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Seitz v. Scofield2/26/2002
anifest error standard, which demands that findings of fact by the trial court be given great deference and disturbed only when clearly wrong. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). Where there is conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989).
Appellate courts have recognized that " he reason for this well-settled principle of review is based not only upon the trial court's better capacity to evaluate live witnesses (as compared with the appellate court's access only to a cold record), but also upon the proper allocation of trial and appellate functions between the respective courts." Canter v. Koehring Co., 283 So.2d 716, 724 (La. 1973).
Our review of the entire record indicates that the jury may have concluded that Donna Seitz was not in good health prior to the alleged incident and, thus, was not entitled to the presumption that her disability resulted from the incident in question. The record reveals that Donna Seitz was involved in a serious automobile accident in 1994. Although she initially denied involvement in the accident, Donna Seitz later admitted that she was in an automobile accident in 1994 during which the vehicle that she was driving flipped. She received treatment in the emergency room after that accident but denied that she was injured in that accident. Moreover, Donna Seitz weighed approximately 200 pounds at the time of the alleged incident and had recently given birth to her second child within three years, which could explain the strain on her lumber disk. Therefore, if the jury concluded that Donna Seitz was not in good health prior to the alleged incident, we find no manifest error in that determination.
Furthermore, where there is conflict in the testimony, as in this case, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. At trial, the jury saw medical notes from an emergency room visit by Seitz on November 12, 1999, several months after the alleged incident, that indicated that Seitz presented with complaints of "pain to the low back, onset 10/31, no recent trauma." (Emphasis added).
In addition, the jury may have found Seitz's testimony lacked credibility. At trial, Seitz initially testified that she did not have a criminal record. On cross examination, the defense, however, presented a certified copy of Seitz's guilty plea to interference with child custody (in a separate custody dispute with her ex-husband over their minor son), a violation of La. R.S. 14:45.1. The plea was entered on September 25, 1995 and, as a result of the plea, Seitz was sentenced to six months in parish prison, suspended, and placed on six months active probation. Further, the defense also submitted a certified copy of a judgment dated July 31, 2000 holding Seitz in contempt of court because she violated court-ordered injunctions against harassing her ex-husband and ex-in-laws. Seitz was sentenced to fifteen days in parish prison, suspended, and fined $200.00, suspended.
It is well settled that findings of fact by the trial court are given great deference and disturbed only when clearly wrong. We cannot say that the jury's determination in this case was clearly wrong and, thus, will not disturb its findings of fact. Because we find that the jury's determination of causation was not in error, we will not address Seitz's second assignment of error, the jury's fail
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