 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Baughman v. Krebs12/10/1998
JUDGMENT Affirmed.
Deborah and Katherine Baughman, plaintiffs-appellants, appeal from the judgment of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, General Division, Case No. CV-324187, in which the jury awarded medical expenses only to each plaintiff-appellant and $144.00 in lost wages to Katherine Baughman. The trial court denied plaintiffs-appellants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and/or new trial. Plaintiffs-appellants assign four errors for this court's review.
Plaintiffs-appellants' appeal is not well taken.
On May 12, 1996, Deborah Baughman was driving in her 1996 Honda Accord with her mother Katherine Baughman as a front seat passenger. The vehicle was traveling in a northbound direction on East 185th Street when it reached the intersection of 185th and Lakeshore Boulevard. Plaintiffs-appellants' vehicle stopped at the traffic signal and proceeded forward intending to turn right on red. Plaintiffs-appellants stopped a second time to check oncoming traffic on Lakeshore Boulevard when their vehicle was struck from behind by a 1984 Ford Escort owned and operated by Kolleen Krebs, defendant-appellee. Apparently, defendant-appellee had also been intending to make a right hand turn on red and had failed to notice plaintiffs-appellants' stationary vehicle.
Deborah Baughman maintained that, although her foot was on the brake at the time of the collision, her car was pushed approximately one car length forward by the force of the impact. Katherine Baughman maintained that the force of the collision threw her forward in her seat then backward causing the seat back to break and resulting in a serious back injury . Katherine Baughman was allegedly unable to move after the collision and was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Deborah Baughman also complained of neck and shoulder pain allegedly caused by the accident.
Plaintiffs-appellants' vehicle had a cracked taillight cover and a small crack in the bumper as a result of the accident. Defendant-appellee's vehicle sustained only minor damage to the front licence plate and the plate holder. Defendant-appellee was not injured in the accident.
On January 18, 1997, plaintiffs-appellants filed the instant personal injury action to recover for injuries allegedly sustained in the May 12, 1996 accident. The case came on for a jury trial on November 10, 1997. At trial, Katherine Baughman testified that her back was permanently injured in the accident requiring physical therapy, medication and treatment into September of 1997. Katherine Baughman acknowledged that she had suffered a previous back injury thirty years before in an industrial accident. However, she denied that her previous injury was the cause of her current problems.
Deborah Baughman maintained that she suffered neck pain, headaches and upper and lower back discomfort as a result of the accident. Prior to the accident, Deborah Baughman alleged that she did not have any of the physical problems identified at trial. She did admit on cross-examination that she had been treated for a neck problem by her family doctor in March and July of 1995.
Defendant-appellee characterized the collision as a tap and/or a bump during her trial testimony. She estimated that she was traveling between two and five miles an hour at the time of the accident. The Euclid police officer who investigated the accident noted that defendant-appellee's vehicle suffered only minor damage to the license plate holder as well as the plate itself and that plaintiff-appellants' vehicle had a cracked taillight cover and a cracked bumper. Photographs of each vehicle after the accident were introduced into evidence.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|