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Perrotti v. Gonicberg7/7/2005
The plaintiffs, Jamie E. Perrotti and Paul A. Perrotti, filed a negligence action seeking recovery for physical and psychological injuries allegedly suffered in an automobile accident. At the time of the accident, Mrs. Perrotti was approximately six months pregnant. After trial, a jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded them $750 in damages. Before submitting the case to the jury, however, the trial justice had ruled, sua sponte, that Mrs. Perrotti had failed to establish a prima facie case with respect to her claim of emotional injury and anguish because of her concern about the health of her unborn child. The trial justice, therefore, granted judgment as a matter of law in favor of the defendant on said claim, pursuant to Rule 50 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. After the jury verdict was entered, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied by the trial justice in a written decision, and from which they now appeal.
The case came before the Supreme Court for oral argument pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the issues raised on appeal should not summarily be decided.
After hearing the arguments of the litigants and examining the record and the memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown, and we affirm the judgment entered in the Superior Court.
I. Facts and Procedural History
On December 25, 1998, plaintiffs were involved in an automobile accident with defendant Paul Gonicberg. Paul Perrotti was driving plaintiffs' car; Jamie Perrotti was in the passenger seat, and their daughter Ashley was seated in a car seat in the back of the car. As plaintiffs' car approached an intersection in the farthest right of three lanes on Route 44 in Smithfield, defendant, who was traveling in the same direction, abruptly turned into the same lane, causing a collision. At the outset of the trial, the parties filed a stipulation in which defendant admitted fault, thereby resolving the issue of liability. The trial proceeded, therefore, on the issue of damages only.
Jamie Perrotti testified that when the accident occurred, both front airbags deployed. She said that she went forward, with her chin right above the airbag and hit her head on the windshield. In addition, she hit her knee against the dashboard. After the accident, she was taken by rescue vehicle to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, where she said the staff tried to console her, gave her "the best that child was okay" and examined her head, knee, and abdomen. She initially testified that she could not be X-rayed because of her pregnancy and that only the fetal heartbeat was checked in the emergency room. She further said that the hospital staff did not feel it was necessary to do an ultrasound test. On cross-examination, after being confronted with her deposition testimony, she acknowledged, however, that the emergency personnel conducted an ultrasound test and told her that everything was fine with the baby. On the recommendation of the hospital staff, she had a follow-up appointment with her obstetrician.
Concerning her scraped chin and bruised knee, Mrs. Perrotti acknowledged that she never received any treatment for her chin and that for the pain in her knee she was advised to take regular Tylenol. After a follow-up visit for her knee on April 8, 1999, the doctor indicated that the knee "is now normal."
Mrs. Perrotti also testified that she was very nervous, shaken up, and scared while she was in the hospital, and was concerned about her baby. Her fear lessened a little bit upon the doctors' reassurances, but it remained with her "like a black cloud" until her health
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