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Johnson v. Piggly Wiggly of Pinetops2/4/2003
ed that it was possible that an event independent of 22 September 1997 could have also caused the shingles. This alone, we believe, is insufficient to establish causation.
As in Lockwood and Poole, we look to the other testimony to see whether the record as a whole lends support to the expert's qualified opinion. Here the evidence shows that plaintiff had never experienced shingles before and the outbreak occurred just a few days after the incident at defendant's store. Plaintiff and her daughter testified as to how traumatic the event was and how upset it had made her at that time. Testimony by Dr. Peters revealed that on her visits to his office, plaintiff stated that she was "not emotionally over" the Piggly Wiggly incident and that she had a "generalized malaise" since that event. During cross-examination, plaintiff was asked about other events that occurred in her life near the time the 22 September 1997 incident took place that may have caused her stress. She testified that she did have stressful events that had occurred after the event on 22 September 1997. As to before 22 September 1997, she testified that while her house getting broken into was not stressful, her granddaughter being born with spina bifida and having five operations did cause her stress.
Despite the fact that the expert described the incident as "possibly" being the cause of the shingles outbreak, we believe that his opinion along with his explanation of why the medical community believes shingles occur and the other testimony leaves us in a similar position as the Lockwood and Poole cases, in that it was "permissible, but not compulsory, that the jury infer" that the incident of 22 September 1997 caused plaintiff physical injuries and emotional stress, which were the direct causes of plaintiff's shingles. This is so especially in light of the fact that the shingles manifested themselves so close in relation of time to the event.
Thus we hold that, under the facts of this case, it was not error to admit the expert's testimony on the causation of shingles, and the evidence in the case supports the verdict.
As there was no abuse of discretion, this assignment of error is overruled.
II.
As to the award of attorneys' fees pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. ยง 621.1 (2001), given our determination that the testimony was admissible and the verdict sustained, this assignment of error is overruled.
No error.
Judges WALKER and CAMPBELL concurred in this opinion prior to 31 December 2002.
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