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PIERCE v. CENTRAL MAINE POWER CO.3/11/1993
Defendant Central Maine Power Co. (CMP) appeals from a Superior Court judgment (York County, Fritzsche, J.) following a jury trial. The jury found CMP liable for an accident in which a crane touched a power line at a construction site and awarded damages to plaintiffs Marie R. Pierce, Ronald D. Nadeau, and Martin L. Lancaster. CMP contends on appeal that the Superior Court erred (1) by refusing to admit plaintiffs' pleadings and answers to interrogatories for impeachment purposes; (2) by failing to estop plaintiffs from contending that CMP was solely responsible for the accident; (3) by admitting testimony from plaintiffs' expert witness that the accident was foreseeable; and (4) by informing the jury of a statutory cap on damages for loss of comfort and society. CMP also contends the court abused its discretion by reversing its ruling admitting evidence that one plaintiff was receiving workers' compensation benefits. Plaintiffs cross-appeal, contending the court abused its discretion by partially waiving prejudgment interest. Finding error only in the court's partial waiver of prejudgment interest, we remand for an award of prejudgment interest from the date on which the complaints were filed and otherwise affirm.
In 1986, Jon Pierce, Ronald Nadeau and Martin Lancaster were employed by a contractor renovating a former tannery complex in Saco. The three were steadying a steel beam as it was being moved across the construction site by a crane. The boom of the crane struck transmission lines owned and maintained by CMP. The electricity was conducted through the steel beam, electrocuting Jonathan Pierce and injuring Nadeau and Lancaster.
Nadeau, Lancaster, and Marie Pierce, the personal representative of her husband's estate, separately brought actions against CMP; Nelcon, Inc., the owner of the crane; Nelson Welding & Co., the employer of the operator of the crane; and Grove Manufacturing The actions were consolidated for discovery and trial. Shortly before trial, plaintiffs settled with Grove Manufacturing and dismissed their complaint as to all defendants except CMP.
After trial, the jury returned a verdict finding CMP liable and awarding plaintiffs damages. After subtracting the amount of the prior settlement with Grove Manufacturing, Pierce was awarded approximately $530,000, Nadeau $153,000, and Lancaster $228,000, plus interest and costs. The court subsequently waived two years of prejudgment interest. These appeals followed.
I.
In pleadings and answers to interrogatories, plaintiffs alleged with some specificity that one or more of the named defendants, Nelson Welding & Co., Nelcon, Inc., and Grove Manufacturing Co., were a cause of their injuries. At trial, however, counsel for plaintiffs Nadeau and Lancaster told the jury in their opening statement that " here will not be one shred of evidence in this case to suggest that any worker on that accident site consciously disregarded a safety practice." CMP argues that the thrust of the testimony elicited by plaintiffs from the crane's operator was contrary to assertions previously made by plaintiffs; that plaintiff Pierce testified on cross-examination that she was claiming CMP to be totally at fault; and that plaintiff Pierce's counsel suggested to the jury that CMP was unfairly trying to blame others for the accident.
The presiding justice refused CMP's request to admit plaintiffs' pleadings and interrogatory answers on the ground that the evidence was likely to confuse the jury as to the litigation or the settlement with other possible defendants. See M.R.Evid. 403. CMP contends that the court erred by refusing to admit plaintiffs' prior statements that were inconsistent with
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