Mason v. Rizzi

89 A.3d 32, 2004 Del. LEXIS 610, 2004 WL 6247980
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedMarch 3, 2004
DocketNo. 339, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 89 A.3d 32 (Mason v. Rizzi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mason v. Rizzi, 89 A.3d 32, 2004 Del. LEXIS 610, 2004 WL 6247980 (Del. 2004).

Opinion

STEELE, Justice:

In this appeal, consolidated with Eskin v. Carden, 842 A.2d 1222 (Del.Supr.2004), we again address the nature and scope of the admissibility of biomechanical expert testimony related to a motor vehicle accident alleged to have caused personal injuries to a particular plaintiff.1 We also review the trial judge’s decision to enter a partial judgment as a matter of law2 on the question of whether the accident caused a “soft-tissue” injury, as well as the trial judge’s discretionary ruling to allow Plaintiff/Appellee’s medical experts [34]*34to testify by pretrial video deposition despite Plaintiff/Appellee’s counsel’s alleged failure to disclose during pre-deposition discovery an expert’s letter suggesting permanent injury arising from an earlier accident.

We find that the trial judge did not abuse her discretion, either when she barred the biomechanical expert testimony nor when she allowed Plaintiff/Appellee’s medical experts to testify. We, therefore, affirm her rulings on the proffered evidence. We further find that the record supports her conclusion that there was no genuine issue of material fact regarding the existence or cause of a soft-tissue injury, even when the evidence is examined in the light most favorable to the Defendant/Appellant. Therefore, the trial judge correctly removed this issue from among those to be considered by the jury. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

I.

On May 8, 1998, Defendant/Appellant Judith Mason rear-ended Plaintiff/Appel-lee Maria Rizzi’s car. The accident occurred while both were stopped at a red light and Mason’s foot came off the brake pedal. There was no damage to either vehicle.

At the time of the accident, Rizzi had a pre-existing medical condition dating back to 1990 that included a disc herniation and degenerative changes to her cervical spine. In April 2001, almost three years after the accident, Dr. Bruce Rudin operated on Rizzi’s spine.

Rizzi brought suit, and the trial took place beginning on March 11, 2002. Mason admitted liability before trial, leaving the issues of proximate cause and damages for the jury at trial. Rizzi claimed two types of injury — a soft-tissue injury to her neck and back evidenced by pain and muscle spasm, and pain associated with trauma requiring surgery on her spine in 2001. On March 13, 2002 the jury returned a verdict in favor of Rizzi in the amount of $840,680.29. Mason filed an unsuccessful Motion for a New Trial or Remittitur, and now appeals the trial judge’s evidentiary rulings and denial of a new trial.

II.

The Trial Judge correctly granted Riz-zi’s Motion In Limine to Exclude Mason’s Biomechanical Expert Testimony.

Before trial, Rizzi moved to exclude Mason’s proffered biomechanical expert testimony. Mason’s expert would have testified that:

1. Based upon the scientific analysis outlined above, the loads placed on Ms. Rizzi’s cervical and lumbar spine, during the incident of May 8,1998, were comparable to or less than the loads her spine experienced during everyday activities.
2. The loads placed on Ms. Rizzi’s spine were significantly less than the loads required to produce permanent injury to the structures of the spine, as documented in the biomechanical literature.

The trial judge excluded the testimony at trial and then expanded upon her bases for doing so in her Post-trial Memorandum Opinion.3 She reasoned that while the force of impact in the accident may have been no more than “everyday” forces from normal activities, the amount of force involved in the accident was never put in issue by any expert qualified to render an opinion on “medical causation.” Dr. Townsend, a physician expert retained by Mason, did not opine that “everyday forces” [35]*35could not have caused Plaintiff Rizzi’s injuries. Dr. Townsend offered “no opinion on the amount of force, or lack of force,” required to cause Rizzi’s injuries. Dr. Townsend “did not rely on the biomechanical expert’s opinion in any way in forming his medical causation opinion.” Mason argued just before the trial judge’s evidentia-ry ruling and at the time of consideration of a post-trial Motion for a New Trial or Remittitur, and now on appeal, continues to argue, that the biomechanical expert’s two-pronged opinion has relevance, and therefore evidentiary significance, independent of any expert opinion on “medical causation.” Mason’s biomechanical expert-independent of Mason’s medical expert’s opinion and contrary to the opinion of Rizzi’s medical expert — would have testified that the impact “generated so little force” that Rizzi’s injuries could not have been as severe as she claimed, and that “she could have received the same injuries performing daily activities.” Mason would then have argued that the jury could reasonably rely upon the opinion that the forces at work in the accident were no more “load” generating than, e.g., sealing an envelope or peeling an apple. The biomechanical expert’s opinion, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by every day activities or compare Rizzi’s spine to the normal or average spine. The biomechanical expert proffered no validated rate of error in the methodology for determining the effect of the loads even on the average person. The proffered opinion did not suggest that the expert had considered the effect of the “loads” on a spine, like Rizzi’s, which had degenerative weakness and had been subjected to surgery before this accident.

Accordingly, the trial judge identified two reasons that supported her decision to exclude the biomechanical expert’s testimony:

(1) The proffered testimony was “irrelevant, highly prejudicial and should be excluded” because Defendant’s medical expert did not testify about the forces involved in the accident and whether they could or could not have caused injuries as severe as those allegedly suffered by Riz-zi;

(2) Defendant’s biomechanical expert proffered an opinion based on studies that analyzed the effect of impact forces on normal spines, not on previously injured spines, like Rizzi’s. That factor alone, the trial judge concluded, would result in juror confusion, even if the proffer had some “relevance and probative value.” The trial judge explained:

Admission of Cripton’s opinions, in the absence of competent medical testimony, and because they were based on studies of normal spines, would have resulted in juror speculation, confusion and unfair prejudice to Plaintiff. Cripton’s opinions were properly excluded pursuant to Davis v. Maute, Amalfitano v. Baker, and Delaware Rules of Evidence 401, 403 and 702.4

The trial judge’s reasoning and ruling gives us an opportunity to elaborate further our views on biomechanical expert opinion discussed in the companion case of Eskin v. Carden.5

First, where there is an objection, we reaffirm the necessity for our trial judges to examine carefully the purpose for which a biomechanical expert opinion is offered in a particular case. Like many difficult issues in the law, the question of whether biomechanical expert testimony should be admitted is highly contextual. As we stat[36]*36ed in Eskin,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
89 A.3d 32, 2004 Del. LEXIS 610, 2004 WL 6247980, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mason-v-rizzi-del-2004.