Section 12.9 Proof of Prior Occurrence

• Library: Evidence 2017

a. (§12.9) Proof of Prior Occurrence

Included below are cases that support the general rule that prior occurrences are inadmissible to show conformity with the issue at stake in the current case:

· Billings v. Stanley, 759 S.W.2d 277, 280–81 (Mo. App. W.D. 1988). The court held that a police report on the altercation out of which the personal injury suit arose, which included prior occurrences of physical violence by the defendant, was not admissible as evidence that the defendant committed the physical assault alleged.

· Leachman v. N. Assurance Co. of Am., 728 S.W.2d 307, 312 (Mo. App. W.D. 1987). In a suit on a property insurance claim over disputed vandalism, the court held that it is not an abuse of discretion to preclude use of evidence of a vandalism incident at a nearby residence two months later as dissimilar and remote in time.

· Sampson v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 560...