Ferris v. Myers
| Decision Date | 12 March 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 5344,5344 |
| Citation | 625 P.2d 199 |
| Parties | Richard C. FERRIS and Betty J. Ferris, Appellants (Plaintiffs), v. Catherine Ann MYERS, Appellee (Defendant). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Robert P. Schuster of Spence, Moriarity & Schuster, Jackson, for appellants.
W. W. Reeves of Vlastos & Reeves, Casper, for appellee.
Before ROSE, C. J. *, McCLINTOCK, RAPER **, THOMAS and ROONEY, JJ.
This appeal arises out of a tort action initiated in the district court by appellants against appellee seeking damages resulting from an automobile collision on Togwotee Pass. The case was tried to a jury which, on May 8, 1980, returned a verdict finding the appellee 100% at fault and awarding $2,090.00 to appellant Richard C. Ferris and $365.00 to appellant Betty J. Ferris. Judgment was accordingly entered by the trial judge on May 23, 1980. A motion for new trial was made by appellants and denied.
Appellants present two issues 1 for review:
We will affirm.
Since there is no dispute in this appeal as to the 100% fault of appellee, very little needs to be said by way of background to set the automobile collision scene. On February 12, 1976, at about 10:30 p. m. appellee was driving from college in Billings, Montana to Jackson. As she approached a curve on Togwotee Pass at a higher-than-safe rate of speed for the snowpacked condition of the road, she lost control of her vehicle. It went out of her lane of travel and into the lane of travel of appellants' vehicle being driven by appellant Mr. Ferris with his wife, Mrs. Ferris, as a passenger in the front seat. The appellants were traveling from Jackson to their home outside of Dubois. The vehicles collided, appellee's vehicle striking the door of the appellants' vehicle next to which Mrs. Ferris was sitting. The predominant issues during the trial went to damages, and they are the issues at the bottom of this appeal. Other facts necessary to an understanding of this opinion will be developed in our consideration of the issues.
The first issue 2 arose during the course of the trial when some counsel apparently had mentioned in an opening statement 3 something about a Utah automobile collision occurrence in which appellants were involved on October 2, 1976. The Utah incident first came into evidence when Mr. Ferris was interrogated about it by his counsel during appellants' case in chief. It was a rear ender into appellants' vehicle by another car. Two photographs of the damage to appellants' car were received in evidence. Repair costs were $1,100-$1,300.
Appellants called as an expert witness an accident reconstruction engineer whom appellants' counsel attempted to interrogate about the Utah collision. Considerable testimony by the expert about the Togwotee Pass collision was allowed in evidence by the trial judge. Appellee's counsel interrupted the interrogation about the Utah collision, requested and was granted leave by the trial judge to voir dire:
Later the witness voluntarily slipped into his testimony that the vehicle striking the rear of appellants' vehicle in the Utah collision was going less than eight miles per hour though the court had sustained appellee counsel's objection that no adequate foundation had been laid. Appellee's counsel vigorously protested, objected and moved that the statement be stricken and the jury appropriately instructed to disregard. The trial judge again sustained the objection and instructed the jury to disregard the volunteered answer. Counsel for appellants again tried to qualify the witness even though the witness had little information. Once again following voir dire by appellee's counsel and an objection that no proper foundation had been laid, the trial judge refused to admit evidence of the speed of the vehicle which ran into the rear of appellants' vehicle at the time of the Utah collision. No offer of proof was made by appellants' counsel.
It is...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Springfield v. State
..."If there is no proper foundation laid, then expert testimony does not 'assist' the jury in the search for truth." Ferris v. Myers, 625 P.2d 199, 204 (Wyo.1981). If the procedures produce an unreliable result, then the court may exclude the evidence entirely. People v. Lipscomb, 215 Ill.App......
-
Stauffer Chemical Co. v. Curry
...an expert, like all other evidentiary rulings, is within the discretion of the trial court. Speed King, 675 P.2d at 1278; Ferris v. Meyers, 625 P.2d 199 (Wyo.1981); Elite Cleaners and Tailors, Inc. v. Gentry, 510 P.2d 784 (Wyo.1973). After the court has made its ruling to permit or not perm......
-
Coronado Oil Co. v. Grieves
...judge and will not ordinarily be disturbed on appeal unless it is clearly and prejudicially erroneous and in extreme cases. Ferris v. Myers, Wyo., 625 P.2d 199 (1981). Here it was extremely prejudicial and erroneous. In a case such as this where on direct examination the qualifications of a......
-
Ely v. Kirk
...Herman v. Speed King Manufacturing Company, Wyo., 675 P.2d 1271, 1278 (1984); Coronado Oil Company v. Grieves, supra; Ferris v. Myers, Wyo., 625 P.2d 199, 204 (1981). Opinion evidence usually involves hearsay. Rule 703, W.R.E., provides "The facts or data in the particular case upon which a......