Smell Of Alcohol On Attorney’s Breath Inadmissible Absent Evidence of Impairment

The Iowa Supreme Court agreed with its Court of Appeals that a trial court committed error when it permitted the plaintiff in a legal malpractice case to introduce evidence that the attorney “emitted the smell of an alcoholic beverage from his breath during the representation, without introducing evidence of impairment.”

The court remanded the case for a new trial as a result of errors in the jury instructions.

The opinion of the Court of Appeals is linked here.

The attorney had defended the clients in civil litigation that led to a money judgment against them. He entered a substance abuse treatment facility shortly after the trial. The trial court refused to admit opinion evidence on whether the attorney was intoxicated at the trial and excluded evidence of his post-trial treatment for alcoholism. The Court of Appeals concluded that “there was no evidence [the attorney] was ‘under the influence’ much less that he was incapable of competently performing his services as a result.” (Mike Frisch)