Jackson v. Brown

268 So. 2d 837, 49 Ala. App. 55, 1972 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 336
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedNovember 1, 1972
DocketCiv. 13
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 268 So. 2d 837 (Jackson v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jackson v. Brown, 268 So. 2d 837, 49 Ala. App. 55, 1972 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 336 (Ala. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

PIOLMES, Justice.

This is an appeal by appellant, Roland Jackson, from a judgment in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Geneva Brown, against the appellant in the amount of $7,000.

The appellee filed suit in the Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama, the complaint consisting of two counts. Count One claimed damages for personal injuries and property damage based on the appellant’s alleged negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Count Two alleged wanton conduct in the operation of a motor vehicle. The parties reached issue by a plea in short by consent and the case was submitted to the jury under Count One of the complaint, the court giving the general affirmative charge to Count Two.

The trial court overruled appellant’s motion for new trial, and appellant assigned this ruling as error.

It is not necessary to the opinion to set out all the evidence, however the following is noted:

Appellee testified to the effect that she first saw appellant’s car at a distance of three car lengths coming toward appellee on appellee’s side of the road. Appellee stated she blew her horn and pulled over right and stopped; however, the front of appellant’s automobile collided with the front of appellee’s automobile. At the time of impact appellee’s head hit the windshield and broke it. Appellee further testified that she had never been in an auto wreck before and her head and face had never been injured; that she received one cut on her face requiring thirty-six stitches and had two or three stitches taken in her left knee; that her right arm hurt and she suffered with her back; and that a couple of teeth were cracked.

Appellee was taken to the hospital immediately after the wreck, the hospital records being introduced into evidence without objection.

Appellee also stated she lost four weeks from her employment as a result of the wreck, and that she gave the job up after returning to work for two weeks because she was unable to do her work. During this period of time appellee went to a doctor several times and also went to an eye specialist for her left eye. Appellee stated she had headaches and that there was an area of numbness in the general area of the scar over her left eye and she further [58]*58stated she was not able to do the housework that she could do before the wreck.

Appellee’s further testimony was that her medical bills included $35 for one doctor, $60 plus for the hospital, and $30 for the eye specialist. She testified that she continued to have headaches resulting, in her opinion, from the wreck and had spent $300 or $400 for headache medicine in the past three and one-half years. Appellee further testified that in her opinion the market value of her car immediately before the accident was $1,300 to $1,350 and that the automobile was worth nothing immediately after the accident.

Witnesses for appellee, an investigating police officer of the accident, and a passenger in the vehicle of the appellee at the time of the accident, testified to the effect that appellant was on appellee’s side of the road when the accident occurred.

Appellant testified that when the accident occurred he was on the way to the store with his four grandchildren riding in the back seat. Appellant stated he saw two little children run across the road and behind a parked car located on his side of the road; that he pulled around the parked car while watching for the children; that when he looked ahead from looking toward the parked car, appellee’s car was right in his face going, in his judgment, forty to fifty miles per hour; and that he was only going about twenty miles per hour. Appellant further stated that when he came around the parked car he did not get completely back on his side of the road and didn’t have time to get out of appellee’s way.

The deposition of Dr. J. S. Camp was introduced into evidence by agreement of counsel and read to the jury in question and answer form. Dr. Camp testified that he was licensed to practice medicine in Alabama and had been so practicing in Walker County since 1933. Dr. Camp testified that he had treated appellee at Peoples Hospital in Jasper, Alabama, for injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Dr. Camp stated he treated appellee for lacerations of her forehead and knee, and complaint of headache, and that he saw appellee, who was complaining of headaches, four or five times at weekly intervals, subsequent to the accident. Dr. Camp also> stated that he thought his fee for professional services was $35.

Appellant assigns some ten assignments of error of which two are argued and may be categorized as follows: Assignment of Error 1, Ground 6, and Assignment of Error 8 contend that the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial for that the court erred in its ruling on the evidence, to wit, overruling appellant’s objection to the following question propounded to the appellee: “In your judgment is that a reasonable amount for these bills?”

Assignment of Error 1, Grounds 23, 24, and 25, contends that the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial for that the appellant was irreparably harmed and prejudiced by the jury’s discussion of liability insurance in that the appellant was covered by liability insurance and that the insurance company would be responsible for any verdict rendered, was openly discussed in the jury room.

Assignment of Error 1, Grounds 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, contends the court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial for that the verdict of the jury was contrary to the preponderance of the evidence and that the verdict of the jury was so excessive as to indicate passion, prejudice, corruption or mistake.

As noted earlier, appellant’s argument to Assignment of Error 1, Ground 6, and as to Assignment of Error 8, concerns the ruling of the trial court in allowing testimony by the appellant, a woman with a high school education and who had an employment background of sales clerk and maid, to express an opinion or judgment regarding the reasonableness of her doctor and hospital bills. The transcript [59]*59reveals the following examination relative to the question at hand:

“Q. To bring us back up to date, I believe you testified Dr. Camp’s bill was thirty-five dollars?
“A. That’s right.
“Q. The hospital bill was sixty dollars ?
“A. Yes.
“Q. And the eye specialist was thirty dollars, is that right ?
“A. That’s right.
“Q. In your judgment is that a reasonable amount for these bills ?
“MR. SAVAGE: I object to that if the Court please. This witness is not qualified to prove reasonableness - of medical bills in Walker County, Alabama.
“COURT: Overrule the obj ection.
“MR. SAVAGE: Except.
“COURT: You may answer if you know in your opinion and your judgment.
“WITNESS : I think it is.”

Appellant’s able counsel correctly states the law that testimony of reasonablenéss in regard to charges for surgical, medical or hospital bills does not concern subject matter of common knowledge, but that testimony of reasonableness in regard to charges for surgical, medical or hospital bills is a matter for expert opinion. Birmingham Amusement Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
268 So. 2d 837, 49 Ala. App. 55, 1972 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-brown-alacivapp-1972.