Hanberry v. Fitzgerald

384 P.2d 256, 72 N.M. 383
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 1963
Docket7190
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 384 P.2d 256 (Hanberry v. Fitzgerald) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanberry v. Fitzgerald, 384 P.2d 256, 72 N.M. 383 (N.M. 1963).

Opinion

CARMODY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a jury verdict and judgment thereon, in favor of the plaintiff below, arising out of an automobile-bus collision in which the plaintiff suffered severe injuries.

The errors asserted consist of abuse of discretion in the admission of certain testimony, the failure to grant motions to direct a verdict and to amend, the giving of and refusal to give certain instructions, and the claim that the verdict is excessive, requiring a remittitur or a new trial.

The interests of Miss Hanberry and Travelers Insurance Company are common, inasmuch as Travelers is the insurance carrier of Miss Hanberry’s employer and was awarded reimbursement for money paid under the workmen’s compensation act. There is no contest regarding the right to reimbursement; so, for clarity, the parties will be referred to as they appeared below, the plaintiff in the singular, so also the defendant, even though the bus company and the driver Harris are separately named as defendants.

The accident occurred on a rainy night, shortly after 9:30, on a paved street in Albuqxxerqxxe, New Mexico. Plaintiff’s car and defendant’s bus collided on a moderate S-curve, about midway between two intersecting streets. The vehicles were traveling in opposite directions and the left rear of the bus struck the left front of the car. The point of impact was on the plaintiff’s side of the center line of the street. The speed of the vehicles, their location on the street, and whether the bus was skidding, were highly controverted questions.

The trial lasted some six days, during which both the liability question and the personal-injury, or damage, questions were about equally hard-fought. Plaintiff’s injury was principally a fractured dislocation of the left hip joint. She had to undergo some four operations, culminating in a hip fusion, and during a part of her long hospitalization, she developed a thrombophlebitis, which was no longer active after the fusion. Plowever, aboxxt nine months before the trial (which actually took place a little more than four years after the accident), plaintiff, developed an ulcer near her left ankle, caused by the thrombophlebitis. Although it was recommended by specialists that she undergo yet another operation to strip and tie the varicose veins and have a skin graft in the ulcerated area, she refxxsed to do this, preferxdng to be treated, while hospitalized, by a general practitioner who utilized a conservative treatment in clearixxg up the infection.

At the time of trial, the plaintiff was still using crutches, because of weakness resulting from her almost five-months’ stay in the hospital for the treatment of the ulcer.

The jury rendered its verdict, awarding the plaintiff $199,000.00 and Travelers $17,910.20.

Defendant relies upon ten separate points for reversal, in all hut three of which the contention is made, directly or indirectly, that the amount of the verdict was influenced by sympathy, passion and prejudice. Actually, one of defendant’s separate points is specifically directed to this issue, and we will consider this point separately after otherwise disposing of defendant’s remaining contentions.

The first, second and third points relied upon for reversal relate to a claimed abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court, and defendant bears a heavy burden, in view of the long-standing rule that we will not overturn the action of the trial court absent a patent abuse or manifest error in the exercise of the discretion. See, State ex rel. Meyers Co. v. Raynolds, 1917, 22 N.M. 473, 164 P. 830; Martinez v. Cook, 1953, 57 N.M. 263, 258 P.2d 375; In re Stern’s Will, 1956, 61 N.M. 446, 301 P.2d 1094; Coastal Plains Oil Co. v. Douglas, 1961, 69 N.M. 68, 364 P.2d 131. With this rule in mind, therefore, we consider the three points somewhat together.

In the first place, defendant urges that Dr. Rivas, the general practitioner who cared for plaintiff due to the ulcerated condition of her leg shortly before trial, should not have been allowed to testify to the proper medical treatment and what was or was not recognized as proper medical procedure in connection therewith. The testimony was admitted over objection, after the doctor had testified that he was not actuall) qualified in the field of circulatory ailments, known as vascular diseases. The doctor, however, was regularly licensed to practice medicine. The whole problem related to what was the proper treatment for plaintiff’s condition. The gist of defendant’s claim is that there were two other doctors who were qualified as experts in vascular diseases, and that, therefore, the court should have refused to allow the testimony of Dr. Rivas on the subject.

Defendant draws too fine a line; a« long as Dr. Rivas was a qualified medical expert, we do not feel that it is a matter for the court to rule out his testimony as to a particular specialty within the general broad field, but it is rather a question of the weight, if any, to be given the expert testimony as determined by the jury under proper instructions from the court. Los Alamos Medical Center v. Coe, 1954, 58 N.M. 686, 275 P.2d 175, 50 A.L.R.2d 1033; Hamilton v. Doty, 1958, 65 N.M. 270, 335 P.2d 1067; Beal v. Southern Union Gas Co., 1960, 66 N.M. 424, 349 P.2d 337, 84 A.L.R. 2d 1269; Landers v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co., 1961, 68 N.M. 130, 359 P.2d 522; Yates v. Matthews, 1963, 71 N.M. 451, 379 P.2d 441.

Defendant’s second point related, in part, to the testimony of Dr. Rivas and is based upon the following circumstances: Some twenty-one close-up colored photographs were taken of plaintiff’s ankle. These pictures covered the period from May 4, 1961, to September 20, 1961, and it is claimed that, by sheer numbers, they were inclined to prejudice the jury.

Although we are inclined to agree that allowing so many almost-identical pictures in evidence could have very little value except to arouse the sympathy of the jury, we would not, upon the basis of the number of pictures alone, be inclined to direct a reversal. We, however, would caution the trial courts that such practice is a dangerous one, and the trial judges should exercise considerable care in order to prevent possible prejudice.

As a part of this claim of error, the defendant also objects to a demonstration which occurred in court when Dr. Rivas removed the elastic stocking which the plaintiff was required to wear, to show the ulcerated area and also to demonstrate the difficulty plaintiff had in removing and putting on the elastic stocking. We see no particular abuse in this respect, unless it is considered that this demonstration was of no actual aid to the jury in an evidentiary sense and was impliedly only for the purpose of arousing sympathy. Compare Beal v. Southern Union Gas Co., supra.

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Bluebook (online)
384 P.2d 256, 72 N.M. 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanberry-v-fitzgerald-nm-1963.