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CSX Transportation Inc. v. Casale11/3/1995
OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE HARRY L. CARRICO
This is the second time this FELA case has come before this Court. On the first occasion, Patrick W. Casale (Casale), recovered a $1.17 million judgment against his employer, CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX). We reversed the judgment for the trial court's error in permitting Casale's medical expert to state that his diagnosis had been confirmed by the hearsay opinion of a non-testifying physician. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Casale, 247 Va. 180, 182-83, 441 S.E.2d 212, 213-14 (1994).
We remanded the case for a new trial limited to the issue of damages, with the direction that "whatever verdict the plaintiff may receive at a new trial shall be reduced by ten percent because of the plaintiff's contributory negligence." Id. at 186, 441 S.E.2d at 216. Upon retrial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Casale for $2 million, which the trial court reduced to $1.8 million in accordance with our earlier direction. We granted CSX an appeal
limited to the question whether the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of an economist offered by Casale as an expert on the subject of Casale's future loss of income.
Casale was first employed by CSX in 1988 as a system maintainer, later becoming a communications maintainer. On February 20, 1990, he was working atop a sixty-foot pole repairing communication lines that crossed the Roanoke River in the vicinity of Weldon, North Carolina. Unexpectedly, a boat snagged a wire Casale was attempting to install, causing the pole on which he was working to whipsaw and slam him back and forth against the pole. As a result, Casale suffered a "chronic lumbosacral spine sprain," a "severe left sacro-iliac joint sprain," and "traumatic arthritis."
From the date of his injury to the time of the second trial, Casale was seen by approximately thirteen physicians, most of whom prescribed some type of treatment. Yet, Casale still suffered pain, discomfort, and depression at the time of trial. He walked with a limp and used a cane. His injured sacroiliac hip joint dislocated often, he had difficulty sitting for extended periods of time, his leg would give way on occasion, and he had problems sleeping. He continued to take medication, and he used various home remedies to relieve his discomfort. His injuries were concededly permanent.
During the four years and seven months from the date of his injury in February 1990 to the time of the second trial in September 1994, Casale missed 543 days from work, or more than 50% of the time he was supposed to be on the job . However, most of the time was lost in 1990, 1991, and the first nine months of 1992. In October of 1992, Casale's physician at the time reported that Casale could return to work after October 21 "with no limitations," and Casale lost no time from work during the remainder of 1992. He lost only 18 days in 1993 and 35 days in the first eight months of 1994. From the time of the October 1992 report permitting Casale's return to work until the time of the second trial, he was not declared medically disqualified from employment with CSX.
At the time of the second trial, Casale was still employed by CSX as a communications maintainer, receiving $16.12 per hour in wages, although CSX had recently abolished his job involving work on poles because of reductions in personnel and advances in technology. As a result, Casale had sought and obtained assignment to CSX's radio repair shop in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
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