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Parizon v. Children's Hospital of Michigan6/21/2002
UNPUBLISHED
ON REMAND
In this medical malpractice case, we previously reversed the trial court's order granting plaintiff's motion for additur, and remanded for a new trial on both liability and damages. Parizon v Children's Hospital of Michigan (Parizon I), unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, issued 12/15/2000 (Docket Nos. 213251, 213754), slip op, pp 1, 3, 5.
The case is now before us on remand from the Supreme Court to consider, in light of Kelly v Builders Square, Inc, 465 Mich 29; 632 NW2d 912 (2001), "whether additur was required merely because the jury elected not to award any amount for future damages." The Supreme Court further instructed that in the event we conclude "that there was no basis to justify any award of additur, should direct that the jury's award of $15,000 in damages be reinstated." Id. We now reverse and remand to the trial court for entry of judgment on the original verdict of $15,000.
I. Facts
As noted in our previous opinion:
Plaintiff's complaint alleged that, during a hospital stay in August 1980, Melissa Parizon, then an infant, was injured when an IV inserted into her ankle infiltrated into the subcutaneous tissues around the vein. Plaintiff alleged that defendant was negligent in failing to recognize that the IV had infiltrated, in monitoring the infant's condition, and in failing to immediately and properly treat the injury . As a result of defendant's alleged negligence, Melissa Parizon suffered permanent scarring and disability. Following a trial, a jury found that defendant was negligent, that Melissa had suffered damages as proximate result of * On remand, Judge Doctoroff has been substituted for Judge McDonald.
defendant's negligence, and that the amount of damages from the date of the injury to the filing of the complaint was $15,000. The jury did not award any interest on the award for past damages, or award any future damages.
Plaintiff moved for additur or in the alternative a new trial. The court found that the jury's verdict was "totally inadequate" and, therefore, granted the motion for additur in plaintiff's suggested amount of $505,992, plus interest, taxable costs and fees, and entered a judgment for plaintiff in that amount. Defendant rejected the amount of additur and filed various motions for clarification and/or rehearing of the trial court's order, arguing that the court should have granted plaintiff's motion for a new trial unless defendant consented to the entry of judgment in an amount determined by the court to be the lowest amount supported by the evidence. The trial court denied defendant's motions. [Parizon I, slip op, p 1.]
Melissa also testified that she played high school varsity basketball and softball. Id. at 2. In addition, a video of Melissa playing high school basketball was introduced into evidence and shown to the jury, id., and Melissa testified that she quit playing volleyball because her ankle hurt her when she spiked the ball, that in other sports her ankle only hurt when she ran, that her ankle did not prevent her from performing at an "A" level in gym class, and that when her ankle hurt (two or three times a day) it felt "like a toothache in her ankle." While Melissa testified that she was embarrassed by the ankle scar, id., and therefore did not like to show her ankle, she could only remember one occasion when someone asked her about her scar. Her embarrassment also did not keep her from wearing high heels for certain functions. Melissa testified that she had no recollection of having her ankle evaluated by a physician, but she did recall going to a lawyer about the injury. Melissa showed the scar
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