Lamazares v. Valdez
| Decision Date | 17 January 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1456,76-1456 |
| Citation | 353 So.2d 1257 |
| Parties | Alex LAMAZARES, Appellant, v. Felix Adolfo VALDEZ and Integon Insurance Company, a corporation licensed to do business in the State of Florida, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Grover, Ciment, Weinstein & Stauber, Miami Beach, and Allan S. Friedman, Miami, for appellant.
Carey, Dwyer, Cole, Selwood & Bernard and Steven R. Berger, Miami, for appellees.
Before HAVERFIELD, C. J., HENDRY, J., and DREW, E. HARRIS (Ret.), Associate Judge.
In the trial of this automobile collision case the trial judge, over appropriate and timely objections of the plaintiff, allowed defendant to introduce evidence of a psychologist and a psychiatrist that the defendant was untruthful and that he was liable to make a mistake or misjudgment in his driving ability to re-act to accident circumstances. In doing so, the trial court committed reversible error.
Defendant below, the appellee here, defends the action of the trial judge, asserting in his brief:
Appellee cites two Florida cases which he says supports his position, viz. Reese v. Naylor, 222 So.2d 487 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969) and Seaboard Coast Line v. Hill, 250 So.2d 311 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). In the Reese case, the holding was that a qualified clinical psychologist was competent to testify as to his diagnosis of a person's mental condition. And, in the Seaboard case, the holding was that the psychologist there was qualified to testify that an average driver would not have seen a train under the facts there related in time to avoid a collision. It should be noted however, that in that case the expert had been qualified in the understanding of human reactions in environments of darkness, fog, sound deficiency, etc. at the time of a particular accident. We find nothing in these cases which can give comfort or support to appellees' argument. Nor are we yet ready to accept...
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Globe Sec. Systems Co. v. Sterling, 1037
...61 (1983), cert. denied, 297 Md. 109 (1983); Waine v. State, 37 Md.App. 222, 246-47, 377 A.2d 509 (1977). See also Lamazares v. Valdez, 353 So.2d 1257 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1978) (defendant's expert witness, a psychologist, may not testify that defendant was In Simmons the Court of Appeals held ......
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Schneer v. Allstate Indem. Co.
...2d DCA 1989) (no error in excluding psychiatrist's opinion "as to whether the defendant committed the lewd acts."); Lamazares v. Valdez, 353 So.2d 1257 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978) (expert may not testify that the defendant was untruthful and liable to make a mistake or misjudgment in his driving As ......
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Reyes v. State, 90-132
...primary function it was to determine just that question of the victim's credibility. Holliday, 389 So.2d at 680-81; Lamazares v. Valdez, 353 So.2d 1257 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); see Francis v. State, 512 So.2d 280 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Kruse v. State, 483 So.2d 1383 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), pet. for re......
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State v. Halstead, 83-569
...case, guided by the question of whether the expert's opinion will be helpful to the jury in performing its function. Lamazares v. Valdez, 353 So.2d 1257, 1258 (Fla.1978); Annotation, 20 A.L.R.3d 684, 689 (1968); see also State v. Klueber, 81 S.D. 223, 229, 132 N.W.2d 847, 850 (1965); Juvile......