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Allstate Insurance Co. v. Hennings5/31/2005
FOR PUBLICATION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Allstate Insurance Company ("Allstate") appeals the judgment entered upon the jury's verdict in favor of Krista Hennings in Hennings' action against Ricardo Flores and Allstate.
We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
ISSUES
1. Whether the trial court erred in denying Allstate's motion to correct error because the amount of damages awarded was erroneous as a matter of law.
2. Whether the trial court erred in its instruction of the jury.
3. Whether the trial court erred in excluding certain evidence.
FACTS
At about 6:45 a.m. on October 24, 2000, twenty-four-year-old Hennings was on the way to her first-year teaching job at a middle school in Elkhart. As she drove north on Second Street, she slowed for the light at Jackson Boulevard; when she saw it turn green, she looked in both directions and proceeded into the intersection. Flores was driving a pickup truck east on Jackson toward the intersection with Second, and he disregarded the red light. His pickup struck Hennings' vehicle broadside, on the driver-side door, the impact spinning her Toyota Camry. Hennings was transported to the hospital with complaints of head, neck, lower back, and left knee pain; her car was totaled.
Officer Wayne Bias of the Elkhart Police Department responded to the scene and talked to Flores, Hennings, and two witnesses. Bias recorded Flores' insurer as Illinois National Insurance, as shown by his vehicle registration. Bias concluded that the primary cause of the accident was Flores' "disregarding a signal," with the wet roadway being a "contributing circumstance." (Tr. 29).
Hennings filed a claim for her property damage with her insurance company, Allstate. In January of 2001, pursuant to Allstate's instructions, Hennings sent Allstate the title to her car, and she received a check for its value less $500 for her collision insurance deductible.
On August 8, 2002, Hennings brought an action against Flores. Flores did not appear, and the CCS reflects an order of default judgment as to Flores on September 27, 2002. The CCS also reflects that Hennings' complaint was amended on October 18, 2002, to add Allstate as a defendant; her brief states that the amendment added an uninsured motorist claim.
The matter was tried before a jury on February 24 and March 9, 2004. The trial court informed the jury that Hennings contended Flores "enter the intersection on a red light" and that "as a direct and proximate result of the negligence of Mr. Flores for failing to yield the right of way and disregarding a traffic signal, she suffered personal injuries," and incurred various damages; that Flores was "an uninsured driver"; and that she was entitled to coverage under an Allstate insurance policy. (Tr. 4, 5). It further explained that Allstate "disputes the issue of causation, contends that this matter is a comparative fault case, and disputes the nature and severity of the alleged injuries." (Tr. 5).
The jury heard testimony by two eyewitnesses to the accident. Both testified that Flores had run the red light and that Hennings had done nothing to cause or contribute to the accident. The accident report by Officer Bias was entered into evidence.
The jury heard evidence that immediately after the accident, Hennings began to suffer constant headaches and neck pain. It heard details of her treatment with pain medication, various injections, electrical stimulation, and chiropractic manipulations from late 2000 until the time of trial; and that she performed therapeutic exercises "every day." (Tr. 93). Ye
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