Pittman v. Ripley County Mem'l Hosp.

Citation318 S.W.3d 289
Decision Date21 September 2010
Docket NumberNo. SD 29640.,SD 29640.
PartiesStephanie PITTMAN, Appellant,v.RIPLEY COUNTY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Respondent.
CourtCourt of Appeal of Missouri (US)

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Jasper N. Edmundson, Jr., Edmundson, Edmundson & Innes, Poplar Bluff, Kirk D. Holman, Amy P. Maloney, Holman Schivone, LLC, Kansas City, for Appellant.

James E. Spain, Kristi J. Booker, Spain, Miller & Spain, LLC, Poplar Bluff, for Respondent.

PAUL McGHEE, Senior Judge.

Appellant sued respondent, her former employer, alleging that she had been denied promotion to the position of emergency room supervisor at the hospital in retaliation for her complaint that she had been sexually harassed by a physician working for the hospital. She bases her retaliation claim on § 213.070.1 The case was tried to a jury, which found in favor of the hospital. The trial court entered judgment for the hospital, and appellant appeals. We affirm.

On November 24, 2004, appellant was working as a registered nurse in the hospital emergency room where a contract physician also worked. On that day, she found a floppy disk that the physician had taped to her office desk. Not knowing who put the disk there, or what it contained, she later viewed it with a co-worker, and they saw sexually explicit images of the physician and a female. The two coworkers immediately informed the emergency room medical director and the director of nursing of the contents of the disk. The hospital administrator called appellant to his office a few days later where they discussed the disk. As a result of the conference, the hospital adjusted her work schedule so that she would work with another physician.

The emergency room supervisor later left her employment at the hospital, and appellant and another nurse applied for the position. The director of nursing and the administrator interviewed both applicants, and in August 2005 they selected the other nurse to fill the position. Appellant continued to work in the emergency room until she resigned in March 2006.

Appellant presented evidence at trial that she was not selected as the emergency room supervisor because of her complaint against the physician, including testimony that the director of nursing later told her, in effect, that she had not been selected because of her complaint. The director of nursing denied that she had told her that, and both she and the hospital administrator denied in their testimony that they had considered the complaint in making their selection. Respondent did not dispute that the physician furnished a sexually explicit disk to appellant and that she filed a complaint of sexual harassment. The controverted liability issue submitted to the jury was whether appellant's complaint of sexual harassment by the physician was a contributing factor in respondent's decision not to promote her to the position of emergency room supervisor. The jury resolved the conflicting evidence against her.

In her first point, appellant asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding evidence of sexual harassment by the physician as the evidence was relevant to the core issues of her action for retaliation. The disk contained 27 sexually explicit images, including photographs of the physician and a female engaging in oral sex, and a female shaving her pubic area and showering naked. The trial court did not permit appellant to show the images on the disk to the jury, but permitted her and other witnesses to testify generally about the disk. In addition, appellant attempted to introduce evidence that the physician subsequently asked a female employee to go “parking,” which she took as an invitation to have sex; that he later made vulgar sexual comments to another employee; and that he had performed inappropriate examinations of breasts of female patients. There is no indication that these comments, or the examinations, were made in the presence of appellant. The trial court excluded this evidence. The issues raised by this point are whether the excluded evidence was admissible as being both logically and legally relevant; and, if admissible, whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding the evidence.

Respondent argues that the evidence was not logically relevant because appellant's claim was not for sexual harassment, but was a claim of retaliatory failure to promote her because she complained to management about the harassment. Respondent also contends that the evidence was not legally relevant as it would have created a substantial likelihood that the jury would have been misled or confused by the “graphic nature” of the photographs.

Appellant principally relies on federal case law in support of her contention that the excluded evidence should have been admitted, as does respondent in support of its position. Our Supreme Court has directed that in deciding a case under the MHRA, appellate courts are guided by both Missouri law and federal employment discrimination law consistent with Missouri law. Willard v. Raga, 290 S.W.3d 768, 772 (Mo.App.2009) (citing Daugherty v. City of Maryland Heights, 231 S.W.3d 814, 818 (Mo. banc 2007)).

