Mears v. Colvin

Plaintiff Shirley Mears, on behalf of the estate of Charles Mears, appeals from a judgment based on a jury verdict in favor of defendants, the owners of an apartment building in which decedent perished in a fire. Among other claims, plaintiff contends the trial court erred in admitting unfairly prejudicial evidence concerning plaintiff’s alleged lesbian affair, and the out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancies of decedent’s daughters. We agree and reverse.

This case arose out of an early morning fire in a three-unit apartment building in Shaftsbury. Decedent lived in a second-floor unit of the…