Supreme Court of Virginia Reverses Verdict for Autopilot Manufacturer and Remands Case
The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed a judgment in favor of an autopilot system manufacturer in a case involving consolidated wrongful death actions arising from a small airplane crash. In the court’s opinion that was released yesterday, the court concluded that an accident investigation report should not have been admitted into evidence pursuant to the learned treatise exception of the hearsay rule because it was not a published treatise, periodical, or pamphlet, nor was it merely cumulative of other competent evidence. The court indicated that the admission of this report alone constituted enough error to reverse the verdict and remand the case but also found that certain witness testimony assessing liability should have been excluded because the witness could have related the facts in a manner that provided the jury with an adequate understanding of the issue without inserting his opinion, and that the plaintiffs’ objections to statements made by the defendant’s counsel during closing argument should have been sustained as the statements violated a pretrial order.