Although this court gives respectful consideration to the federal cases cited by the parties, [w]e are not bound by general declarations of law made by lower federal courts.” Kraus v. Board of Education of City of Jennings, 492 S.W.2d 783, 784 (Mo.1973); Hanch v. K.F.C. Nat'l. Management Corp., 615 S.W.2d 28, 33 (Mo. banc 1981). See also Morris v. Karl Bissinger, Inc., 272 S.W.3d 441, 443 (Mo.App.2008). [W]hile federal interpretations of similar procedural rules can provide us illustrative and useful guidance; they are not controlling, even if the federal rule is nearly identical to Missouri's.” Richter v. Union Pacific R. Co., 265 S.W.3d 294, 299 (Mo.App.2008).

“Generally, the law of the forum governs the admissibility of evidence.” State v. Simon, 680 S.W.2d 346, 352 (Mo.App.1984). Matters of procedure are governed by the law of the forum, and what is substantive and what is procedural is for the court of the forum to decide. Miller v. Haynes, 454 S.W.2d 293, 298 (Mo.App.1970).2 Admissibility of evidence is a procedural matter governed by the law of Missouri; we resolve the issues raised by appellant as to admissibility of evidence under settled Missouri law. See Keith v. Burlington Northern R. Co., 889 S.W.2d 911, 920 (Mo.App.1994).

Fundamental to the Missouri law of evidence is the rule that evidence must be both logically and legally relevant in order to be admissible. Evidence is inadmissible if it fails to satisfy either prong of this bifurcated relevancy standard.

Evidence is logically relevant if it tends to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence, or if it tends to corroborate

evidence which itself is relevant and bears on the principal issue of the case.
Legal relevance, on the other hand, requires the balancing of the probative value of the proffered evidence against its prejudicial effect on the jury. Stated another way, legal relevance is determined by weighing the probative value of the evidence against its costs, including unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, undue delay, waste of time, or cumulativeness. Thus, logically relevant evidence is excluded if its costs outweigh its benefits. Ultimately, the determination of whether evidence is legally relevant rests within the sound discretion of the trial court. Consequently, if evidence is erroneously admitted or excluded, we will reverse only if the error results in substantial and obvious injustice. (Internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Shelton v. City of Springfield, 130 S.W.3d 30, 37 (Mo.App.2004). See also Eckerd v. Country Mut. Ins. Co., 289 S.W.3d 738, 743 (Mo.App.2009).

Trial courts have broad discretion over the admissibility of evidence and appellate courts will not interfere with their decisions unless there is a clear showing of abuse of discretion. Hancock v. Shook, 100 S.W.3d 786, 795 (Mo. banc 2003). ‘The trial court is in the best position to evaluate whether the potential prejudice of relevant evidence outweighs the relevance. [It] is vested with broad discretion in ruling questions of relevancy of evidence and, absent a clear showing of abuse of that discretion, the appellate court should not interfere with the trial court's ruling.’ Giles v. Riverside Transport, Inc., 266 S.W.3d 290, 295 (Mo.App.2008) (quoting State v. Hawkins, 778 S.W.2d 780, 782-83 (Mo.App.1989)). A trial court abuses its discretion when its ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances then before the court, and it is so unreasonable and arbitrary that it shocks the sense of justice and indicates a lack of careful, deliberate consideration. Hancock v. Shook, supra.

The basis of the trial court ruling excluding the evidence as not being logically relevant was that appellant's claim was for retaliatory failure to promote her, not for the conceded act of sexual harassment. The evidence was excluded as not being legally relevant because it tended to unfairly prejudice respondent and confuse the issues presented to the jury. The ruling of the trial court was within its sound discretion; it was not clearly against the logic of the circumstances; and it was not so unreasonable and arbitrary that it shocks the sense of justice and indicates a lack of careful, deliberate consideration. The record shows that the trial court carefully considered the admissibility issue, and it did not err in excluding the evidence. Point I is denied.

Appellant contends in Point II that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of financial data of the hospital that was hearsay and lacked proper foundation. Appellant...

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