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Lagola v. Thomas1/31/2005
Submitted: October 6, 2004
Upon appeal from the Superior Court. REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Appellant, Regina Lagola, seeks reversal of a judgment of the Superior Court awarding damages of one million dollars in a personal injury case arising from an automobile accident. The Superior Court concluded that Lagola was not entitled to a new trial. In this appeal we expressly overrule Laws v. Webb to the extent it permitted testimony from a police officer about the "primary contributing circumstances" of an accident. Absent qualification of the witness as an expert in accident reconstruction, opinion testimony on the "primary contributing circumstance" of an accident is inadmissible under Delaware Rule of Evidence 701. Because the admission of this opinion testimony jeopardized the fairness of the trial in this case, we reverse and remand this matter for a new trial.
I. Factual Background
On February 7, 1999, an automobile accident occurred on Appleby Road in New Castle, Delaware. Thomas and Lagola were the parties involved in this two car accident. Thomas, traveling west on Appleby Road in his 1986 Ford F-150 pick-up truck, came to a complete stop behind a van that was stopped to make a left-hand turn. As he was waiting for the van to turn, Thomas' truck was struck in the rear by a 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Lagola. Thomas testified that he could see Lagola's car coming at him in his rear view mirror and was able to observe the front end of Lagola's car dip with its headlights going toward the ground. The accident caused Thomas' pick-up truck to move forward, but without striking any other vehicle. Both vehicles suffered damage as a result of the accident.
At the time of the accident, it was sleeting and raining. However, Thomas testified that the road was wet but not icy. Patrolman Charles H. Shepard of the New Castle County Police Department, the investigating officer, also testified that the road was wet but not icy. Lagola, on the other hand, testified that the road was icy. Lagola's sister, Christine Burgess, a passenger in Lagola's vehicle, testified that it had been raining and sleeting since that morning and that she remembered slipping as she was walking toward Lagola's car earlier that day.
Thomas was taken by ambulance from the scene of the accident to Christiana Hospital. He had complaints of neck pain and left hand numbness. After his discharge from the hospital, Thomas sought and received treatment from numerous physicians. Thomas' family physician, Gregory Papa, M.D., referred Thomas to a chiropractor, with whom he began receiving treatment three times a week. Thomas' chiropractic treatment lasted several months. Thomas also sought treatment from John E. Hocutt, Jr., M.D., a family and sports medicine physician. However, after Thomas' neck and left arm problems continued to worsen, Doctor Papa referred Thomas to a neurosurgeon, Matthew J. Eppley, Jr., M.D. On August 23, 1999, Doctor Eppley performed cervical surgery on Thomas. Following surgery, Thomas completed physical therapy and was treated by various doctors. Thomas also received trigger point injections underneath his left shoulder blade, but these injections did not improve his condition. At the time of trial, the only doctor treating Thomas was Doctor Papa, whom Thomas saw monthly for medication.
Before and after the accident, Thomas was employed as a tractor-trailer driver hauling steel on flat bed trailers. This position required him to tie down the steel, a job that he has been performing for over eighteen years before the accident. Immediately following the accident, Thomas was out of work for over a month. He returned to work until the date of his
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