Evidence - Supreme Court Review

Abstract

FIRST PARAGRAPH(S)|Although the Nebraska Supreme Court considered many evidentiary issues, it made relatively few changes in the law. In some cases, the court ruled that the Nebraska Evidence Rules' have not modified preexisting state law. In a few cases, the court modified or expanded existing state law, either expressly or by implication.|In Cromer v. Farmland Service Coop, Inc., the plaintiffs sought damages for an allegedly negligent conversion of a furnace from natural gas to propane by employees of the defendant. Less than one month after the conversion a fire destroyed the plaintiffs' mobile home. The plaintiffs, in the case in chief, produced evidence tending to show that the defendant's method of conversion was improper and that it had caused overfiring of the furnace leading to an uncontrolled fire. The defendant's evidence tended to disprove this theory. On rebuttal, the plaintiffs offered expert testimony which would strengthen their case but which addressed issues not raised by the defendant. The trial court sustained the defendant's objections to this testimony. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant, and the plaintiffs appealed...