Jones v. Nava

331 P.3d 1067, 264 Or. App. 235, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 958
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 9, 2014
Docket10C15934; A150260
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 331 P.3d 1067 (Jones v. Nava) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Nava, 331 P.3d 1067, 264 Or. App. 235, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 958 (Or. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, S. J.

This is a personal injury case involving a claim by plaintiff against her insurer, defendant, after plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident by an uninsured motorist. After the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $5,856.49 in damages, the court awarded plaintiff $25,182 in attorney fees. Defendant challenges plaintiffs entitlement to attorney fees and, in the alternative, the amount awarded. Plaintiff cross-appeals, arguing that the court erred in excluding certain evidence and that the court’s error was prejudicial to her claim for damages. We conclude that the court’s evidentiary ruling was erroneous and prejudicial, so we reverse and remand on plaintiff’s cross-appeal. On defendant’s appeal, we conclude that plaintiff was entitled to attorney fees, but we remand on the question of the amount of those fees.

The facts are undisputed. While driving on 1-84 with her husband and children, defendant’s car was hit from behind by a negligent, intoxicated, and uninsured motorist. As a result, plaintiff suffered a broken nose and other physical injuries, as well as pain, suffering, and emotional distress. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff submitted to defendant an “application for [uninsured motorist] benefits and proof of loss.” Eight months then elapsed before defendant made its first attempt to settle the claim, offering $3,00o.1 ORS 742.061. Subsequently, and before plaintiff filed this action, defendant raised the offer to $6,000. Plaintiff, whose original demand was for $25,000 in uninsured motorist benefits (her policy limits), rejected the offer after her attorney conferred with his partners and two independent defense attorneys, and, based on their advice, estimated that the case was worth considerably more than the amount offered.

Court-annexed arbitration ensued. The arbitrator awarded plaintiff $11,826.99 in damages and $9,259 in attorney fees. Defendant, however, appealed the arbitration [238]*238award to the circuit court. At trial, the court did not allow plaintiff to submit evidence that, following the accident, she had continuing nightmares about it and fear of driving in the dark. The court reasoned that, because plaintiffs damages were limited by the insurance policy, her action sounded in contract and were, in turn, limited by statute to damages that “arise out of bodily injury.” That phrase, the court held, ruled out compensation for plaintiffs fear and nightmares. Ultimately, the jury returned a verdict awarding plaintiff $856.49 in economic damages and $5,000 in noneconomic damages, for a total that was lower than the amount of defendant’s final settlement offer. Plaintiff subsequently submitted a statement seeking attorney fees of $25,182, based on a rate of $300 per hour, which was 20 percent higher than her attorney’s usual hourly rate because he took the case on a contingency basis. Over defendant’s objection, the court entered an award for the full amount requested.

On appeal, defendant challenges plaintiffs entitlement to attorney fees and, in the alternative, the amount awarded. In a cross-appeal, plaintiff challenges the court’s ruling that excluded evidence of continuing emotional distress and fear. We begin with plaintiffs cross-appeal.

At a pretrial hearing, defendant made a motion in limine seeking to preclude plaintiff from offering evidence of damages for emotional distress unless such damages resulted from bodily injury. The court granted the motion, and, at trial, allowed plaintiff to testify about her state of mind in the immediate aftermath of the accident, but excluded evidence of plaintiffs long-term nightmares about the incident and her continuing fear of driving in the dark — nightmares and fears that had not abated at the time of trial. The court apparently agreed with defendant’s argument that the policy and statutory language limiting emotional distress damages precluded consideration of emotional distress beyond the immediate aftermath of the physical impact. Plaintiff argued, and argues again in her cross-appeal, that evidence of the continuing emotional distress should have been admitted because it was directly related to the physical, bodily injury that she experienced from the accident itself. She notes that the insurance contract, [239]*239as well as statutes to which the contract must conform, ORS 742.504, covered plaintiff for general damages resulting from bodily injury, and that her fears and nightmares clearly fell within that category. Defendant, not offering any response to that argument, appears to concede the error. We agree. Both ORS 742.504(l1)(a) and defendant’s policy allow recovery for “general *** damages *** because of bodily injury” caused by the accident. Subsequent emotional harm resulting from the accident occurs “because of’ that accident. See, e.g., Porter v. Headings, 270 Or 281, 283-84, 527 P2d 403 (1974) (court erred in excluding the plaintiffs evidence that automobile accident caused subsequent fear that plaintiffs unborn child was injured); Fehely v. Senders, 170 Or 457, 461, 464, 135 P2d 283 (1943) (providing that emotional injuries following physical injury include “mental suffering * * * whether permanent or temporary”).

Defendant, however, contends that the erroneous exclusion of the evidence does not constitute reversible error because it was not prejudicial. Or Const, Art VII (Amended), § 3 (judgment of trial court must be affirmed if error is harmless); ORS 19.415(2) (“No judgment shall be reversed or modified except for error substantially affecting the rights of a party.”); OEC 103(1) (evidentiary error not presumed to be prejudicial). According to defendant, excluding evidence of lingering post-accident emotional distress was harmless because plaintiff was allowed to testify at some length about her emotional state at the time of the accident. The excluded testimony, in other words, would have been merely cumulative. We disagree. We will reverse based on evidentiary error if the excluded evidence had some likelihood of affecting the jury’s verdict. Gritzbaugh Main Street Prop. v. Greyhound Lines, 205 Or App 640, 654, 135 P3d 345, adh’d to on recons, 207 Or App 628, 142 P3d 514 (2006), rev den, 342 Or 299 (2007). That is the situation here. There is a significant difference between a contained, short period of emotional distress immediately following physical injury and persistent, lingering, and long-term emotional distress. The court erred in excluding plaintiffs testimony, and we cannot say that the error was harmless.

That being the case, we must reverse and remand. However, on remand, the question of attorney fees may arise. [240]*240We therefore address defendant’s arguments on that question. Defendant first contends that the court erred in awarding attorney fees to plaintiff under ORS 742.061. That statute provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
331 P.3d 1067, 264 Or. App. 235, 2014 Ore. App. LEXIS 958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-nava-orctapp-2014.