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Ditto v. Stoneberger8/28/2002
On July 25, 1998, Edward Stoneberger was hit in the head and killed by a metal pipe that fell from the roof of a two-story feed mill building owned by Richard and Helen Reynolds. At the time of the accident, the building was being demolished by Victor Ditto.
Mr. Stoneberger was survived by a sister, forty-four year old Mary Stoneberger, and a niece, sixteen year old Candi Blessing. The personal representatives of Mr. Stoneberger's estate filed a survivorship action in the Circuit Court for Washington County against Mr. Ditto and the owners of the building; joined in the same suit was a claim for wrongful death filed by Mary Stoneberger individually and as the mother of Candi Blessing.
After a trial, the jury absolved the owners of any responsibility for the accident but found that Mr. Ditto's negligence caused Mr. Stoneberger's death. Damages were awarded to the estate as follows:
Medical expenses: $45,673.35
Funeral expenses: 3,146.75
Pain and suffering: 300,000.00
Total: $348,820.10
In addition, the jury awarded Mary Stoneberger and Candi Blessing $50,000 each on their respective wrongful death claims.
In this appeal, appellant, Ruth Ditto, as personal representative of the estate of Victor Ditto, raises six issues:
1. Whether, at the time of his death, either Mary Stoneberger or Candi Blessing was substantially dependent on Edward Stoneberger;
2. Whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury concerning the duty, or lack thereof, owed to a trespasser;
3. Whether sufficient evidence was presented to support a finding that Edward Stoneberger endured conscious pain and suffering as a result of the subject accident;
4. Whether the trial court erred in accepting Roger Campbell as an expert on the subject of occupational safety and the operation of cranes;
5. Whether the trial court erred in allowing counsel for the appellee to use misleading photographs; and
6. Whether the trial court erred in allowing Patsy Hays, the caregiver for Mary Stoneberger, Candi Blessing, and the deceased to introduce Social Security Administration records.
I. UNDISPUTED FACTS
Victor Ditto was hired by Richard and Helen Reynolds to demolish a two-story feed mill that the Reynoldses owned. The feed mill was located at the intersection of Railroad Lane and Main Street in Smithsburg, Washington County, Maryland. The front of the building faced Main Street, and railroad tracks ran along the side of the building opposite Railroad Lane.
Edward Stoneberger lived on Main Street near the feed mill. Residing with him was his sister, Mary Stoneberger, and Mary's teen-aged daughter, Candi Blessing.
On the afternoon of July 25, 1998, Mr. Ditto, age 82, was operating a crane, using the boom of the crane to knock down the feed mill building. According to Mr. Ditto's deposition testimony that was introduced at trial, Mr. Ditto was manipulating the boom to knock down the roof of the feed mill building when he struck a long, angled metal pipe.
About five minutes before the pipe was struck, Edward Stoneberger had stopped on property located across the street from where the demolition was taking place to speak with Clarence Miller. Miller was one of the people hired by Mr. Ditto to spray the feed mill in order to dampen the dust caused by the demolition. Mr. Stoneberger and Miller commenced talking while standing in the backyard of a brownstone located directly across Railroad Lane from the demolition site. When the boom struck the long metal pipe, the pipe broke loose, slid d
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