STATE EX REL. MO. HIGHWAY AND TRANSP. COM'N v. Vitt

785 S.W.2d 708
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 6, 1990
Docket55562
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 785 S.W.2d 708 (STATE EX REL. MO. HIGHWAY AND TRANSP. COM'N v. Vitt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE EX REL. MO. HIGHWAY AND TRANSP. COM'N v. Vitt, 785 S.W.2d 708 (Mo. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

785 S.W.2d 708 (1990)

STATE of Missouri, ex rel. MISSOURI HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION, Appellant,
v.
Charles E. VITT, Jr., et al., Exceptions of Charles E. Vitt, Jr., Respondents.

No. 55562.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Northern Division.

February 6, 1990.
Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer Denied March 14, 1990.
Application to Transfer Denied April 17, 1990.

*710 Tracy Hunsaker Gilroy, Asst. Counsel and Rich Tiemeyer, Chief Counsel, Kirkwood, for appellant.

Marion F. Wasinger, Hannibal, for respondents.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied March 14, 1990.

HAMILTON, Judge.

This is an appeal in a condemnation case tried to a jury upon the exceptions of both parties. The jury assessed damages for the taking of Respondents' property in the amount of $35,500. The trial court thereafter entered judgment on the verdict. This appeal followed. We affirm.

On May 10, 1987, Appellant, the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission (hereinafter the Commission), filed suit to condemn certain acreage owned by Respondents Charles E. and Janet K. Vitt (hereinafter the Vitts). The property at issue, located in Monroe County at Paris, Missouri, is situated on the 692 acre farm of the Vitts. The farm, bisected by State Highway 15, is improved with a house, a garage, several barns, a machine shed, and several grain bins. The taking consisted of (1) 3.45 acres of the Vitts' farm parallel to the existing right-of-way for State Highway 15, which acreage the Commission needed for a new and permanent right-of-way; (2) 4.67 acres of borrow; (3) .93 acres of temporary easements.

Commissioners appointed by the Circuit Court awarded damages in the amount of $31,520, which the Commission paid into the trial court. Both parties filed timely exceptions to the Commissioners' award and each requested a jury trial. Following the jury verdict in the amount of $35,500, the trial court entered the judgment and ordered the Commission to pay $3,980 plus $345.56 in interest for a total of $4,325.56.[1]

On appeal, the Commission contends the trial court erred in failing to grant its motion for new trial. Specifically, it alleges error by the trial court (1) in failing to strike two members of the venire who were allegedly partial to the Vitts; (2) in permitting two witnesses to testify as experts on behalf of the Vitts, although their identity was disclosed to the Commission in supplemental interrogatories only four days prior to trial; (3) in striking the qualifications of its expert appraiser because it failed to supplement answers to interrogatories; (4) in admitting certain photographs into evidence without proper foundation; (5) in excluding testimony regarding certain safety standards; (6) in failing to withdraw certain evidence regarding the replacement cost of temporary fencing; and (7) in admitting and refusing to withdraw evidence of an allegedly involuntary sale.

In its first point, the Commission asserts the trial court erred in failing to strike venirepersons Crow and Heitmeyer because each had indicated during voir dire that she would feel partial towards the Vitts.

Ms. Heitmeyer testified she would tend to believe the Vitts because they were property owners. Ms. Crow expressed a similar view when questioned by counsel for the Commission. Later, when asked by the Vitts' attorney whether she could fairly and impartially try the case, Ms. Heitmeyer responded, "Yes." Ms. Crow, upon further questioning by the Commission's counsel, explained her position by stating that in order to give the State a fair and impartial trial, she needed "to hear both sides and... would then make a decision on which way [she] feel[s] then."

The trial court thereafter overruled the Commission's motion to strike Heitmeyer and Crow for cause. The Commission then exercised peremptory challenges against the two venirepersons.

*711 A trial court is vested with broad discretion in controlling the voir dire examination, and its rulings on challenges will remain undisturbed on appeal unless they clearly and manifestly indicate abuse of discretion. State ex rel. State Highway and Transp. Comm'n v. Dooley, 738 S.W.2d 457, 467 (Mo.App.1987). The trial court is in a position superior to an appellate court to determine the qualifications of a potential juror, for its determination involves an assessment of demeanor as well as testimony. State v. Holt, 758 S.W.2d 182, 187 (Mo.App.1988).

The Commission next contends the trial court erred in permitting John Morgan and Robert Gillian to testify as expert witnesses on behalf of the Vitts although the Vitts failed to disclose to the Commission the identity of these witnesses in supplemental answers to interrogatories until four business days prior to trial.

On March 1, 1988, the Vitts filed answers to the Commission's second set of interrogatories stating they would call Darrell Ridgley as an appraiser at trial. On September 2, 1988, the Vitts filed supplemental answers to these interrogatories that reflected a proof of service date of September 1, 1988. The Commission contends it did not receive these supplemental answers until September 6, 1988, only four business days prior to the commencement of trial on September 12, 1988. Rule 56.01(e)(1)(B) imposes upon a party a duty seasonably to supplement responses to questions that directly address the identity of each person expected to be called as an expert witness at trial and the general nature of the subject matter on which the expert is expected to testify.

On the first day of trial, September 12, 1988, the Commission made an oral motion in limine to exclude Morgan and Gillian as witnesses. Although the trial court overruled the motion, it stated that the Commission's counsel would be afforded "whatever time she feels she needs to talk to these witnesses." When Morgan was called as a witness, counsel for the Commission interposed no objection, stating that the "State's not opposed to this testimony...." Similarly, she made no objection when Gillian took the witness stand.

A motion in limine preserves nothing for review. Anderson v. Rojanasathit, 714 S.W.2d 894, 895 (Mo.App.1986). Following denial of a motion in limine, a party must object at trial to preserve for appellate review the point at issue. Id. Point denied.

In its third point, the Commission asserts error by the trial court in striking testimony regarding the qualifications of the Commission's expert appraiser. On April 24, 1987, in response to Interrogatory number 7 of the Vitts' first set of interrogatories, the Commission listed Ray Otto as its expert appraiser and furnished his qualifications. On March 30, 1988, the Commission supplemented its response to Interrogatory number 7 by identifying a new expert appraiser, David Barnes. Barnes' qualifications were not included in the supplemental response.

The attorney for the Vitts deposed David Barnes on August 23, 1988. During the deposition, Barnes disclosed his qualifications in response to questions from the Vitts' attorney.

At trial, the Commission's attorney questioned Barnes about his qualifications.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
785 S.W.2d 708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mo-highway-and-transp-comn-v-vitt-moctapp-1990.