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Wal-Mart Stores6/6/2002
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 1/18/2000
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 6/06/2002
EN BANC.
. Turner Frierson, Jr. filed suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) for injuries he sustained when he slipped and fell in the vestibule of the Wal-Mart in Indianola, Mississippi. Frierson's wife, Pinkie Mae, joined this suit by asserting a claim for loss of consortium. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Turner Frierson for $100,000.00, and in favor of Pinkie Mae Frierson for $25,000.00. Judgment was entered on that verdict. Aggrieved, Wal-Mart has perfected its appeal.
FACTS
. As Turner Frierson was leaving Wal-Mart on August 30, 1996, he slipped and fell in the vestibule. Testimony at trial established that it had rained that afternoon. Wal-Mart employees had left an outside door, which led to the vestibule, open for other employees to return shopping carts inside the store. Frierson asserted that rain blew through the open door into the vestibule and that the rain, combined with water dripping off of the shopping carts, made the tile floor slippery. Wal-Mart alleged it was Frierson's own negligence which contributed to his fall, and in any event, that the Wal-Mart employees had not acted negligently.
. Prior to trial, the parties disagreed as to the proof Frierson could present to the jury with respect to the extent of his injuries. The Friersons had no private health insurance. Medicaid and Medicare paid a portion of Frierson's medical expenses. Pursuant to Medicaid/Medicare regulations, that portion of Frierson's expenses not paid by Medicaid or Medicare was "written off," or eradicated, by those who had provided medical assistance to him. The Friersons made no independent payments. Wal-Mart filed a motion in limine attempting to prevent the Friersons from introducing evidence of any of the medical expenses which had been eradicated. Wal-Mart argued that allowing the introduction of these expenses would allow the Friersons to realize an impermissible windfall as no one would ever be required to pay the amounts written off. Judge Gray Evans overruled Wal-Mart's motion based on a court case involving his own mother.
. The case proceeded to trial. After judgment was entered on the jury's verdict in favor of the Friersons, Wal-Mart moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for a new trial, and alternatively for a remittitur. This motion was denied. Wal-Mart now appeals to this Court and requests that we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand this action for a new trial. Wal-Mart assigns the following three points as error:
I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY PERMITTING FRIERSON TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE OF THE AMOUNTS OF HIS MEDICAL EXPENSES "WRITTEN OFF" BY HIS VARIOUS MEDICAL PROVIDERS AFTER PARTIAL PAYMENT OF SUCH EXPENSES BY MEDICAID AND MEDICARE.
II. WHETHER THE TRIAL JUDGE FAILED TO ACT IMPARTIALLY SO AS TO PREJUDICE WAL-MART WHEN HE BASED HIS DENIAL OF WAL-MART'S MOTION IN LIMINE TO EXCLUDE THE AMOUNTS OF THE MEDICAL EXPENSES "WRITTEN OFF" BY MEDICAID AND MEDICARE ON A CASE INVOLVING THE SAME ISSUES TO WHICH HIS MOTHER WAS A PARTY.
III. WHETHER THE JURY'S VERDICT WAS AGAINST THE OVERWHELMING WEIGHT OF THE CREDIBLE EVIDENCE TO INDICATE THAT IT WAS BASED ON IMPROPER BIAS, PASSION, AND PREJUDICE.
DISCUSSION
I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY PERMITTING FRIERSON TO INTRODUCE EVIDENCE OF THE AMOUNTS OF HIS MEDICAL EXPENSES "WRITTEN OFF" BY HIS VARIOUS MEDICAL PROVIDERS AFTER PARTIAL PAYMENT OF SUCH EXPENSES BY MEDICAID AND MEDICARE.
. Wal-Mart argues that the trial court err
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