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LARSEN v. JOHNSON5/14/1998
Plaintiff Debra Larsen appeals the jury's verdict finding defendant Melinda Johnson negligent in an accident involving the two parties, but concluding that defendant's negligence was not the proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries. Plaintiff argues the trial court committed reversible error by admitting evidence of plaintiffs prior personal injury lawsuit and the amount of that lawsuit's settlement. We affirm.
FACTS
This lawsuit arose out of a May 12, 1993, rear-end collision in which defendant's Subaru struck plaintiff's Suburban at a very low speed. After impact, plaintiff testified that she turned to catch her young daughter who was falling off the back seat. Plaintiff sat in her seat for either "seconds or minutes," and she testified that she felt no "immediate sensation of pain." Plaintiff and defendant then exited their vehicles and looked for damage but could find none. Again, plaintiff testified that she felt fine. Upon plaintiff's return home, her husband discovered damage to the rear bumper of the Suburban and repaired it for forty-five dollars.
Later that afternoon, plaintiff felt "soreness and aching" in her back. During that week, plaintiff "got stiff and sore and had a lot of aching." Over the next couple of months, plaintiffs back pain continued to worsen. During this period, plaintiff resumed seeing Dr. Reed Fogg, who had treated her for back injuries due to a prior automobile accident.
Plaintiff had been involved in a car accident in November 1988 wherein the vehicle in which she was riding as a passenger was rear-ended while she was twisted in her seat. In that accident, plaintiff believed the vehicle that struck her vehicle was traveling about
thirty miles per hour, and the force of the impact pushed plaintiff's vehicle into a vehicle ahead. As a result, plaintiff suffered from more than four years of lower back pain and underwent a lengthy course of treatment with numerous medical providers and multiple medical procedures. Ultimately, in December 1991, Dr. Fogg performed fusion surgery on plaintiffs back.
Following back surgery, plaintiff had a significant recovery period with associated limitation of activities and periodic setbacks as she increased her activities. Dr. Fogg stated that, at this time, plaintiff would probably have a permanent impairment rating of about fifteen to twenty percent. Shortly before the second accident, Dr. Fogg found plaintiff to be doing extremely well and released her from his care.
Dr. Fogg testified that the accident at issue here,
even though it really did not seem to be significant, she was in a big vehicle and she was wearing her seat belt, has somewhat stirred up the tissue to the degree where I have an impossible way of getting her back to the level of functioning that she was . . . back when I released her.
However, Dr. Fogg also testified that plaintiff's pain pattern before the May 1993 accident was very complex and made diagnosis very difficult. Following this accident, he could neither determine the source of plaintiff's pain nor find an objective explanation for the pain.
Plaintiff's biochemical and accident reconstruction expert, Dr. Paul France, testified that the force resulting from the May 1993 rear-end impact alone was insufficient to cause her injury . He further stated that plaintiffs turning and rotating to try and catch her daughter, who was falling from her standing position on the back seat, could have been the sole cause of plaintiffs injury.
Plaintiff testified at trial that the impact from the rear-end collision caused her to lean back and then forward in her seat. Plaintiff testifi
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