Vogel v. Wells

566 N.E.2d 154, 57 Ohio St. 3d 91, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 184
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 30, 1991
DocketNo. 89-1662
StatusPublished
Cited by198 cases

This text of 566 N.E.2d 154 (Vogel v. Wells) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vogel v. Wells, 566 N.E.2d 154, 57 Ohio St. 3d 91, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 184 (Ohio 1991).

Opinions

Wright, J.

This case presents a number of interesting questions for our resolution. These questions involve: the retroactivity of the abrogation of the collateral source rule as to municipalities, the admissibility of evidence on the use and effect of seat belts in accidents predating passage of Ohio’s seat belt law, the exclusion of evidence involving an alleged “Mary Carter agreement,” the admissibility of evidence involving a videotaped reconstruction of an accident scene, and the propriety of findings of negligence in regard to a municipality’s failure to remedy a visual obstruction of a stop sign. While we will resolve each of these questions in turn, we now affirm the decision of the court of appeals.

I

We turn first to the question of whether the trial court properly excluded evidence of a purported “Mary Carter agreement” between one of the defendants, Vicky Wells, and Walter Vogel, administrator of the decedent’s estate. “The Mary Carter agreement, named for an early case, * * * [Booth v. Mary Carter Paint Co. (Fla. App. 1967), 202 So. 2d 8,] is a contract between a plaintiff and one defendant allying them against another defendant at trial. It arises in tort litigation where a plaintiff sues two or more defendants for the same injury.” Note, It’s a Mistake to Tolerate the Mary Carter Agreement (1987), 87 Colum. L. Rev. 368, 368-369.1

Akron contended that certain discussions between Daniel Wilson, Vogel’s attorney, A. William Zavarel-lo, Wells’s attorney, and Harry A. Tipping, Wells’s insurance company’s attorney representing Wells, evidenced the existence of a collusive [94]*94agreement between these parties that could bias Wells in her testimony. Thus, Akron moved that it be allowed to disclose to the jury the existence of the purported agreement and to cross-examine Wells to show possible bias on her part, due to her counsel’s participation in the purported agreements. After an adequate hearing, the trial court denied this motion, since the court found no potential bias.

At the hearing, Tipping, Wells’s insurer’s attorney, stated that he had offered the entire $100,000 limit of Wells’s insurance policy to Wilson, Vogel’s counsel, in settlement of Vogel’s claim against Wells. This offer was to remain open until the jury retired to consider its verdict. Wilson stated that his client, Vogel, did not and would not accept the offer. Wilson did, in fact, gratuitously offer to limit his execution upon Wells’s property to $100,000, if the jury found her to be negligent to that extent or greater.

It is apparent from the record that the trial court was correct in concluding that whatever effect Tipping’s offer may have had, the offer provided an insufficient basis to allow cross-examination on the issue of Wells’s possible bias. It is also apparent that Wilson’s offer to limit the extent of his potential execution upon Wells’s property was unsupported either by consideration or by the consideration substitute of justifiable reliance. We note that Wilson’s offer could have been withdrawn at any time. Because there is no evidence of a collusive agreement between any of the parties, and because Wilson’s offer, whatever its effect, was completely gratuitous, we find no abuse of discretion and uphold the court of appeals’ judgment affirming the trial court’s ruling on this issue.

II

Akron argues that it was improper for the trial court to admit into evidence a videotaped reconstruction of the view of the scene prior to the accident offered by Wells and recorded by an expert within two weeks after the accident.

Akron asserts that the tape was inadmissible because the reconstructed events and the actual events were so dissimilar as to prejudice Akron. It is settled that experiments such as this reconstruction must be performed under conditions substantially similar to the occurrence in issue. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio RR. Co. (1935), 129 Ohio St. 401, 2 O.O. 396, 195 N.E. 861, paragraph one of the syllabus; Smith v. State (1853), 2 Ohio St. 511. However, “* * * dissimilarities, when not so marked as to confuse and mislead the jury, go to the weight rather than the admissibility of the evidence.” St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., supra.

At trial, Thomas F. Baker, production manager for Multivideo Services, Inc., a company specializing in accident reconstruction, testified as an expert witness for Wells and explained his role in videotaping a reconstruction of the view prior to the accident. Baker visited the accident scene accompanied by Wells and other persons on September 20, 1984 and October 3, 1984. Baker mounted a professional quality video camera at eye level immediately beside Wells’s head in a Corvette similar to the one Wells had driven on the date of the accident. Baker testified that he had ensured that the conditions depicted on the videotape would appear substantially similar to those on the day of the accident by accurately adjusting for or recreating the proper camera lens aperture setting, camera angle, general sunlight and lighting conditions, and the distance the vehicle was traveling from the curb. After verifying that the camera setup accurately portrayed the scene [95]*95as Wells remembered it, Baker videotaped the re-creation through the windshield of the Corvette as Wells drove the vehicle along the route on Wayne Avenue that she had taken on the day of the accident.

Akron utilized its opportunity to cross-examine Baker regarding this videotape recreation. Additionally, Akron was able to present the rebuttal testimony of its own expert, Dr. Arthur Philip Ginsberg, a scientist and business consultant with Vistech Consultants, Inc., who asserted that the videotape recording did not accurately replicate human eyesight.

We hold that it is within the sound discretion of the trial judge to admit or reject evidence of experiments and, absent an abuse of discretion, reviewing courts will not interfere with that decision. St Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., supra, at paragraph two of the syllabus. Due to this rule of law, and because Akron had an adequate opportunity to present testimony and cross-examine Wells’s expert regarding the credibility that the jury should give to that evidence, we find that the court of appeals was correct in affirming the trial court’s ruling.

Ill

Akron argues that the trial judge erred in prohibiting Akron from presenting evidence that the decedent failed to wear a seat belt at the time of the accident and that the decedent’s injuries were exacerbated because he failed to wear a seat belt. On January 9, 1986, the Ohio General Assembly squarely confronted this issue when it enacted R.C. 4513.263.141 Ohio Laws, Part I, 49, 73, 81. Subsection (B) of R.C. 4513.263 requires operators and passengers of passenger cars or trucks to wear available occupant-restraining devices. However, Subsection (G)(1) of the statute bars evidence of failure to comply with Subsection (B), except for the limited purpose of obtaining a conviction for a violation of Subsection (B). Therefore, a passenger’s failure to wear a seat belt is inadmissible to show comparative negligence for accidents that occurred on or after May 6, 1986, the effective date of the statute.

The accident in this case occurred on September 18,1984. The legislature did not specifically give R.C. 4513.263 retrospective application.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
566 N.E.2d 154, 57 Ohio St. 3d 91, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vogel-v-wells-ohio-1991.