Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

348 N.C. 684

500 S.E.2d 664

Martin v. Benson

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided July 9, 1998

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1998-07-09

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[a] motion in limine is insufficient to preserve for appeal the question of the admissibility of evidence if the defendant fails to further object to that evidence at the time it is offered at trial.”

quoted by 3 later decisions, including 135 N.C. App. 556 - Nunnery v. Baucom, 130 N.C. App. 616 - Heatherly v. Industrial Health Council

Relies on State v. Conaway · State v. Wilson · State v. Warren

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1998-07-09

How this case has been cited

Cited by 27 later decisions — most recently February 2014 · most notably State v. Hayes (1999), 130 N.C. App. 616 - Heatherly v. Industrial Health Council (1998)

27 state decisions

130199820002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PER CURIAM.

¶1 Defendants appeal a decision of the Court of Appeals reversing the trial court in a personal injury case and awarding a new trial to the plaintiffs based on the trial court’s decision to allow a neuropsychologist to testify regarding the medical causation of plaintiff Jannett Martin’s (herein plaintiff) impairments.

¶2 On 28 November 1990, a truck driven by defendant John Michael Benson and owned by defendant Industrial Electric, Inc., crossed the *685 median and collided with an automobile driven by plaintiff. The parties entered into stipulations that defendants’ negligence caused the collision and that the amount of plaintiff’s medical bills was $100,041.22.

¶3 On' 27 March 1995, two weeks before the trial began, defendants moved to have plaintiff examined by Dr. Elizabeth Gamboa, a neuropsychologist, for the purpose of updating information on plaintiff’s condition. The motion was allowed. Plaintiffs thereafter filed a motion in limine to exclude Dr. Gamboa’s report and testimony. The trial court denied the motion and permitted Dr. Gamboa to testify. At trial the parties presented numerous expert and lay witnesses as to the proximate causation of plaintiff’s injuries and plaintiff’s damages. Plaintiffs presented testimony from Dr. James U. Adelman, a specialist in neurology, and from Dr. Gary Hoover, a psychologist. When Dr. Gamboa testified for defendant, plaintiffs did not object to her testimony. The jury found that defendants’ negligence was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries and awarded her $50,000 in damages.

¶4 On appeal to the Court of Appeals, plaintiffs contended that the trial court erred in denying plaintiffs’ motion in limine and allowing Dr. Gamboa to testify. The Court of Appeals agreed.

¶5 The rule is that “[a] motion in limine is insufficient to preserve for appeal the question of the admissibility of evidence if the [movant] fails to further object to that evidence at the time it is offered at trial.” State v. Conaway, 339 N.C. 487, 521, 453 S.E.2d 824, 845-46, cert, denied,, 516 U.S. 884, 133 L. Ed. 2d 153 (1995); see also State v. Warren, 347 N.C. 309, 318, 492 S.E.2d 609, 613 (1997), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 140 L. Ed. 2d 818 (1998); State v. Hill, 347 N.C. 275, 293, 493 S.E.2d 264, 274 (1997), cert, denied,-U.S.-, 140 L. Ed. 2d 1099 (1998); State v. Wilson, 289 N.C. 531, 537, 223 S.E.2d 311, 315 (1976); T&T Dev. Co. v. Southern Nat’l Bank of S.C., 125 N.C. App. 600, 602, 481 S.E.2d 347, 348-49, disc. rev. denied, 346 N.C. 185, 486 S.E.2d 219 (1997). Thus, by failing to object at trial, plaintiffs have waived their right to appellate review of the admission of Dr. Gamboa’s testimony.

¶6 Accordingly, we reverse the opinion below and remand to the Court of Appeals for consideration of plaintiffs’ remaining assignment of error.

¶7 REVERSED AND REMANDED.

/348/nc/684 · .json · Public domain