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Woodger v. Christ Hospital11/10/2003
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
Argued October 21, 2003
Respondent Oscar Pizolli did not file a brief.
This personal injury negligence case raises a novel issue respecting the application of the statutory collateral source rule, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-97. Plaintiff Betty L. Woodger is receiving social security disability benefits on account of her disability caused or contributed to by the negligence of defendants Christ Hospital and Oscar Pizolli. In plaintiff's negligence action against these defendants, the jury awarded her $100,000 as compensation for past lost income, $96,000 as compensation for future lost income, and $100,000 for pain and suffering. Although plaintiff does not challenge the necessity of considering her social security disability benefits as a collateral source under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-97, she asserts that she is entitled to a credit against the deduction of those benefits from her jury award for the contributions she has made for social security during her working life, some $60,000. The trial judge disagreed, and plaintiff appeals that ruling, among others. While we agree with the trial judge that plaintiff is not entitled to a credit for all the contributions she has made over her working life, we have concluded, for reasons of statutory interpretation and consideration of equity, that she is entitled to a credit for the maximum social security contributions due from a taxpayer for the same period for which her disability payments have been deducted as collateral source payments.
This is how the issue arises. In 1996 plaintiff, complaining of left knee pain, was diagnosed as suffering from patellofemoral disease. It is a progressive condition caused by a malalignment of the patella and the patella tendon which causes the bones above and below the kneecap to rub against each other, resulting in degeneration and arthritic changes of the knee. In 1997 plaintiff was diagnosed as having the same condition in her right knee. She was prescribed a regimen of physical therapy involving the use of a Kinetron machine and had nineteen sessions at the Christ Hospital Therapy Department prior to June 1998, when she underwent an arthroscopic repair of a torn lateral meniscus in her right knee. In July 1998, the first time after the surgery that she used the Kinetron machine, she injured her right knee, and she alleges that she sustained the injury because of the negligent instructions given to her by defendant Pizolli, the physical therapist, respecting the use of the machine.
Plaintiff brought this action against the hospital and Pizolli alleging that because of Pizolli's negligence, she has lost significant mobility and is required on a permanent basis to use a cane or walker. Plaintiff is a registered nurse, and although she had previously held administrative nursing positions, at the time of the injury, because of staff restructuring, she was employed as a floor nurse. She claimed that she was no longer able to work and in November 1999 she was awarded social security disability benefits. The jury determined the liability claim against defendants and reached the compensatory damages verdict we have described. Plaintiff appeals both from the jury verdict and from the judgment thereafter entered by the trial court by which the verdict was molded in accordance with the collateral source statute and to award prejudgment interest.
Before addressing the molded judgment which raises the collateral source issue, we consider briefly plaintiff's challenges to the verdict, which we reject substantially for the reasons cogently and articulately stated by the trial judge in denying her motion for new trial or addi
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