Green by Green v. Maness

316 S.E.2d 917, 69 N.C. App. 292, 1984 N.C. App. LEXIS 3483
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedJuly 3, 1984
Docket8318SC951
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 316 S.E.2d 917 (Green by Green v. Maness) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Green by Green v. Maness, 316 S.E.2d 917, 69 N.C. App. 292, 1984 N.C. App. LEXIS 3483 (N.C. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

WHICHARD, Judge.

Plaintiffs contend they suffered prejudicial surprise when defendant brought forth a new expert witness with a new defense theory virtually on the eve of trial, and that the court thus erred in denying their motion for a continuance to enable them to prepare to meet the resultant changed conditions. While (1) a motion to continue ordinarily is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial judge, and (2) continuances are not favored, and parties seeking them have the burden of showing sufficient grounds therefor, the chief consideration to be weighed in passing on the motion is whether its grant or denial will be in furtherance of substantial justice. Shankle v. Shankle, 289 N.C. 473, 482-83, 223 S.E. 2d 380, 386 (1976). A party who is unprepared for trial as a result of changed conditions may be entitled to a continuance as a matter of right. See Watson v. Black Mountain Railway Co., 164 N.C. 176, 181, 80 S.E. 175, 177 (1913); Dobson v. Southern Railway Co., 129 N.C. 289, 291, 40 S.E. 42, 43 (1901). Our Supreme Court has found error in the denial of motions for continuance where a party, for reasons not of its own making, was unprepared for trial. It has held such parties entitled to a continuance, and has awarded new trials in such situations when “the ends of justice” required it. Shankle, supra; Smith v. Bryant, 264 N.C. 208, 141 S.E. 2d 303 (1965). Because we find substantial probability of prejudice to plaintiffs here from denial of their motion for continuance, we hold that, as in Shankle, “the ends of justice” require a new trial.

The facts pertinent to decision on the continuance motion are as follows:

The minor plaintiffs mother gave birth to twin sons on 3 August 1974. The first-born was the product of an uneventful delivery and is a normal child. The birth of the second-born, the minor plaintiff, did not occur until forty-one minutes after the [295]*295birth of the first-born. The minor plaintiff did not breathe spontaneously for about thirty minutes after birth. A complete medical examination three days later showed that he suffered from neurological deficit, or brain damage.

The physician in charge of the examination recorded the impression that the minor plaintiff had undergone “severe intrauterine asphyxia,” ie., a severe lack of oxygen during the birth process. At the time of trial the minor plaintiff, then eight years of age, suffered from cerebral palsy and was significantly handicapped.

Jury selection for trial of this case was set for 3-4 June 1982, with presentation of evidence to commence on 7 June 1982. Shortly before those dates, on 14 May 1982, defendant, while flying to a medical school meeting in Philadelphia, coincidentally met Dr. Allen Roses, Professor and Chief of the Division of Neurology at Duke University Medical Center. Defendant and Dr. Roses discussed this case, and Dr. Roses offered to review the medical records pertinent to it. Counsel for defendant delivered these records to Dr. Roses on 19 May 1982. On 25 May 1982 Dr. Roses advised defense counsel that in his opinion the minor plaintiffs palsy could have been caused by a preexisting condition or congenital anomalies. None of defendant’s anticipated witnesses had so opined previously. Defendant himself had mentioned in his deposition only the “possibility” of an intracranial defect which would take an examination of the child and the testimony of a neonatologist or neurologist to establish. During the pretrial period, defendant made no request for examination of the child and listed no neonatologist or neurologist as a witness.

On 25 May 1982, the day he was informed of Dr. Roses’ opinion, defense counsel filed a supplemental response to plaintiffs’ interrogatories indicating Dr. Roses’ opinion and the possibility that he would be called as an expert witness for defendant. Plaintiffs made arrangements to depose Dr. Roses as soon as possible. Meanwhile, on 1 June 1982, all parties signed the order on final pretrial conference, which had been revised to include Dr. Roses as a potential defense witness.

On the night of 1 June 1982 plaintiffs deposed Dr. Roses. The witness stated that the medical records showed that two brain taps had been performed on the minor plaintiff shortly after his [296]*296birth. The taps revealed subarachnoid fluid in the subdural region. Dr. Robert G. Dillard, a treating physician and defense witness, and other experts, had attributed no significance to the results of the taps when they were performed. Dr. Roses testified, however, that the fluid drawn in the brain taps was indicative of a congenital deformity — a view subsequently adopted by Dr. Dillard at trial. Counsel for plaintiffs felt that he was “faced with the position of educating [himjself on a new area of medicine” due to Dr. Roses’ introduction of “an entirely new medical concept” immediately before the trial began.

As noted, jury selection was slated to begin on 3 June 1982, only a little over a day after plaintiffs took Dr. Roses’ deposition. Plaintiffs moved for a continuance, or in the alternative to exclude Dr. Roses’ testimony. They argued that the late disclosure of defendant’s new theory of congenital deformity, which would have eliminated negligence in the delivery process as the cause of the minor plaintiffs cerebral palsy, had left them unprepared. They had not even received the transcript of Dr. Roses’ deposition at the time the motion for a continuance was made, and their experts thus had not had an opportunity to evaluate his opinion.

Counsel for plaintiffs argued in support of the motion for continuance: “In order to represent the child, I’ve got to be prepared on the testimony.” He further noted that plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. William McLean, with whom they hoped to rebut Dr. Roses’ opinion, was scheduled to be out of the country after 17 June 1982. Since it was anticipated that the trial would last beyond that date, plaintiffs thus would lose their chance to rebut the damaging testimony of Dr. Roses unless they called him as their witness. The denial of a continuance ultimately forced plaintiffs to choose that tactic, which allowed Dr. Roses to testify both before and after the plaintiffs’ expert neurologist.

In moving for a continuance plaintiffs also expressed concern that defendant would enlarge the problem by calling other experts at trial to testify on the issue raised by Dr. Roses. This concern proved well-founded, as Dr. Dillard changed his opinion on the brain tap results to echo Dr. Roses’ theory; and two other witnesses were called unexpectedly to elaborate on other aspects of Dr. Roses’ testimony.

[297]*297The problem was further enlarged in Dr. Roses’ actual trial testimony, when he propounded yet another theory as to why defendant’s acts probably did not cause the minor plaintiffs cerebral palsy. He testified that the minor plaintiff had a form of cerebral palsy known as ataxia, which he stated was caused in 90°/o of the cases by a congenital defect. Defendant, as well as plaintiffs, professed surprise at this new diagnosis expressed for the first time during trial. Defense counsel successfully used his surprise at this unexpected favorable testimony as a basis for calling two more expert witnesses, not listed on the pretrial order, to support Dr. Roses’ diagnosis of ataxic cerebral palsy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
316 S.E.2d 917, 69 N.C. App. 292, 1984 N.C. App. LEXIS 3483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/green-by-green-v-maness-ncctapp-1984.