Daniel v. William R. Drach Co., Inc.

849 A.2d 1265, 2004 Pa. Super. 156, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 824
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 10, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 849 A.2d 1265 (Daniel v. William R. Drach Co., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daniel v. William R. Drach Co., Inc., 849 A.2d 1265, 2004 Pa. Super. 156, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 824 (Pa. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

BENDER, J.

¶ 1 Musa N. Daniel and Arafa Daniel (Appellants) appeal from the judgment entered in favor of William R. Drach Co., Inc. (Appellee) following a jury trial. Appellants claim that the trial court erred in admitting Appellee’s exhibits, and in denying their motion for a new trial that claimed that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that Appellee’s attorney made prejudicial statements in his closing argument. Appellee has filed a cross-appeal requesting that we affirm the trial court’s decision. As we find no merit in Appellants’ claims, we affirm the trial court’s decision.

¶ 2 Appellants instituted the underlying action against Appellee for injuries sustained by Mr. Daniel following an alleged slip and fall that occurred on Appellee’s loading dock. Mr. Daniel was a truck driver who was picking up 800 pound barrels of scrap metal from Appellee’s premises at the time of the alleged accident. Appellants claim that Mr. Daniel slipped on a wet and greasy spot on the floor. Thus, Appellants’ theory of liability was that Appellee negligently maintained its loading dock by allowing oil to build up on the floor, which when combined with water from either a leaking roof and/or a leaking heater caused the floor to become slippery, thereby causing Mr. Daniel to slip, fall, and injure himself.

¶ 3 At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found that Appellee was negligent, but that this negligence was not a substantial factor in causing Mr. Daniel’s injury. Appellants filed a post-trial motion, which the trial court denied. They then filed the instant appeal, and Appellee cross-appealed. 1 Appellants have raised the following six questions for our review.

*1267 [1] Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting defendant’s exhibits into evidence ex parte, while counsel was absent from the courtroom?

[2] Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting defendant’s exhibits into evidence after defendant rested and after the closing arguments?

[3] Whether the trial court erred in admitting defendant’s exhibits into evidence without allowing counsel for plaintiffs to challenge the admission of the evidence?

[4] Whether the trial court abused its discretion by allowing defendant to move exhibits into evidence which contained inadmissible hearsay statements that the jury relied upon to reach their verdict in favor of defendant?

[5] Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for post-trial relief when the jury found that defendant’s negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the harm despite the uncontradicted medical evidence and defendant’s own admission in his opening that the fall caused plaintiff to suffer injuries?

[6] Whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for post-trial relief when counsel for defendant made statements in his opening and closing arguments that were false, that stated his own personal beliefs and that were prejudicial to plaintiffs?

Brief for Appellants at 6.

¶ 4 Appellants’ first four questions challenge the trial court’s admission of evidence after the close of Appellee’s case. “It is well-settled that the decision of a trial judge to permit a party to reopen its case will not be reversed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion.” Beaumont v. ETL Services, Inc., 761 A.2d 166, 168 (Pa.Super.2000). Furthermore, “the admission or exclusion of evidence is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court, which may only be reversed upon a showing of a manifest abuse of discretion.” Eichman v. McKeon, 824 A.2d 305, 319 (Pa.Super.2003). We have reviewed the parties’ briefs as well as the record on these issues, and we discern no abuse of discretion by the trial court. The trial court opinion, written by the Honorable Gary S. Glazer, adequately addresses the first four issues, and therefore, we adopt that portion of the opinion addressing these issues for purposes of further appellate review. Trial Court Opinion, 9/13/02, at 1-4.

¶5 In the next two questions, Appellants claim that the trial court erred in denying their motion for post-trial relief. First they claim that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence. “A new trial based on weight of the evidence issues will not be granted unless the verdict is so contrary to the evidence as to shock one’s sense of justice; a mere conflict in testimony will not suffice as grounds for a new trial.” Nemirovsky v. Nemirovsky, 776 A.2d 988, 993 (Pa.Super.2001). “Upon review, the test is not whether this Court would have reached the same result on the evidence presented, but, rather, after due consideration of the evidence found credible by the [jury], and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, whether the court could reasonably have reached its conclusion.” Turney Media Fuel, Inc. v. Toll Bros., Inc., 725 A.2d 836, 841 (Pa.Super.1999). “Our standard of review in denying a motion for a new trial is to decide whether the trial court committed an error of law which controlled the outcome of the case or committed an abuse of *1268 discretion.” Cangemi ex rel. Estate of Cangemi v. Cone, 774 A.2d 1262, 1265 (Pa.Super.2001).

¶ 6 In this case, Appellants argue that where a jury has found that a defendant was negligent “and the existence of an injury was conceded to and not questioned by [the] defendant, the jury is not permitted to find [that] the defendant’s negligence was not a substantial factor in bringing about at least some of [the] plaintiffs injuries.” Brief for Appellants at 46. In support of this argument, Appellants cite a line of cases involving a jury’s finding on causation with regards to injuries that arose from a car accident. In the most recent of these cases, Andrews v. Jackson, 800 A.2d 959 (Pa.Super.2002), we addressed this issue and stated:

Where there is no dispute that the defendant is negligent and both parties’ medical experts agree the accident caused some injury to the plaintiff, the jury may not find [that] the defendant’s negligence was not a substantial factor in bringing about at least some of plaintiffs injuries. Such a verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence adduced at trial. In other words, a jury is entitled to reject any and all evidence up until the point at which the verdict is so disproportionate to the uncontested evidence as to defy common sense and logic.
[T]he jury’s verdict that Appellee was not “injured” in the accident goes against the weight of the competent evidence adduced by both parties’ medical experts at trial.

Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
849 A.2d 1265, 2004 Pa. Super. 156, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 824, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniel-v-william-r-drach-co-inc-pasuperct-2004.