Section 14

Citation: Section 14
Parent Document: Simon v. Solomon, 431 N.E.2d 556 (1982)
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date: 1982-01-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2038443/simon-v-solomon/ ↗

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Gem challenges the admission of two items of evidence. First, Gem asserts that the judge improperly allowed an expert witness to give an opinion on Solomon’s truthfulness. The witness in question was a psychiatrist who testified, on the basis of an interview with Solomon, that she had suffered serious emotional disturbance as a result of the conditions in her apartment. The judge refused to allow this witness to state directly his opinion on Solomon’s truthfulness during the psychiatric interview, but did permit the witness to testify that he ordinarily assessed patients’ truthfulness. The judge also permitted Solomon’s counsel to ask the witness what factors he had relied on in reaching his conclusion that the floods in Solomon’s apartment were the cause of her distress. Immediately after this question, the judge instructed the jury that they alone were responsible for determining the truth of the parties’ allegations, and that they should consider the witness’s comments on truthfulness only as evidence of the process by which he had formed his opinion and the facts on which he had relied. 8 The witness then answered that he had relied in *105

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