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Perry v. Magic Valley Regional Medical Center2/28/2000
6.
Perry and Collins separated within months of filing the complaint. Divorce and child custody proceedings were not amicable. Clinical social worker Susan DeHaan performed a court-ordered child custody evaluation of each parent's fitness in the fall of 1995. Afterwards, Collins reached a settlement with the Hospital whereby he dropped his loss of consortium claim against the Hospital for $15,000. His deposition, in which he made many statements unfavorable to Perry's claim, was taken the following day. In his deposition, he mentioned DeHaan's unfavorable view of Perry. Thereafter, the Hospital listed DeHaan as a fact and expert witness. The trial court dismissed Collins as a party on September 15, 1997. The Hospital filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence of the amount and terms of the settlement agreement. The trial court ruled that the settlement could not be mentioned during voir dire or Perry's case in chief, but deferred until trial a decision about using the settlement during cross-examination. At trial, the court granted the Hospital's motion in part.
After a prolonged period of discovery, Perry filed her first pre-trial motions on August 28, 1997. Perry moved to compel the Hospital to supplement discovery and to exclude witnesses for failure to supplement discovery. Accusing the Hospital of attempting to transform the proceedings from a medical malpractice case to character assassination, Perry charged that the Hospital was dragging its feet on discovery and hiding witnesses and evidence.
At a deposition, DeHaan expressed an opinion that Perry suffered from a character disorder affecting her truthfulness about pain. Perry moved for a protective order excluding DeHaan as a fact and expert witness, which the trial court denied. Perry also moved to exclude DeHaan from testifying as to character disorders. At a hearing to determine the basis for and admissibility of this evidence, the trial court held that DeHaan could not testify as to any disorder because her methodology was deficient.
The Hospital moved to have a psychiatrist, Richard Worst, perform a psychological examination of Perry, which the trial court allowed. Perry moved to exclude Worst's testimony. The trial court excluded Worst's testimony as more prejudicial than probative.
A jury trial took place between January 27 and February 7, 1998. The rancorous tone of the pretrial proceedings continued into the trial with Perry continuing to insist that the Hospital was deflecting the focus of proceedings from the elements of medical malpractice to attacking Perry's personal life. The Hospital objected to the reading of deposition testimony from Hospital nurses about the local standard of care, as well as to the testimony of Ann Petersen, Perry's nursing expert. The Hospital unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a videotape of Perry jet-skiing as impeachment evidence and to introduce testimony that Perry had given away some of her pain medication. The trial court disallowed the Hospital's attempt to use Perry's 1995 applications for unemployment insurance to impeach her testimony that she was unable to work. The Hospital also objected to many of the jury instructions as well as the special verdict form.
The jury deliberated one day before reaching its conclusion. It returned a special verdict finding that the actions of the Hospital and its agents were the proximate cause of Perry's injuries. The jury awarded Perry $1,550,000 in economic damages and $150,000 in non-economic damages. Judgment was entered on February 11, 1998.
After trial, Perry filed a memorandum of costs, claiming over $12,000 in costs as a matter of right and over $27,000 in discretionary costs
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