073478P.pdf   04/09/2009  Michael Littleton  v.  Brandon McNeely
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  07-3478
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Jefferson City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Bowman and Colloton, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - torts. Under Missouri law, the critical inquiries as to
   whether operator's negligence could be imputed to owner-passenger of
   the boat was not whether the owner had equal control at the time of the
   accident but whether he had the right of control and whether an agency
   relation existed between the operator and the owner; here, the undisputed
   facts were sufficient to establish, as a matter of law, that principal-agent
   relationship exited between the operator and the owner-passenger and
   that the operator's negligence should be imputed to the owner as a matter
   of law; as a result, the district court erred in denying McNeely's motion
   for judgment as a matter of law; no error in excluding certain photos or in
   precluding McNeely from referring to an area at the lake known as "Party
   Cove;" district court did not err in allowing passenger's counsel to argue
   his client did not have any alcohol in her bloodstream based on
   emergency room blood analysis after the accident; district court did not
   err in refusing McNeely's instruction concerning operator's intoxication;
   no error in excluding evidence that operator allegedly violated Missouri
   law prohibiting operation of a boat while intoxicated; no error in
   excluding proposed expert testimony on other jurisdictions' blood alcohol
   standards.