Kraus v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 10 June 1998
• Citation: 710 A.2d 1142
• Parties: Timothy KRAUS, Appellant, v. James E. TAYLOR and Harris Fuels, Inc., Appellees.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1142

710 A.2d 1142

Timothy KRAUS, Appellant, v. James E. TAYLOR and Harris Fuels, Inc., Appellees.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Feb. 10, 1998.

Filed April 3, 1998.

Reargument Denied June 10, 1998.

James L. Rosenbaum, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Thomas P. Bracaglia, Philadelphia, for appellees.

Before TAMILIA, OLSZEWSKI and BECK, JJ.

OLSZEWSKI, Judge:

Timothy Kraus (appellant) challenges the denial of the post-trial motions he filed after an unfavorable verdict in his negligence action against James E. Taylor and Harris Fuels, Inc. (appellees). This litigation requires us to consider when intoxication evidence may be admitted against a pedestrian plaintiff in a suit arising from a collision with an automobile. We are also required to consider when a history of drug and alcohol abuse is admissible against a plaintiff who alleges permanent injury. We affirm.

Appellee Taylor struck appellant on October 20, 1990, while driving a vehicle owned by appellee Harris Fuels. At the time of the accident, approximately midnight, appellant was walking across Street Road in Lower South Hampton Township, Pennsylvania, on his way to work at a nearby gas station. Appellant filed a negligence suit against appellees seeking damages for medical expenses and for permanent injury. The case was tried before a jury in October of 1996. At trial, the court admitted evidence that appellant had a blood alcohol content in excess of 0.25 percent at the time of the accident. The court also admitted medical records establishing that appellant suffers from chronic drug and alcohol abuse. At the close of evidence, the court granted appellee Harris Fuels' motion for a non-suit. Following deliberations, the jury found that appellee Taylor was negligent but that his negligence was not a substantial cause of the accident. Accordingly, the court recorded a verdict against appellant and discharged the jury. Appellant filed post-trial motions, which were denied on June 9, 1997. Appellant timely appealed the judgment to this Court.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of appellant's chronic drug and alcohol abuse because the evidence was irrelevant, prejudicial, and privileged. We disagree.

Our standard for reviewing the relevancy of evidence admitted at trial is well established.

At the outset, the admissibility of evidence is a matter addressed solely to the discretion of the trial court and may be reversed only upon a showing that the court abused its discretion. Evidence is considered relevant if it logically tends to establish a material fact in the case, tends to make the fact at issue more probable, or supports a reasonable inference or presumption regarding the existence of a material fact.

Commonwealth v. LaCava, 542 Pa. 160, 174, 666 A.2d 221, 227-28 (1995) (citations omitted). Here, appellant sought damages for permanent injury. Such a claim requires the jury to evaluate the claimant's life expectancy. Evidence of appellant's chronic drug and alcohol abuse strongly suggests that his life expectancy deviates from the average. Cf. Capan v. Divine Providence Hospital, 270 Pa.Super. 127, 138-39, 410 A.2d 1282, 1288 (1980) (affirming exclusion of hypothetical question concerning life expectancy which did not mention decedent's chronic alcoholism). Accordingly, the evidence of appellant's drug abuse tended to establish a material fact and was therefore relevant. Moreover, actuarial tables were submitted to the jury, at appellant's request, to help them evaluate his life expectancy. When such tables are submitted in a personal injury case, the jury must be permitted to consider individual characteristics that impact on the injured party's life expectancy. See Helm v. Eagle Downs-Keystone Racetrack, 385 Pa.Super. 550, 551-53, 561 A.2d 812, 813 (1989) (discussing the appropriate charge when actuarial tables are submitted to a jury).

Appellant relies on Labrador v. City of Philadelphia, 134 Pa.Cmwlth. 427, 578 A.2d 634 (1990) for the proposition that evidence of alcoholism is not relevant to life expectancy. Appellant's reliance is misplaced. Although we frequently turn to the wisdom of our colleagues on the Commonwealth Court for guidance, the decisions of that court are not binding on this Court. See Dansak v. Cameron Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 703 A.2d 489, 493 n. 4 (Pa.Super.1997).

