Martin v. Roberts

Citation464 N.E.2d 896
Decision Date22 June 1984
Docket NumberNo. 684S249,684S249
PartiesArlo D. MARTIN, Appellant (Defendant below), v. Mary ROBERTS, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
CourtSupreme Court of Indiana

Herbert A. Spitzer, Jr., Phillip E. Stephenson, Browne, Torrance, Spitzer, Herriman, Browne & Stephenson, Marion, for appellant.

Richard E. Sisson, Marion, for appellee.

PIVARNIK, Justice.

This cause comes to us on a Petition to Transfer from the Second District Court of Appeals. Said Petition was brought by Appellee-Plaintiff Mary Roberts. Roberts originally sued Appellant-Defendant Arlo D. Martin claiming damages for the personal injuries she sustained while riding in a dune buggy driven by Martin.

The facts show that on June 28, 1975, Roberts and three other persons were passengers in Martin's dune buggy. The dune buggy consisted of a home-built fiberglass "kit" body mounted on a Volkswagen "bug" chassis. While driving down a blacktop rural road, Martin's right tires dropped off the side of the pavement. He overcorrected and crossed the road diagonally, veering to the left. The left rear wheel of the dune buggy snagged on a telephone pole guy wire. The dune buggy abruptly stopped, catapulting the passengers from the vehicle and causing the fiberglass body to detach from the chassis. Roberts sustained severe injuries in the wreck and filed suit against Martin alleging that he had engaged in willful and wanton misconduct while driving.

At trial, evidence was introduced which showed that Martin's blood alcohol content measured .12% on a breathalyzer machine. Martin was unable to state definitely how fast he was going but his wife, also a passenger in the vehicle, testified that he was going around thirty-five miles per hour. Indiana State Trooper Ronald Brown arrived at the scene following the accident and was allowed to testify, over objection, that he believed the dune buggy was travelling sixty-five miles per hour at the time of the accident. Trooper Brown's testimony was the only testimony placing Martin's speed above the legal limit of fifty-five miles per hour at the time of the accident. The jury found for Roberts and awarded her $175,000 in damages. The trial court entered judgment in that amount and subsequently denied Martin's motion to correct errors.

The trial court found Trooper Brown qualified as an expert witness and permitted him to state his opinion as to the speed of Martin's vehicle at the time of the accident. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court abused its discretion by permitting Brown to testify as an expert about his opinion regarding the speed of Martin's vehicle because Brown "failed to offer the necessary evidence of his expertise in or with a formula, calculation or principle." We now find that the Court of Appeals erred in its determination of this issue and accordingly vacate the opinion of the Court of Appeals, 452 N.E.2d 182, and grant transfer. We consider this issue and those other issues raised in the direct appeal to the Court of Appeals which were not decided by them. The issues are as follows:

1. whether the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the introduction of expert testimony on behalf of Roberts as to the speed Martin was operating his dune buggy immediately prior to the accident;

2. whether the trial court erred by giving its final instruction 24;

3. whether Roberts assumed the risk of her injuries;

4. whether sufficient evidence supports the judgment; and

5. whether the amount awarded by the verdict is excessive.

I

Petitioner Roberts contends that Trooper Brown was qualified to state his opinion by virtue of his training, experience and general knowledge of the subject matter in issue: vehicular speed. Petitioner also contends that Brown's specific knowledge of scientific principles, formulas and calculations was the proper subject of cross-examination. We agree. The rules of evidence do not require that an expert witness demonstrate his knowledge of specific scientific principles, formulas or calculations in order to be qualified to state his opinion. The expert's training, education and experience provides the foundation which embraces the requisite underlying knowledge. The expert's specific knowledge, however, goes to what weight the jury will give to the expert's testimony after cross-examination and the introduction of any evidence by the opponent. Moreover, the specific knowledge of an expert witness is neither determinative of the witness' qualifications as an expert nor of the admission of his opinion into evidence. Petitioner properly states the law on this issue.

