Lee v. Small, No. C 10–4034–MWB.
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
| Writing for the Court | MARK W. BENNETT |
| Citation | 829 F.Supp.2d 728 |
| Docket Number | No. C 10–4034–MWB. |
| Decision Date | 22 November 2011 |
| Parties | John Owen LEE, Plaintiff, v. Seth T. SMALL, Individually, and Gregory Toft, Individually and doing business as Toft & Sons Farm, Defendants,Seth T. Small, Counterclaim Plaintiff, v. John Owen Lee, Counterclaim Defendant.Seth T. Small, Third–Party Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant, v. Llewellyn Brown, Third–Party Defendant/Counterclaim Plaintiff. |
829 F.Supp.2d 728
John Owen LEE, Plaintiff,
v.
Seth T. SMALL, Individually, and Gregory Toft, Individually and doing business as Toft & Sons Farm, Defendants,Seth T. Small, Counterclaim Plaintiff,
v.
John Owen Lee, Counterclaim Defendant.Seth T. Small, Third–Party Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant,
v.
Llewellyn Brown, Third–Party Defendant/Counterclaim Plaintiff.
No. C 10–4034–MWB.
United States District Court, N.D. Iowa,Western Division.
Nov. 22, 2011.
[829 F.Supp.2d 733]
Dennis M. McElwain, Smith & McElwain, Sioux City, IA, William K. Klinker, Smith, Grigg, Shea, Klinker & Queck, Primghar, IA, for Plaintiff.
Joseph D. Thornton, Smith Peterson Law Firm, LLP, Council Bluffs, IA, Sean J. Barry, Richard J. Barry, Montgomery, Barry & Bovee, Spencer, IA, for Defendants.
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¦TABLE OF CONTENTS¦
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I. INTRODUCTION 735
A. Factual Background 735
B. Procedural Background 736
II. LEGAL ANALYSIS 737
A. Preliminary Evidentiary Rulings Or Challenges To Claims AndDefenses? 737
B. Relevance And Prejudice Standards 738
C. Uncontested Categories 739
1. Evidence of settlement offers 739
2. Cross–examination by Small's counsel regarding Lee's damages 739
D. Overlapping Categories 740
1. Evidence of liability insurance 740
2. Evidence of collateral source payments from Medicare 741
a. Arguments of the parties 741
b. Analysis 742
i. Billed vs. paid medical expenses 742
ii. Identity of the payor 745
c. Summary 746
E. Remaining Portions Of Lee's Motion In Limine 746
1. Evidence of the fault of any medical providers 746
a. Arguments of the parties 746
b. Analysis 747
2. Evidence of correspondence from Medicare 751
a. Arguments of the parties 751
b. Analysis 751
3. Evidence of Brown's fault in causing Lee's damages 752
a. Arguments of the parties 752
b. Analysis 752
4. Evidence relating to Lee's sex life 754
a. Arguments of the parties 754
b. Analysis 754
5. Evidence of alcohol consumption and recovery programs 755
a. Arguments of the parties 755
b. Analysis 755
F. Remaining Portions Of Small And Toft's Motion In Limine 756
1. Damages evidence not disclosed in discovery 756
a. Arguments of the parties 757
b. Analysis 757
2. Unidentified experts 757
a. Arguments of the parties 757
b. Analysis 758
3. Evidence regarding dangerousness 758
a. Arguments of the parties 758
b. Analysis 758
4. Evidence of traffic tickets 760
a. Arguments of the parties 760
b. Analysis 760
G. Brown's Motion In Limine 763
1. Toft's factual assertions beyond personal knowledge 763
a. Arguments of the parties 763
b. Analysis 763
2. Evidence of Small's status as an EMT and Army Reservist 764
a. Arguments of the parties 764
b. Analysis 764
III. CONCLUSION 764
[829 F.Supp.2d 735]
Two nighttime collisions in quick succession between a tractor pulling farm equipment across a bridge and oncoming passenger vehicles have brought this diversity action before me on pretrial evidentiary motions. While many of the issues presented are appropriate pretrial challenges to admissibility of evidence, some are dispositive motions dressed up as mere challenges to the admissibility of evidence at trial. Nevertheless, the expeditious resolution of the case requires me to address all of the issues on the footing presented.
The following factual background is gleaned from the pleadings and the parties' statements of facts in their evidentiary motions.1 Late in the evening on November 13, 2009, hours after sunset, Seth T. Small, a farm hand employed by Toft & Sons Farm, was driving a large farm tractor pulling an even wider implement known as a disc ripper or chisel plow westbound on Highway 18, near Spencer in Clay County, Iowa. There appears to be no dispute that Small had the “field lights” on the tractor turned on, but that the implement he was towing was unlit. There also appears to be no dispute that the implement extended well across the center line of the highway. The parties dispute whether the “field lights” blinded oncoming drivers.
