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Dunn v. Riley12/1/2004
Submitted: October 13, 2004
Upon appeal from Superior Court. AFFIRMED.
The plaintiff below, Karen Dunn, appeals from the denial by an order of the Superior Court of her motion for a new trial after a jury rendered a verdict for the defendant, James Riley. The jury found that although Riley was negligent in rear-ending Dunn's car, his negligence was not the proximate cause of Dunn's injuries. We conclude that based upon the evidence presented at trial, the jury verdict was reasonable. We also reject Dunn's claim of entitlement to a new trial based on Riley's testimony that the collision was minor, because any resulting prejudice was cured by the instructions given to the jury. Accordingly, we affirm the Superior Court judgment denying Dunn's motion for a new trial.
Facts
On December 19, 1999, Riley rear-ended a car in which Dunn was riding as a passenger. Five months before, in July 1999, Dunn had been involved in a similar car accident. After both accidents, she complained of neck and back problems. At trial, Dunn presented the testimony of Dr. Senu-Oke, who opined that Dunn's neck and back problems were the result of a disc herniation that had been caused by the December (but not the July) accident.
The jury completed a special verdict form, and found that (i) Riley was negligent, but (ii) Riley's negligence was not the proximate cause of Dunn's injuries. Thereafter, Dunn moved for a new trial, which the Superior Court denied. Dunn appeals from the denial of that motion.
Dunn advances two claims of error on this appeal. First, she claims that the trial court erred in denying her a new trial because the jury verdict was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Second, she contends that the trial court erred by refusing to admit evidence of the property damage caused to Dunn's vehicle to rebut Riley's characterization of the accident as minor. Neither argument has merit.
The Reasonableness of the Jury Verdict
The question raised by Dunn's first argument is whether the jury verdict was contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence presented at trial. This Court reviews a trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial for abuse of discretion. A jury verdict is presumed to be correct and "will be upheld unless it is against the 'great weight of the evidence.'" The Delaware Constitution sets forth this Court's standard of review: ". . . on appeal from a verdict of a jury, the finding of the jury, if supported by the evidence, shall be conclusive."
To support her claim that the Superior Court abused its discretion, Dunn relies upon Maier v. Santucci. In Maier we found that the trial court abused its discretion by not granting a new trial after the jury had returned a verdict of zero ($0) damages, even though "the evidence conclusively establishe the existence of an injury " and the "injury ha been established as causally related to the accident." Dunn argues that the circumstances found to require a new trial in Maier are also present here, and that therefore, the Superior Court's denial of her new trial motion after a jury verdict of zero ($0) damages was an abuse of discretion.
Dunn's argument fails, because in this case the evidence on the issue of causation was in conflict, and, thus, did not conclusively establish that Dunn's injuries were causally related to the accident. That evidence included two of Dr. Senu-Oke's expert reports, both made after the December accident, in which Dr. Senu-Oke offered contradictory medical opinions about the cause of Dunn's injuries. In his first report, dated in September 2000, Dr. Senu-Oke opined that Dunn's injuries resulted
Page 1 2 3 4 Delaware Personal Injury Attorneys
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