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Allstate Insurance Co. v. Hennings5/31/2005
t 3" years after the collision, Hennings testified, she continued to suffer "headaches on a daily basis" and was, on some days, unable to work. (Tr. 98). A physician specializing in physical medicine and physical rehabilitation and a chiropractor, both of whom had treated Hennings, testified that her neck and headache problems were a result of the October 24, 2000 collision.
The jury also heard evidence that for several weeks after the accident, Hennings suffered lower back pain. After medication and physical therapy and home exercises, the lower back problem mostly resolved, but Hennings experienced occasional flare-ups.
Finally, the jury heard evidence concerning the injury to Hennings' left knee. Hennings had been a star basketball player in high school and attended college on a basketball scholarship. She had undergone some procedures on her left knee during college, but she had recovered from these and was able to continue playing basketball and to participate in various other athletic pursuits without difficulty. Hennings testified that when Flores' truck hit her vehicle, the "door handle on the left-hand side jammed into knee." (Tr. 75).
When the physical therapy and medications initially prescribed did not resolve her left knee discomfort, Hennings consulted Dr. Mark Klassen, her previous orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Klassen's examination in January of 2001 found that her left knee problem was not related to her previous knee problems. Because Dr. Klassen's 1994 surgery on Hennings' knee precluded an MRI, he performed an arthroscopic procedure on February 16, 2001. Dr. Klassen found some damage within the joint, which he attempted to clean up and repair. He referred Hennings for additional physical therapy and last saw her in May of 2001. In a video deposition on February 6, 2004, which was played for the jury, Dr. Klassen testified that it was likely that Hennings would need "a knee replacement at a later age and that will be for a number of reasons," not "just from the motor vehicle accident" but also because she "had a number of other injuries to her knee as well." (Klassen's Depo. at 20). When asked by Allstate whether Hennings would have needed a knee replacement absent the motor vehicle accident and its injuries, Dr. Klassen opined that the likelihood was "much higher than a normal non-injured knee" because of her pre-accident knee problems. Id. at 30. Thus, Dr. Klassen agreed that Hennings "absolutely" was a candidate for knee replacement surgery "before this accident occurred." Id. at 32. Dr. Klassen testified that he could not predict whether Hennings would need knee replacement surgery. Finally, Dr. Klassen's testimony included his opinion that as a result of the October 24, 2000 accident, Hennings had suffered a 10% impairment of her left lower extremity, "equivalent to a 4 percent [impairment] of a person as a whole," which would "certainly . . . affect her life." Id. at 34, 36.
Hennings testified to how important sports activities were in her life - her hands-on coaching and the many post-college sports activities in which she had engaged prior to the October 2000 accident. According to Hennings, "all the athletic things did before, even after the 1994 major ACL surgery," she had been unable to do since the accident. (Tr. 88). Although she continued to be committed to a personal exercise program, she described working out "like [she was] forty-five or fifty" years old "instead of like a twenty-eight year old." (Tr. 89). Evidence was introduced that Hennings' medical expenses as a result of the accident had totaled more than $21,000.
Laura Scrine, the adjuster for Allstate handling Hennings' claim, testified that Allstate had a letter dat
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