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United States Gypsum Co. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore9/12/1994
ptions which he made in shaping his research. The fact that the defendants did not have the underlying data was fully revealed to the jury on cross-examination,
and it was emphasized in closing argument. In our view, the defendants' asserted lack of access to the data goes only to the weight the jury might give to the Levin-Selikoff study and to Dr. Levin's testimony rather than to the admissibility of such evidence. Cf. Board of Education v. Hughes, 271 Md. 335, 342, 317 A.2d 485, 489 (1974) (objection that income data introduced in a condemnation proceeding was two years old, "went to the weight of the evidence rather than to its admissibility. The Board was in a position to follow up on this on cross-examination and it did").
B.
Asbestospray next argues that the trial court should not have admitted into evidence a study conducted by Dr. L. Oliver regarding the incidence of asbestos-related diseases among Boston school custodians. Asbestospray claims on appeal that this medical study is irrelevant to any of the issues involved in an action for property damages only. A review of the record, however, indicates that Asbestospray failed to preserve a relevancy objection for appellate review.
Prior to trial, the defendants below filed a motion in limine to preclude any testimony about, reference to, or admission of Dr. Oliver's study. The defendants argued that the Oliver study did not establish any basic proposition advanced by the City in this action, but, instead, that the Oliver study
"purported to establish only that custodians of buildings that contain in-place asbestos products are at a higher risk of developing pleural plaques, . . . [which] are not harmful to health and are not considered to be a disease."
At trial, just before Dr. Oliver began to testify, the defendants mentioned their prior motion. The trial judge, indicating that the motion in limine had been denied, permitted Dr. Oliver to testify. Not long after Dr. Oliver took the stand, the City began questioning her about the custodian survey. Despite their earlier motion to exclude any such testimony, the defendants did not object to the City's line of questioning until the City sought to offer the Oliver study itself into evidence. When asked by the court for the specific grounds for the objection, counsel for United States Gypsum, speaking for all defendants, responded:
"Your honor, it's rank hearsay. . . . We have [Dr. Oliver] here to testify about her opinion. For that article to go back into the jury room with the jury is hearsay."
Asbestospray does not raise a hearsay issue in this Court with respect to the Oliver study. The defendant now claims that the earlier motion in limine to preclude the admission of the study, as well as to exclude any testimony about it or reference to it, on grounds of relevance, preserved the relevance challenge which it presses on appeal. We disagree.
Generally, where a party makes a motion in limine to exclude irrelevant or otherwise inadmissible evidence, and that evidence is subsequently admitted, "the party who made the motion ordinarily must object at the time the evidence is actually offered to preserve objection for appellate review." Prout v. State, 311 Md. 348, 356, 535 A.2d 445, 449 (1988). See Watson v. State, 311 Md. 370, 372-373 n. 1, 535 A.2d 455, 457 n. 1 (1988); Billman v. State Deposit, 88 Md. App. 79, 114-116, 593 A.2d 684, 701-702, cert. denied, 325 Md. 94, 599 A.2d 447 (1991); Beghtol v. Michael,
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