EVIDENCE-PRIVILEGE-RIGHT OF THIRD PERSON TO ASSERT PRIVILEGE AS TO ACCIDENT REPORT MADE CONFIDENTIAL BY STATUTE

Plaintiff brought a negligence action for injuries sustained when the automobile in which she was a passenger collided with that operated by the defendant. Defendant questioned a police officer, who had filed the accident report, concerning statements made to him by the driver of the vehicle in which the plaintiff was riding. The trial court permitted this testimony over the plaintiff's objection that these statements were privileged under an Iowa statute purporting to make written accident reports confidential and inadmissible in evidence. On appeal after a verdict was returned in favor of the defendant, held, reversed.

The statute can be the basis for objection by one who is not a party to the report. The statutory prohibition of the accident report as evidence does more than create a personal privilege; it is not for the sole benefit of the party reporting but is for the benefit of the public at large. Sprague v. Brodus, (Iowa 1953) 60 N.W. (2d) 850.