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English v. Wal-Mart Stores12/19/2000
rs of horse riding. English testified that at the time of trial she was employed part-time in home health care and also performed bookkeeping for the man with whom she resided.
English introduced as evidence all of her medical bills associated with the alleged injury . English also introduced the deposition testimony of Dr. Kent Hensley, who examined English at the request of Wal-Mart. Dr. Hensley noted that English had suffered a serious back injury, a compression fracture, when she was bucked off of a horse in 1990. English testified that she wore a metal back brace for over a year following that injury. Dr. Hensley noted that Dr. Moore, who examined English when she was first taken to the Pauls Valley Hospital after the Wal-Mart incident, found no contusions or abrasions. Additionally, none of the doctors reported finding a knot on English's head or neck, despite her testimony of such a knot forming after she was hit at Wal-Mart. Dr. Hensley further noted that Dr. Moore performed a fundoscopic examination of the inside of English's eyes and found them to be normal. Dr. Hensley explained that the Pauls Valley Hospital report indicated that English suffered a mild concussion with headache and secondary nausea and vomiting. CAT scans and x-rays of her head and neck taken at the time were normal. Dr. Hensley noted that when English reported to the Norman Regional Hospital emergency room a few days after the alleged Wal-Mart injury she complained of headaches, neck pain and visual problems with her left eye, but the physician there, Dr. Hubbard, found no "abrasion, erythema, ecchymoses, or sign of trauma." Dr. Hubbard concluded, based on statements from English, that stress and social problems were "playing a big role" in her symptoms. Dr. Brashear in Norman did note in the left eye "a few vitreous floaters and a small hemorrhage off the nasal retinal artery of the left eye." English testified that approximately twice a year she suffers from eye hemorrhages. Dr. Hensley indicated those are different from the one discovered after the Wal-Mart incident and that they are not related. Dr. Hensley concluded that English had degenerative disc disease in her neck and low back due to age. Dr. Hensley reported that English's alleged injury at Wal-Mart is unlikely to have resulted in significant structural injury to her neck and back. Dr. Hensley also opined that it is unusual that a blow to the head, as described by English, would have resulted in a loss of consciousness without bruising. Dr. Hensley further stated that English's eye hemorrhage was "of uncertain relationship to this claimed injury." The medical evidence accordingly disputed the issue of causation of English's injuries.
At trial, during the testimony of ex-employee Don Wageman, who was manager of the Pauls Valley Wal-Mart on October 9, 1995, counsel for English questioned Wageman about the fact that nothing appears in the photos of the accident scene which might have been the object that fell on English. Counsel for English asked Wageman if it was possible that a Wal-Mart employee could have removed such an object from the area before the photos were taken. Wageman conceded that it was possible, but that he did not know who it could have been. Counsel for English then asked what that person's motive would have been. Wal-Mart objected to testimony regarding the possible motive of an unknown person. Counsel for English indicated that he was trying to get an explanation for the item being removed. Counsel for Wal-Mart responded that the testimony had been that the scene was not changed. The trial court responded in the presence of the jury: "I heard the testimony but I didn't believe it. I'm going to allow it." Wal-Mart's repeated objections to t
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