State, Use of Stickley v. Critzer

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question herein involved is a narrow one: it is simply whether the trial judge abused her discretion in refusing to permit an expert witness to state to the jury his conclusion as to who was driving a motor vehicle at the time of an accident, which resulted in the death of appellants’ decedent. ²⁸⁸ The appellants, the surviving widow and infant children of the deceased, instituted suit against the appellee, alleging pecuniary loss and damage to the appellants as a result of the negligent operation of a Jeep, in which the deceased was a passenger, by the appellee. At the trial below, the appellee, the only known surviving eye witness to the accident, was called to the stand by the appellants as an adverse witness. He stated that he was involved in a motor vehicle accident with the deceased at about 3:00 a.m. on June 25, 1959; the motor vehicle was a Jeep entrusted to him by his employer for his personal and “job” use; the top was removed and the windshield was down; the automobile left the road just after rounding a curve, passenger side first, hit a tree, and then “flipped” over once into a small creek with the defendant and deceased both underneath the car; he crawled out and then attempted to extricate the deceased, but was unsuccessful as the Jeep burst into flames.

He further testified that the deceased was operating the vehicle at the time of the accident. Sergeant Fickes of the Takoma Park Fire Department, called by the appellants, stated that he arrived at the scene of the accident at 3:44 a.m. on June 25th. He observed the overturned vehicle, tires in the air, with the driver’s side over the creek; and the deceased was directly underneath the “steering column” on the driver’s side. When extricated from beneath the Jeep, appellants’ decedent was dead.

Captain Merson of the Takoma Park Police Department was called by the appellants, and he testified that he had been with the Department since 1948, starting as a private and working up in rank to a captain; that he had attended in-service training schools under FBI instructors and the University of Louisville seminar on crime investigation; that he had “instructed school” himself; and that he had investigated several hundred accidents. He further stated that he did not know of the accident until the afternoon of June 25th; that he conducted an investigation with reference thereto; and that this investigation consisted of an examination of the Jeep (the location of which at the time ²⁸⁹ of the examination was not specified), an examination of photographs of the accident, and an interview with the defendant on June 26th (there is no contention by the appellants that the appellee admitted to the Captain that he was driving at the time of the accident). The Captain felt that from this investigation he had sufficient material upon which to base an opinion as to who was the actual operator of the Jeep at the time of the accident, and he was asked to state that opinion. At this stage, counsel for the appellee objected.

Thereafter, a lengthy conference between the court and counsel for the parties ensued in chambers. As a result, the court, with the approval of, and concurrence by, appellants’ counsel, stated the appellants’ proffer in this manner: “* * * that Captain Merson would be qualified as an expert in the field of accident and traffic investigation [the trial court was satisfied with the Captain’s qualifications in this respect], and that having been qualified he would be asked to give his opinion as to who was the driver of the Willys Jeep in which the deceased was killed, and that he would testify from examining certain photographs [of the scene of the accident], some of which are in evidence and some of which the court understands would be offered in evidence, and from his experience as a police officer involved in accident investigation.” (For the purposes of this case, the appellee can-cedes that the Captain’s opinion would have been to the effect that