Small attempted to cross a bridge, approximately 500 feet long, over the Little Sioux River a few miles east of Spencer. Other parties involved in the incident on November 13, 2009, contend that, at that point, less than a car's width remained between the implement that Small was towing and the guardrail of the bridge on the eastbound side of the bridge. When Small was about 100 feet onto the bridge, an eastbound vehicle, driven by Llewellyn Brown, approached and collided with the implement. Brown's vehicle was eventually deflected down the embankment into the north ditch where it struck a tree. Brown alleges that he suffered physical injuries and physical and mental pain and incurred medical expenses and damages to person and property as a result of this first collision.
Small stopped the tractor, either just before or as a result of the first collision. Just after Small, who was an emergency medical technician (EMT), climbed down from the cab of the tractor, intending to render aid to the driver of the vehicle involved in the first collision, a second eastbound vehicle, driven by John Owen Lee, collided with the tractor and implement and also struck Small. Small and Lee each allege that they suffered physical injuries, mental and physical pain and suffering, loss of function of mind and body, and other damages as a result of this second collision.
Somewhat more specifically—because his history of medical treatment is relevant to some of the motions in limine—Lee suffered a fractured left scapula, broken ribs, a lung contusion, and various abrasions. He was taken by ambulance to Spencer Hospital, but was soon transferred to Sanford Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. On November 18, 2009, while still at Sanford Health Center, Lee was diagnosed with a staphylococcus infection that eventually caused respiratory and renal failure and required a tracheostomy and mechanical ventilation over
[829 F.Supp.2d 736]
the next six weeks. Lee was eventually transferred from Sanford Health Center to Bethesda Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 11, 2010, then to Bayshore Health Center in Duluth, Minnesota, on January 22, 2010. On March 15, 2010, he was transferred again to an assisted living facility in Duluth, where he resided until his release on December 1, 2010. He alleges that he incurred expenses for hospitalizations and medical care as a result of the November 13, 2009, in excess of $600,000. Lee had private group health insurance in effect at the time of the collision and, effective December 1, 2009, he became eligible for and received Medicare coverage. Thus, his medical expenses have been paid, at least in part, by his private insurance and Medicare. The parties dispute the extent to which Lee's medical expenses were compromised and reduced by agreements between his providers and his insurer and Medicare and the precise amount ultimately paid for his care.
On April 28, 2010, Lee, the driver of the vehicle involved in the second collision, filed a Complaint (docket no. 2) initiating this action, based on diversity of citizenship, naming as defendants Small and Gregory Toft, individually and doing business as Toft & Sons Farm, as Small's employer and the owner of the tractor and implement that Small was towing. Lee asserts that the defendants were negligent in various respects and that their negligence caused his injuries. On May 20, 2010, the defendants filed a joint Answer (docket no. 4), denying Lee's negligence claim.
On May 27, 2010, Small filed a separate Counterclaim And Third–Party Complaint (docket no. 5), alleging, inter alia, that “[t]he combined negligence of John Owen Lee and Llewellyn Brown was a proximate cause of the accident and the injuries sustained by Seth T. Small” on November 13, 2009. Counterclaim And Third–Party Complaint, Counterclaim at ¶ 5 and Third–Party Complaint at ¶ 6. Small asserted a counterclaim for negligence against Lee, the driver of the vehicle involved in the second collision, and a third-party claim for negligence against Brown, the driver of the vehicle involved in the first collision. On June 15, 2010, Lee filed an Answer To Counterclaim (docket no. 10), denying Small's negligence counterclaim against him and asserting various affirmative defenses. On June 21, 2010, Brown filed an Answer (docket no. 13) to Small's Third–Party Complaint also denying Small's third-party negligence claim against him and asserting the same affirmative defenses as Lee.2
A jury trial on all of these claims was originally set for September 26, 2011, before Senior United States District Court Judge Donald E. O'Brien. See Order (docket no. 16). On March 4, 2011, however, this case was transferred to me, see Order (docket no. 23), and on April 8, 2011, a jury trial was rescheduled before me to begin on December 12, 2011. See Order docket no. 24.
On June 15, 2011, Brown filed a Counterclaim And Cross–Claim (docket no. 27) asserting a negligence claim against Small and Toft, individually and doing business as Toft & Sons Farm, arising from the accident on November 13, 2009. On June 15, 2011, Small and Toft filed a joint Amended Answer (docket no. 29) to Lee's Complaint, again denying Lee's negligence claim, but adding various affirmative defenses. On June 24, 2011, Small and Toft
[829 F.Supp.2d 737]
filed a joint Answer To Counterclaim And Cross–Claim Of Llewellyn Brown (docket no. 30), denying Brown's negligence claims against them and asserting the same affirmative defenses that they had asserted against Lee.
In anticipation of the December 12, 2011, trial date, the parties have now filed various evidentiary motions. Somewhat more specifically, on October 31, 2011, Lee filed his Motion In Limine (docket no. 31), seeking to exclude nine categories of evidence; on November 2, 2011,...
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