## Facts

- A fatal accident involving a truck operated by Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, Inc. led to Texas wrongful-death and related claims by Mr. Conway’s widow, Ruby Conway, and other beneficiaries.
- Before and during trial, the district court barred the defendant from informing the jury that Mrs. Conway had remarried after Mr. Conway’s death.
- Plaintiffs tried the case in a manner that implied Mrs. Conway remained the decedent’s unremarried widow, including eliciting testimony from her about her “only marriage” that created a misleading impression.
- The defendant sought to impeach Mrs. Conway by showing she had remarried, arguing her testimony misled the jury.
- The district court refused to allow impeachment on remarriage.
- After an initial appellate decision ordering a new trial only as to Mrs. Conway’s individual judgment, the defendant sought rehearing, contending the error affected all plaintiffs’ verdicts.

## Issues

1. Whether the erroneous restriction on impeachment of Mrs. Conway’s testimony required reversal only of her individual judgment or of all plaintiffs’ judgments.
2. Whether Mrs. Conway’s credibility regarding her marital status was material to liability and the other plaintiffs’ damages claims, such that limiting cross-examination could have affected all recoveries.

## Decision

- The court granted rehearing in part and held it had erred by limiting the new trial to Mrs. Conway’s judgment.
- The court concluded all judgments were before it and the improper restriction on impeachment “infect[ed] all recoveries equally.”
- The court reversed and remanded all plaintiffs’ judgments for a new trial.

## Legal Principles

- When a witness is material to liability and to damages affecting multiple claimants, an improper restriction on impeachment bearing on veracity can require reversal of all related judgments, not merely the witness’s individual recovery.
- A party may not use an evidentiary restriction to create or exploit a misleading impression before the jury while preventing the opponent from correcting that impression through cross-examination.
- Trial courts must permit reasonable cross-examination to test credibility when testimony, viewed in context, may mislead the jury on matters used to influence its assessment of the case.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit ordered a new trial for all plaintiffs because the district court’s refusal to allow impeachment of Mrs. Conway regarding her remarriage limited the defendant’s ability to test the credibility of a witness whose testimony bore on liability and damages across the case.


Conway v. Chem. Leaman Tank Lines, Inc., 540 F.2d 837 (5th Cir. 1976)