Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. v. Robinson

98 So. 3d 986, 2012 WL 3212593, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 386
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 9, 2012
DocketNo. 2011-CA-00054-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 98 So. 3d 986 (Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. v. Robinson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. v. Robinson, 98 So. 3d 986, 2012 WL 3212593, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 386 (Mich. 2012).

Opinions

CARLSON, Presiding Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Dwight Robinson filed suit against Bailey Lumber & Supply Company for injuries and damages he allegedly sustained as a result of a fall on Bailey Lumber’s premises. A trial was held in Hinds County Circuit Court, First Judicial District, and a jury returned a general verdict in favor of Robinson in the amount of $1,500,000. The trial court reduced the award to $1,070,341.42 in economic and noneconomic damages. Aggrieved, Bailey Lumber filed this appeal. We reverse and remand, finding that the trial court erred in allowing Dr. Obie McNair to offer expert testimony regarding the cause of [989]*989Robinson’s need for hip-replacement surgery and future medical treatment.

FACTS

¶ 2. In September 2006, Bailey Lumber operated a building-and-lumber-supply retail store in Jackson, Mississippi. According to Robinson, he went to Bailey Lumber on September 6, 2006, because he had purchased paint there a few days before and had not been given the correct color. Robinson testified that Drew Holland, a Bailey Lumber employee, asked Robinson to follow him to a computer room to determine what had gone wrong with mixing the paint. Robinson testified that this area was an employee-only area, but Holland testified that all customers who bought paint were taken to the computer room.

¶ 3. Holland escorted Robinson from the paint-mixing room into the computer room. Robinson testified that the paint-mixing room was dimly lit, that the computer room was completely dark, and that the only thing he could see was the light from the computer screen. Holland disputed that testimony, testifying that it was not dark in the computer room on the day of the accident and that the lights were always on in those rooms. As Robinson was following Holland out of the computer room and returning to the paint-mixing room, he tripped over a two-inch step in the threshold of the doorway between the two rooms. Robinson had stepped up the step going into the computer room, but he tripped when stepping down on his way out of the computer room. Robinson claimed that he could not see the step because it was dark in the computer room.

¶ 4. According to Robinson, he fell on his hip and struck his head on a stack of paint cans. He said that he immediately experienced pain in his left hip. He testified that no warning signs were posted and that Holland had failed to warn him of the floor’s condition. He further testified that, afterward, Holland expressed awareness of the hazardous condition and admitted to Robinson that Bailey Lumber “should have fixed that floor a long time ago.” At trial, Holland testified that he did not make any such statement to Robinson. Larry Wait-man, the Bailey Lumber store manager, rushed to assist Robinson after the fall. Waltman testified that, upon his arrival, the area in which Robinson had fallen was well lit, and that the two-inch step was very obvious. Robinson denied needing medical treatment after the fall. He walked to his vehicle and drove himself home.

¶ 5. Fifteen days after the fall, Robinson sought medical treatment from Dr. Obie McNair, an internal medicine and pulmonary medicine specialist. Robinson complained of hip pain, had an abrasion on his arm, and indicated to Dr. McNair that he had experienced a fall. Dr. McNair noted a limited range of motion, particularly in Robinson’s left hip. An x-ray revealed that Robinson had osteoarthritis in his left hip, resulting in a loss of joint space. Dr. McNair suggested to Robinson that he might need surgery on his hip, and recommended that he see Dr. Walter Shelton, an orthopedic surgeon at the Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center, who had performed surgery on Robinson’s torn quadriceps after an on-the-job fall earlier that year. Dr. Shelton discussed the need for surgery on Robinson’s left hip and referred him to Dr. Lane Laken, an orthopedic surgeon at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center. Sixteen months after the fall at Bailey Lumber, Dr. Laken performed hip-replacement surgery on Robinson’s left hip.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶6. Robinson filed suit against Bailey Lumber on February 5, 2009, for injuries [990]*990and damages he allegedly sustained as a result of the fall on Bailey Lumber’s premises. Robinson alleged that Bailey Lumber had failed to maintain reasonably safe premises and had failed to warn him of an alleged unreasonably dangerous condition. He claimed injuries to his back, hip, and forearm, and sought compensatory damages for medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional and mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, physical injuries, and past, present, and future wage loss. Initially, he sought punitive damages as well, but the punitive-damages claim was dropped prior to trial.

¶ 7. The case went to trial on August 30, 2010. The jury heard testimony from Robinson, his three treating physicians, and the two Bailey Lumber employees. At trial, Dr. McNair testified that, prior to the fall at Bailey Lumber, Robinson had osteoarthritis in his left hip and a history of sciatica. Dr. McNair conceded that Robinson had a history of three prior falls before his accident at Bailey Lumber in 2006,1 as well as two falls in 2008 and a motor vehicle accident in 2009. Dr. McNair was allowed to testify at trial that, although Robinson had osteoarthritis in his left hip prior to the fall at Bailey Lumber, the fall had aggravated his condition to such a degree that hip-replacement surgery was necessary. Dr. McNair testified that, in his thirty-year career, he had treated hundreds of patients with hip problems related to fractures, osteoarthritis, and hip-replacement surgery, but acknowledged that he was not a specialist in orthopedic surgery. Dr. McNair testified that he thought Robinson might need surgery on his hip, so he referred Robinson to Dr. Shelton, an orthopedic surgeon who previously had treated Robinson.

¶ 8. Dr. Shelton saw Robinson in October 2006 when Robinson presented with hip pain and brought in x-rays showing degenerative arthritis in his left hip. Dr. Shelton’s videotaped deposition was played for the jury at trial. Dr. Shelton testified that any pain or discomfort as a result of the September 2006 fall at Bailey Lumber would have lasted approximately two weeks to one month, and he attributed Robinson’s need for a hip replacement to pre-existing arthritis. Dr. Shelton referred Robinson to Dr. Laken, an orthopedic surgeon at the YA hospital, for the surgery. Dr. Laken performed the hip-replacement surgery in January 2008, sixteen months after Robinson’s fall at Bailey Lumber. Dr. Laken’s videotaped deposition was played for the jury at trial. His testimony was that the fall would have aggravated Robinson’s pre-existing condition, but that any complications as a result of the fall would have subsided within three or four months. Dr. Laken testified that any aggravation of Robinson’s preexisting condition that could have been caused by the fall at Bailey Lumber would not have caused Robinson to need hip-replacement surgery.

¶ 9. Ultimately, the jury found in favor of Robinson and awarded $1,500,000. In the final judgment, the trial judge found that Robinson was entitled to only $70,341.42 in economic damages, because that was the amount of medical expenses adduced at trial. The trial judge interpreted the remainder of the damages awarded to be noneconomic damages, which were reduced to $1,000,000, pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 11-1-60. See Miss.Code Ann.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 So. 3d 986, 2012 WL 3212593, 2012 Miss. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-lumber-supply-co-v-robinson-miss-2012.