Steffensen v. Smith's Management Corp

In Steffensen v. Smith's Management Corp., 862 P.2d 1342, 1347 (Utah 1993) the plaintiff attempted to have her expert witness allocate the actual percentage of negligence between the two defendants. The court recognized that although Rule 704 permits expert testimony regarding an ultimate issue, not all opinions addressing ultimate issues are admissible. Id. Therefore, the court concluded that "questions which merely authorize the witness to tell the jury what result to reach are not permitted" under Rule 704 because such testimony is solely the jury's responsibility. Id. at 1347-48.