The Court of Appeals acknowledged that the parties in this case agreed that the determination of a vehicle's speed by the examination of all facts and circumstances at the accident scene is a proper area for expert testimony since it is an area of expertise outside the knowledge of the average juror. Officer Brown therefore had to show to the trial judge his knowledge and experience in the field to qualify as an expert. Brown testified that at the time of this accident he was an officer with the Indiana State Police engaged in normal police duties such as patrol and the investigation of accidents and crimes. At the time of trial, Brown was a deputy sheriff with similar duties. He received his primary training in the field of accident investigation at the Indiana State Police Academy in Bloomington. Said training was conducted by the Northwest Traffic Institute and included instruction in: 1) measuring skid marks; 2) evaluating physical evidence at the scene; 3) determining speed; 4) determining fault; 5) determining equipment failure; 6) determining the cause of an accident; and 7) making a report. Trooper Brown further testified that he attended annual four-day refresher courses conducted by the Indiana State Police. As part of his training, Brown "investigated" simulated accidents. Training films were sometimes used and involved one and two car accidents contrived to teach Brown how to evaluate vehicle damage at an accident scene. Brown specifically was taught how to determine the cause of an accident and how to estimate speed at the time of the accident. Trooper Brown testified that he had investigated from 200 to 300 accidents at the time of his investigation of the instant accident and had continued to make automobile accident investigations up to the time of trial. The Court of Appeals accordingly found that "Brown was trained to observe and record accident scenes in order to determine or estimate, among other things, the speed at which vehicles were traveling before they collided from data such as skidmarks and damage to vehicles." Accordingly, there is no question, as the Court of Appeals and the parties acknowledge, that witness Brown qualified as an expert witness in the subject at hand.

Trooper Brown also testified about the factual basis for his opinion testimony. He stated that he arrived at the scene of the instant accident approximately fifteen minutes after it occurred and met a county officer and another trooper who already were there. Brown observed Martin at the scene and noticed a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He assisted with the investigation by taking pictures of the scene and measurements of the path of the vehicle. He observed the conditions of the roadway and determined where the car first ran off the road. He and Trooper Caward also determined that the vehicle had traveled on the grassy berm a distance of 159 feet before regaining the road. Brown then determined that the "buggy" traveled in a diagonal line 120 feet across the road and to the point where it came to rest. He observed the length and type of skidmarks apparent on the pavement and determined that the impact was between a guy wire and the rear wheel of the vehicle which caused the fiberglass body to almost completely rip-off the frame. Minor pieces of debris were lying about approximately twenty feet forward of the vehicle's location. The bodies of the passengers, one dead, were estimated to be twenty feet from the vehicle or about the same distance as the debris. The steering wheel was bent in the opposite direction from where normally positioned so that it was in front of the front wheels of the vehicle. This, of course, indicated the force of impact upon the steering column presumably made by the driver's body when the vehicle abruptly stopped. The brakes of the vehicle were examined and found to be in operating condition but it was impossible to check the vehicle's steering mechanism because of the extreme damage to it. Brown further offered photographs taken by him and his associates of the vehicle and the general scene. He testified about the frame of the vehicle which was severely twisted. The vehicle was not in driveable condition and there was no tread on the right rear tire. He further testified that there was no obstruction causing the car to return to the roadway as abruptly as it did. There was a culvert extending into the shoulder ahead of the point of return to the road but it was not so close as to require the abrupt return to the road which was apparent. Brown's opinion was that the lack of tread on the right rear tire was to some extent due to the process of skidding 120 feet across the roadway but, for the most part, the tread probably had been missing before the accident. From all of these facts and circumstances, Trooper Brown stated his opinion that the vehicle was traveling sixty-five miles per hour at the time it ran off the road.

The Court of Appeals found Brown's testimony wanting. They specifically found that he had not given a formula, calculation or principle by which the speed of Martin's vehicle could be determined by taking into account the unique structure of the vehicle and the fact that the damage to the vehicle apparently resulted from tensile forces as opposed to the compressive forces usually manifest in an automobile collision. The Court of Appeals...

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