 491 A.2d 345 (1985) ]; State v. Mastropetre, 175 Conn. 512, 517, 400 A.2d 276 (1978).' State v. Talton, 197 Conn. 280, 285, 497 A.2d 35 (1985). Because there is no precise and universal test of relevancy, however, the question must ultimately be addressed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with ' "the teachings of reason and judicial experience." ' State v. Sharpe, supra, 659; Johnson v. Healy, 183 Conn. 514, 516, 440 A.2d 765 (1981); Hoadley v. University of Hartford, 176 Conn. 669, 672, 410 A.2d 472 (1979)." Dunham v. Dunham, 204 Conn. 303, 324, 528 A.2d1123 (1987); see also State v. Thomas, 205 Conn. 279, 283, 533 A.2d 553 (1987). Applying these principles to the case at hand we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the defendant's motion in limine.

At the outset, we note that the trial court's ruling was very limited in scope and only prevented the plaintiff from introducing evidence to indicate that the plaintiff's decedent had fractured his left arm on October 15, 1982, while carrying a wheelchair down the basement stairs in his home. The court placed no limitation upon the plaintiff with regard to presenting evidence concerning any effect the decedent's broken arm might have had on his fall on October 20. The court also allowed the plaintiff to testify that the fracture was a "fresh" injury and that it resulted from a previous fall. The only way in which the trial court restricted the plaintiff was that it did not allow testimony with regard to the details of the prior unrelated accident.

We find the trial court's ruling appropriate: first, because the complaint specifically alleged that the injuries to the plaintiff's decedent had resulted from the "accident on the 20th day of October, 1982," and the plaintiff never sought to amend the complaint to broaden the cause of the injuries to include a prior incident or accident; and second, because the plaintiff offered no evidence to permit even a remote inference to be drawn that the two stairway incidents were in any way causally related. In fact, the uncontroverted evidence establishes otherwise. The plaintiff's decedent fell on October 15, 1982, because the wheelchair, which had slipped out of the plaintiff's hands, had knocked him down the cellar stairs to the concrete floor. The October 20, 1982 incident, however, according to the claims of the parties, resulted either from the plaintiff's decedent being startled or from a heart attack. ⁷ We can discern no connection between the two incidents, nor has any been pointed out. Thus, we fail to see the relevancy of the date, the cause or other details of the October 15 accident to the incident in question.

Notwithstanding the plaintiff's claims to the contrary, the trial court did not restrict the plaintiff's ability to demonstrate: the plaintiff's decedent's physical and emotional condition prior to October 20, 1982; the fact that he had a broken arm and that he had been taking a pain medication and a sleeping medication; and the effects that these factors may have had on his ability to maintain his balance and to ascend stairs. The trial court did not err by excluding other irrelevant evidence concerning the October 15, 1982 accident.

B

The plaintiff also claims that she was prejudiced by the trial court's ruling on the defendant's motion in limine by reason of the trial court's order that excised the corresponding portions of the Yale-New Haven Hospital records relating to her decedent's broken arm. The plaintiff argues that the excised portions raised suspicions in the jury's mind because it was left in the dark about a "terribly mysterious event.... They said, 'Oh, boy, what happened there.' They might have said that maybe the plaintiff didn't have sufficient proof to show what happened there." We find this argument without merit. We have already concluded that the manner in which the plaintiff's decedent fractured his left arm on October 15, 1982, had absolutely no relevance to the October 20, 1982 incident. In addition, a review of the Yale- New Haven Hospital records reveals that there were only five pages, out of approximately ninety pages, where either a word or single sentence was excised. Therefore, we are unable to discern any way in which the excised portions of the Yale-New Haven Hospital records could have adversely affected the jury or its...