DiPirro v. United States

189 F.R.D. 60, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13085, 1999 WL 613498
District Court, W.D. New York·Decided July 6, 1999·No. No. 96-CV-94H·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

HECKMAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

On February 26,1999, this court issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law after a non-jury trial in this ease brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act. DiPirro v. United States, 43 F.Supp.2d 327 (W.D.N.Y.1999). The court found defendant liable to plaintiffs in the total amount of $54,000.00 for damages arising out of an August 10, 1994 accident involving a postal vehicle and a car driven by plaintiff Donna DiPirro. Judgment was entered on March 2, 1999. Plaintiffs have now filed a motion pursuant to Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for amend-[62]*62merit of the judgment, and defendant has filed a motion pursuant to Rule 60 for relief from the judgment. For the following reasons, plaintiffs’ motion is denied, and defendant’s motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

In the February 26, 1999 decision and order, the court summarized its findings of fact and conclusions of law as follows:

Based on a preponderance of the credible evidence presented at trial, I find that the injuries complained of by Mrs. DiPirro were caused, precipitated or aggravated by a combination of trauma from the impact of the August 10,1994 accident, her predisposition to carpal tunnel or rotator cuff injury established by her several preexisting medical conditions, and possible latent residual effects of other recent trauma to her ribs, neck and back. I also find that Mrs. DiPirro’s medical condition caused her to be totally disabled from returning to her past work as manager of Pizza DiPirro from August 10, 1994 through January 5, 1998, but not thereafter. I find that defendant is liable for Mrs. DiPirro’s economic loss beyond [New York’s no-fault limit of] $50,000.00, and for plaintiffs’ non-economic loss including Mrs. DiPirro’s damages for past pain and suffering and Mr. DiPirro’s damages for loss of support, consortium and services, in the total amount of $54,-000.00.

DiPirro v. United States, supra, 43 F.Supp.2d at 330-331. The court found that Mrs. DiPirro was entitled to recover for past pain and suffering due to the injuries proximately caused by defendant’s negligence in the amount of $34,000.00. This recovery reflected a reduction by (1) an amount commensurate with the amount of past pain and suffering reasonably attributable to Mrs. DiPirro’s preexisting ailments and previous traumatic injuries, and (2) an amount commensurate with the amount of past pain and suffering that might have been avoided by Mrs. DiPirro if she had undergone the rota-tor cuff surgery recommended by her treat- • ing physicians, or by otherwise making a reasonable effort to minimize her damages. See Id. at 344-345. The court also found that Mrs. DiPirro was entitled to a recovery of lost wages (over and above New York’s $50,000.00 no-fault limit) in the amount of $18,000.00. Id. at 344. The court made its findings of fact and conclusions of law “in light of the adverse inference drawn from plaintiffs’ unexplained failure to call Dr. Michael Geraci, the treating physician who conducted electrodiagnostic nerve studies on Mrs. DiPirro’s hands, as a trial witness.” Id. at 345.

Plaintiffs move to amend the judgment on the following grounds:

1. The court committed legal error when it reduced Mrs. DiPirro’s recovery of damages for past pain and suffering by an amount attributable to her preexisting ailments and previous injuries.
2. Defendant waived the affirmative defense of failure to mitigate damages.
3. The court should not have drawn an adverse inference from plaintiffs’ failure to call Dr. Geraci as a witness.

Defendant moves pursuant to Rule 60 for relief from the judgment reducing the plaintiffs’ recovery of damages for Mrs. DiPirro’s lost wages. According to defendant, Mrs. DiPirro gave testimony in Erie County Court on December 8, 1998 in a criminal trial involving an attempted robbery at the plaintiffs’ pizzeria. Mrs. DiPirro’s testimony indicates that she was working at the pizzeria on November 14, 1997, the date of the attempted robbery, and that she recognized the robber because he had been a regular customer for at least six weeks prior to that date. Defendant claims that this sworn testimony directly contradicts the testimony given by Mrs. DiPirro in this case that she was totally disabled from working at the pizzeria from August 10,1994 to January, 1998.

DISCUSSION

I. Plaintiffs’ Motion.

Rule 59 provides that, in an action tried without a jury, the court “may open the judgment if one has been entered, take additional testimony, amend findings of fact and conclusions of law or make new findings and conclusions, and direct the entry of a new [63]*63judgment.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(a). Under this rule, the court may alter or amend the judgment entered after a non-jury trial for (1) manifest errors of law, (2) manifest errors of fact, or (3) newly discovered evidence. Geshwind v. Garrick, 738 F.Supp. 792, 793 (S.D.N.Y.1990), aff'd, 927 F.2d 594 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 811, 112 S.Ct. 58, 116 L.Ed.2d 34 (1991); Agola v. Hagner, 678 F.Supp. 988, 991 (E.D.N.Y.1987).

Plaintiffs claim that the court committed an error of law when it reduced the award of damages for pain and suffering because of Mrs. DiPirro’s preexisting medical conditions. Plaintiffs rely on Maurer v. United States, 668 F.2d 98 (2d Cir.1981), a maritime personal injury case in which the plaintiff alleged that he sustained a disabling back injury as a result of an accident on a ship. The defendant in Maurer contended that the plaintiffs disability was caused by a preexisting degenerative back condition, and by injuries suffered in a prior accident. After a non-jury trial, the district court found the defendant liable, but attributed only 25% of the damages to the accident, and then further reduced the recovery by 75% based on contributory negligence. Maurer v. United States, supra, 668 F.2d at 99.

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s determination of the percentage reduction for contributory negligence, but vacated the judgment and remanded the ease for further findings with respect to the determination that the accident was only a 25% cause of the plaintiffs disability. The circuit court stated the applicable rule as follows:

It is a settled principle of tort law that when a defendant’s wrongful act causes injury, he is fully liable for the resulting damage even though the injured plaintiff had a preexisting condition that made the consequences of the wrongful act more severe than they would have been for a normal victim. The defendant takes the plaintiff as he finds him. A plaintiffs recovery for damages caused by a defendant’s wrongful act may not be proportionately reduced because of a preexisting weakness or susceptibility to injury such as an osteoarthritic condition or a weakness caused by a previous injury. However, there are two exceptions to the general rule.

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DiPirro v. United States, 189 F.R.D. 60, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13085, 1999 WL 613498 (W.D.N.Y. 1999).

189 F.R.D. 60 (DiPirro v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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