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Hill v. McCall2/19/2002
PUBLISHED
Appeal by plaintiff from judgment dated 5 September 2000 and from order dated 5 September 2000 by Judge Zoro J. Guice, Jr. in Jackson County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 22 January 2002.
Elizabeth Rochester Hill (Plaintiff) appeals a judgment dated 5 September 2000 ordering Casey Blake McCall (Defendant) pay Plaintiff damages in the amount of $2,000.00 and an order dated 5 September 2000 denying Plaintiff's motion for a new trial.
Plaintiff filed a complaint dated 2 June 1999 alleging negligence against Defendant for an incident occurring on 25 January 1999. Defendant admitted in his answer that he was at fault in causing the incident but specifically denied that his conduct was a proximate cause of Plaintiff's injuries. Accordingly, the only issue that remained for trial was whether Defendant's negligence proximately caused Plaintiff's injuries and if so, what amount of damages Plaintiff was entitled to.
A jury trial on Plaintiff's case began on 13 December 1999. At trial, Plaintiff testified that on 25 January 1999, the vehicle she was driving was hit in the rear by a vehicle driven by Defendant. After Plaintiff went home and had slept, she began experiencing neck, back, and shoulder pains.
The next day, Plaintiff visited a nurse practitioner and was later seen by Dr. Steven Deweese (Dr. Deweese), who requested x-rays and an MRI be taken. Dr. Deweese subsequently referred Plaintiff to Dr. Keith Melvin Maxwell (Dr. Maxwell). Prior to the incident, Plaintiff had not experienced any problems with either her neck or her back. After treatments and tests by various doctors, Plaintiff's total medical expenses amounted to $21,077.33.
On cross-examination, Plaintiff testified she had never experienced either neck or back pain prior to the incident, although she did have a disorder that affected the blood vessels in her brain, which she referred to as an "ABM of the brain." Prior to 25 January 1999, Plaintiff was involved in one other automobile incident in which she was rear ended, but sustained no injuries.
Dr. Maxwell testified as an expert in orthopedic surgery. Dr. Maxwell treated Plaintiff after the 25 January 1999 incident. Plaintiff told Dr. Maxwell she had been rear ended by Defendant's vehicle, which was traveling approximately thirty-five miles per hour. During her initial visit, Plaintiff complained of both neck and arm pain occurring immediately after the incident and worsening thereafter. After performing diagnostic tests on Plaintiff, Dr. Maxwell concluded Plaintiff had a herniated disk in the left side of her neck. Based on Plaintiff's account, Dr. Maxwell believed the incident proximately caused Plaintiff's herniated disk. Dr. Maxwell testified he found Plaintiff's account of the incident to be credible.
On cross-examination, Dr. Maxwell testified he was basing his conclusions and opinions on the account provided by Plaintiff and the integrity of her account was essential for a proper diagnosis. According to Dr. Maxwell, approximately thirty-four percent of the middle-age adult population could be diagnosed as having a herniated disk. Although an MRI taken on 3 February 1999, about a week after the incident, showed Plaintiff to have a herniated disk, the possibility exists the herniated disk predates the incident and there could be causes other than the incident for Plaintiff's herniated disk.
Dr. Deweese testified as an expert in internal medicine, and he testified concerning his treatment of Plaintiff shortly after the incident. While Dr. Deweese could not state to a medical certainty whether Plaintiff's herniated disk was proximately caused by the inciden
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