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Graber v. City Of Ankeny9/7/2000
est that her husband had paid [the plaintiff]; therefore, it is assumed, the jury would not want to compensate plaintiff twice. However, there must be something about the settlement of the claim against the husband of the witness that might influence her to testify falsely.
It is conceivable that at the time when the suit against her husband was still active, Mrs. Siecke might want to testify favorably to him, i.e., that he was on his own side of the road at all times. Contrariwise, once his liability was settled, other than the desire to tell the truth, she would have no reason to care on which side of the road he was, and an answer that she did not know would not be unexpected. In the present case the sequence was just the opposite.
We see no logical connection between the facts testified to by Mrs. Siecke and the status of her husband's lawsuit. We see no relevance to the testimony. At best, any possible relevance was outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion, or misleading the jury. Id. at 556—57 (emphasis added).
We agree with this analysis. The mere fact of settlement does not automatically implicate the bias or prejudice of a party to the settlement. If this were true, rule 408 would be rendered a nullity. Rather, there must be something about the settlement that might influence the witness to testify falsely. Only under these circumstances does the evidence reflect upon the possible bias or prejudice of the witness; accordingly, only under these circumstances is the evidence relevant. We turn now to the facts of this case.
Preliminarily we note that there is nothing in the record to suggest that Allen testified differently before the settlement than she did after the settlement; she has always maintained that the light changed too fast. More importantly, the defendant points to nothing in the settlement that would motivate Allen to testify falsely at trial. Under this state of the record, we find no factual basis to support admitting evidence of the settlement on the issue of bias or prejudice.
2. Relevancy to identity.
The defendant argues alternatively that this evidence was relevant to show Allen's identity for purposes of assigning fault to her. See Iowa Code § 668.3(2)(b) (requiring the jury to indicate the percentage of fault assigned to the plaintiff, the defendant, any third-party defendant, and any released party). We fail to find any indication in the record, however, that there was ever any dispute that Allen qualified as a released party for purposes of allocating fault. In fact, the plaintiff's attorney conceded at the hearing on her motion in limine prior to trial that the jury would "be determining an allocation of fault . . . to Kristie Allen." In the absence of a dispute on this issue, the evidence should not be admitted for purposes of identifying Allen as a released party. See Brewer v. Payless Stations, Inc., 316 N.W.2d 702, 705 (Mich. 1982) (holding that " hen there is no genuine dispute regarding either the existence of a release or a settlement between plaintiff and a co-defendant or the amount to be deducted, the jury shall not be informed of the existence of a settlement or the amount paid"). See generally Ipsen v. Ruess, 241 Iowa 730, 733-34, 41 N.W.2d 658, 661 (1950) (noting the general rule as to relevancy is "'whether there is a logical or rational connection between the fact which is sought to be proved and a matter of fact which has been made an issue in the case'" (emphasis added)).
The defendant relies upon our decision in Garren v. First Realty, Ltd., 481 N.W.2d 335 (Iowa 1992). In Garren, this court affirmed the admission of evidence that certain parties had been released
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