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Grandstaff v. Hawks5/31/2000
the first persons to arrive at the scene of the collision. She had been driving from Carthage toward Lebanon on Carthage Highway at between sixty and sixty-five miles per hour when a white automobile going in the same direction overtook and passed her. Approximately three minutes later, she topped a hill and saw the scene of the collision - a white automobile on the left side of the road and a maroon truck stopped in her lane of traffic. She also observed a man lying on the left side of the road. Ms. Owens stopped to render aid until the persons involved in the collision were transported by ambulance to the hospital. She believed that the white automobile that had passed her earlier was the same automobile that was involved in the collision because her mother-in-law drove a very similar automobile.
At the beginning of the trial on March 31, 1997, State Farm's lawyer, on behalf of his client and Mr. Forrest, requested the trial court to prevent Mr. Hawks from eliciting from any witness testimony suggesting that Mr. Forrest was speeding when the collision occurred. The motion was obviously directed toward Ms. Owens. The court responded to the motion as follows:
Well, see, that's three minutes previously that in fact he was speeding. Well, what we'll do is we'll hear the testimony of this witness prior to their being presented to the jury to see what the Court concludes. But right now, three minutes straight highway. Let's see what she's got to say first. But right now I'm inclined to let it in.
In the discussion that followed, the trial court reiterated: "Well, what I'm saying is that, in all candor, it does show a continuous course of action. But, anyway, we'll see what they've got to say."
Despite his earlier objection to Ms. Owens' testimony, Mr. Forrest's lawyer called Ms. Owens as his first witness on the second day of trial. The record does not indicate whether the lawyer for State Farm was present during Ms. Owens' testimony. Without objection, Ms. Owen testified that three minutes before the accident, a white automobile she believed to be Mr. Forrest's passed her while she was driving between sixty and sixty-five miles per hour and that this automobile was the same automobile involved in the collision she encountered approximately three minutes later. In its motion for new trial, State Farm complained that the trial court erred by admitting Ms. Owens' testimony regarding the rate of speed of the white automobile that passed her. The trial court denied that ground of the motion for a new trial, and now State Farm raises the same issue on appeal.
Objections to the introduction of evidence must be timely and specific. See Overstreet v. Shoney's, Inc., 4 S.W.3d 694, 702 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999). An evidentiary objection will be considered timely either if it is made in a motion in limine or if it is made at the time the objectionable evidence is about to be introduced. See Wright v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 789 S.W.2d 911, 914 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1990). A party who files an unsuccessful motion in limine need not renew the motion when the evidence is introduced as long as the trial court "clearly and definitively" overruled the motion in limine when it was made. See State v. Brobeck, 751 S.W.2d 828, 833-34 (Tenn. 1988); State v. McGhee, 746 S.W.2d 460, 462 (Tenn. 1988); Wright v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 789 S.W.2d at 914. If, however, the trial court has not "clearly and definitively" acted on the motion, the moving party must renew the motion contemporaneously with the introduction of the objectionable evidence. Failure to renew the motion will preclude the moving party from taking issue on appeal with the admission of the evidence.
The tria
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