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Crane v. Dunn No. 109, September Term 2003 EVIDENCE - ADMISSION OF A PARTY OPPONENT It was error f or the trial judg e to exclud e from ev idence at a c ivil trial an adm ission of a p arty opponent because th e party against w hom the e vidence w as offered previously pleaded g uilty to a traffic offense in open court as part of a plea bargain, compromise, or as a matter of convenience. Such evidence of guilt is admissible in the civil trial arising out of the same occurrence as the traffic offense and is not inadmissible abse nt a determination on the re cord that the prejudicial effect of the evidence outweighs its probative value.

In the Circu it Court for C aroline Co unty Case No. 05-C-01-007512

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 109 September Term, 2003

LINDA J. CRANE

v

ANNIE V. DUNN

Bell, C.J. Raker Wilner Cathell Harrell Battaglia Greene, JJ.

Opinion by Greene, J.

Filed: July 26, 2004

"In Maryland, a guilty plea to a traf fic citation is ad missible in a c ivil trial; its probative value is deemed to outwe igh any p rejudici al effe ct. An exp ress ackno wledgm ent of guilt to the charged offen se in open court is far more probative than a questionable acknowledgment of culpability that might be inferred from paying a p reset fin e in lieu o f going to cour t." Brigge man v . Albert, 322 Md. 13 3, 139, 586 A. 2d 15, 18 (1991). In this case we must decide wheth er the trial judge correctly excluded evidence of a party's guilty plea , in traffic court, to the charge of negligent driving when that evidence was offered at a subsequent civil trial. We ho ld that the trial jud ge misinterp reted our de cision in Briggeman and err oneou sly exclud ed a pa rty oppon ent's pri or adm ission o f guilt. FACTS Linda J. Crane (" Crane ") and Annie V. Dunn (" Dunn" ) were friends and co-work ers who were inv olved in a sin gle vehicle accident on August 19, 1998. The accident occurred while Crane and Dunn traveled home together after an evening at Midway Slots in Harrington, Delaware.1 Dunn was driving her Toyota pickup and Crane was her passeng er. No other people or vehicles were involved in the accident. Both parties testified and gave conflicting versions as to how the accident happened. Although they agree that Dunn left the main traveled portion of the roadway to avoid striking a deer, that the accident happened between 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm, and that Dunn drove either below or at the posted speed of

Both Crane and Dunn drank alcohol during the course of the evening at the casino and before the accident. The parties stipulated, however, that the consumption of alcohol was not a cause of th e accident a nd that there would b e no refere nce to alcoh ol in the civil case.

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50 mp h, they ga ve con tradicto ry version s of the specifi c details of the a cciden t. According to Crane, as Dunn drove along Whiteleysburg Road, Rt. 314 in Maryland, a deer ran parallel to the right side of the road and the pickup truck. Dunn swerved sharply to the left to avoid a collision and drove into a field, throug h a ditch, a fe nce and in to another ditch before the vehicle came to rest. The vehicle traveled off the roadway approximately 50 feet. Crane explained that the deer was actu ally a car length a way in fron t of them b efore it came across the road in front of the truck. On the other hand, Dunn testified that, as she drove along Rt. 314, Crane yelled, "watch out," and then she saw the deer for the first time, "coming out in front and that's when [she] swerved to the left." According to Dunn the deer did not run parallel with the truck until she swerved left. Dunn pointed out that her evasive actions were taken to "get around the deer," so she, "intention ally drove off the road" in to a field "to avoid th e deer," and at n o time a pplied h er brak es to av oid strik ing the d eer. Prior to the civil trial in the Circuit Court for Caroline County, Dunn appeared in the District Court of Maryland sitting in Caroline County on December 17, 1998, and pleaded guilty to negligent driving, Md. Code (1977, 2002 Repl. Vol.),

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