Moreover, Labrador is inapposite. Labrador involved a wrongful death and survival action. The trial court excluded evidence of decedent's alcohol use and cirrhosis of the liver. Id. at 429-31, 578 A.2d at 636. On appeal, plaintiff asked the Commonwealth Court to review the exclusion of the cirrhosis evidence, but not the exclusion of evidence concerning alcohol use. Id. The Commonwealth Court reviewed the trial court's ruling for abuse of discretion. It found that the trial court excluded the evidence for two reasons: (1) the effect of cirrhosis on life expectancy is not within the ken of the average layman and therefore requires expert testimony to be admissible; and, (2) cirrhosis carries a prejudicial implication of alcohol abuse that was not otherwise supported by the evidence. The Commonwealth Court concluded that exclusion was within the trial court's discretion.

This result, however, does not imply that the Commonwealth Court agreed with the trial court's reasoning. When an appellate court reviews a lower court decision for abuse of discretion, it does not decide whether it would have reached the same conclusion if exercising its own discretion. See Kaneski v. Kaneski, 413 Pa.Super. 173, 176-78, 604 A.2d 1075, 1077 (1992) (explaining that, even under the broadest abuse of discretion review, the reviewing court may not substitute its own judgment for that of the lower court); see also Ruggero J. Aldisert, The Judicial Process 759-76 (1976). Furthermore, nothing in Labrador suggests the Commonwealth Court would have affirmed the trial court if it had excluded competent evidence of the decedent's chronic alcohol abuse.

Appellant next claims that, despite its relevance, the evidence of his chronic drug abuse should have been excluded as overly prejudicial. Even relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by danger of unfair prejudice or confusion. See Sprague v. Walter, 441 Pa.Super. 1, 39-41, 656 A.2d 890, 909 (1995). The balancing of potential prejudice against probative value is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Id. We agree that the evidence of appellant's chronic drug and alcohol abuse was highly prejudicial. See generally Commonwealth v. Gaddy, 468 Pa. 303, 310-12, 362 A.2d 217, 220-21 (1976) (discussing the prejudicial effect of drug use testimony). As discussed above, however, the evidence is also highly probative of appellant's life expectancy. Accordingly, admission of the evidence was well within the court's sound discretion.

Appellant also asserts that the records of his drug and alcohol treatment are protected under statutory privileges created by 50 P.S. § 7111 (confidentiality of records of treatment in publicly funded mental facilities), 71 P.S. § 1690.108 (confidentiality of records of drug and alcohol abuse treatment), and 42 Pa.C.S. § 5944 (confidentiality of communications to licensed psychologists). The trial court found that appellant impliedly waived any statutorily created privilege by filing a personal injury suit that placed his life expectancy at issue. The statute creating the physician-patient privilege expressly provides that the privilege is waived in civil matters for the patient's personal injury. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5929. The statutes appellant relies upon, however, lack similar provisions.

We are unaware of any prior decisions of this Court or our Supreme Court deciding whether the privileges appellant references are waived by filing a personal injury lawsuit for permanent injury. ¹ The Commonwealth Court, however, has commented that the psychologist-client privilege is waived when the client places the confidential information at issue in a lawsuit. See Rost v. State Bd. of Psychology, 659 A.2d 626 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995). Also, various federal courts interpreting Pennsylvania law have held that placing the confidential information at issue in a civil trial is implicit waiver of the statutory privileges appellant asserts. See Mulholland v. Dietz, 896 F.Supp. 179 (E.D.Pa.1994); O'Boyle v. Jensen, 150 F.R.D. 519 (M.D.Pa.1993); Premack v. J.C.J. Ogar, Inc., 148 F.R.D. 140 (E.D.Pa.1993); Thorne v. Universal Properties, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1906 (E.D.Pa.1987). The rationale of these decisions is that our legislature could not have intended the miscarriage of justice that would otherwise result to civil defendants. We agree.

Allowing appellant to pursue a claim for permanent injury, while simultaneously barring appellees from access to appellant's long history of drug and alcohol abuse, "would be manifestly unfair and grossly prejudicial." See O'Boyle, 150 F.R.D. at 522. We cannot believe that the Pennsylvania General Assembly intended to allow a plaintiff to file a lawsuit and then deny a defendant relevant evidence, at plaintiff's ready disposal, which mitigates defendant's liability. See generally 1 Pa.C.S. § 1922(1) (in ascertaining legislative intent, courts are to presume that the General Assembly did not intend an unreasonable result). Rather the General Assembly must have intended the privileges to yield before the state's compelling interest "in seeing that truth is ascertained in legal proceedings and fairness in the adversary process." See Thorne, supra, at

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(citations omitted). Accordingly, we conclude that appellant impliedly waived the various statutory privileges he asserts by filing this lawsuit. Because the records were not privileged and it was within the court's discretion to admit the evidence, the trial court committed no reversible error in admitting the records of appellant's chronic...