United States Eighth Circuit

In a negligence action, district court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the court erred in denying defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law on the issue of imputed liability as the facts were sufficient to establish that a principal-agent relationship exited between the defendant-driver and the owner and that the defemdant's negligence should be imputed to the owner; and 2) the court did not err denying defendant's motion for a new trial as the court acted properly in excluding certain photographs at trial, allowing statements about co-defendant's intoxication at closing argument, excluding a jury instruction, excluding evidence of violation of a statute, and excluding expert testimony.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/09/2009
• Published 04/09/2009

Judges

• RILEY, Circuit Judge., Before RILEY, BOWMAN, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Paul P. Hasty, Jr., Schmitt Manz Swanson & Mulhern, P.C., Overland Park, KS, argued (Theresa Shean Hall, on the brief) for appellant Brandon McNeely.


• For Appellees:
  
• David R. Adair, Haden, Cowherd & Bullock, L.L.C., Springfield, MO, argued, for appellee Robert Smedley., Eric G. Jensen, O'Reilly & Jensen, L.L.C., Springfield, MO, argued, for appellees Michael Littleton and Gerri Littleton.