Parrinello v. Rulo Investment Co.

349 S.W.2d 416, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 555
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 19, 1961
DocketNo. 30709
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 349 S.W.2d 416 (Parrinello v. Rulo Investment Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parrinello v. Rulo Investment Co., 349 S.W.2d 416, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 555 (Mo. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

RUDDY, Judge.

This is an appeal by defendant from a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff [417]*417in the sum of $3,500 for personal injuries sustained.

Plaintiff alleged in his petition, which allegation was substantiated by the evidence, that while walking on a concrete walk, on premises owned and controlled by defendant, he was caused to fall when the outer edge of the walk crumbled and gave way under his foot. The negligence charged was that the walk “which crumbled and gave way under plaintiff’s foot, was cracked, likely to crumble from ordinary use, dangerous and defective prior to plaintiff’s above mentioned fall and defendant knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known of such cracked, dangerous and defective condition of said portion of the concrete walk, and that it was likely to crumble, from ordinary use, for a sufficient time prior to plaintiff’s fall, for defendant to have remedied and repaired” said defect.

The negligence as charged in plaintiff’s petition was submitted to the jury for its finding and, as stated, resulted in a verdict for plaintiff.

No point is raised by defendant concerning its liability for plaintiff’s injuries. Only two points are relied on by defendant, both dealing with the issue of damages only. Therefore, our statement of the facts will be limited to those relevant to plaintiff’s inj ury.

Plaintiff was a bookkeeper for HIM, Inc. The fall took place October 30, 1958, on a walk in front of the office of HIM, Inc. Immediately after he fell, plaintiff felt a sudden and sharp pain in his right foot and he saw a little cut in the leather of his shoe on that foot. He took the shoe off and hobbled back to the office. Thereafter, his wife drove him home. He did not drive because he was in “too much pain” and could not get his shoe back on his foot. At home he soaked the foot in hot water and epsom salts and took anacin for relief of the pain. He got very little sleep that night because of the pain. The next morning his wife took him to the Veterans’ Hospital where an x-ray was taken of his foot. He was told by the doctor that he had “a broken foot” and would have to stay in the hospital. The x-ray revealed an evulsion fracture of the base of the fifth metatarsal of the right foot at the area of insertion of the peroneus brevis muscle. At the hospital plaintiff was found to have a minimal edema and tenderness over the dorsal aspect, especially over the base, of the fifth metatarsal. There was marked tenderness on palpation over the volar head of the fifth metatarsal and on forced plantar dorsal flexion of the foot. While in the Veterans’ Hospital his foot was packed in ice and before leaving the hospital on November 3, 1958, his ankle was strapped. He was discharged on this date with instructions to return for follow-up examination and he was given a cane to use. His foot continued to have a throbbing pain. He returned to work the day following his discharge from the hospital. He did not use the cane given him at the hospital, but, instead, used crutches given him by his landlord. The crutches helped to keep the pressure off his foot. He continued going to work and used the crutches three or four weeks. After he discarded the crutches he used the cane for four weeks.

Plaintiff did not return to the Veterans’ Hospital. He saw Dr. Joseph Fields, a chiropodist, who gave him whirlpool baths until February 1959. Later, plaintiff saw Dr. Samson Wennerman who gave him electric diathermy treatments. Plaintiff received momentary relief when undergoing these treatments, but, thereafter, the soreness in his foot would return, especially after using the foot in walking. He continued to experience sharp pain after he drove an automobile.

In September 1959 plaintiff saw Dr. Marshall B. Conrad, an orthopedic surgeon, who advised him to use a heating pad on the foot. When asked how he was getting along at the time of the trial, plaintiff said the foot was getting along pretty good, except when he tries to climb or use the foot to excess. He had to quit dancing and [418]*418playing golf. He has not bowled because of the pressure on his foot. All these activities he did to some extent before the injury. Whenever he and his wife take a long drive, his wife does the driving because of the pain in his foot when he drives too far. He had no pain or trouble with his right foot and experienced no difficulty in walking prior to the injury.

Dr. Joseph Fields, a chiropodist, saw plaintiff for the first time on November 10, 1958. His examination disclosed swelling and redness of the right foot. He treated plaintiff with hydrotherapy (whirlpool baths) for 32 days and also strapped his foot and ankle at intervals. The last time he saw plaintiff was February 10, 1959. On this date there was marked improvement in plaintiff’s foot, but some swelling remained and pain was experienced on some movements of the toes. Dr. Fields did not know if the fracture healed over the period of his treatment.

Dr. Marshall B. Conrad, a specialist in orthopedic surgery, defined the term evulsion fracture as one which occurs when a portion of the bone involved has been pulled away from the remainder of the bone. He examined plaintiff on September 25, 1959. He took x-rays of the foot. There was no deformity shown and he could detect no abnormality clinically, except for two things. Plaintiff showed tenderness on pressure on the dorsum of the foot, that is, the top of the instep, and when he stood barefooted he showed a moderate tendency to pronation of both feet. Pronation, he said, was a tendency of the feet to sag a little in the long arch. He stated that the pronation he found was something plaintiff had all of his life and did not occur as a result of the injury. The x-ray pictures taken by him showed evidence of a healed fracture which involved the base of the fifth metatarsal -and showed an area of irregularity in the edge of the bone and there was some change in the texture of. the bone, which he explained was a result of the healed fracture. The fracture line appeared to ha.ve gone across the base of the fifth metatarsal. He found that the fracture had healed solidly and was in perfect position. When asked if this part of the foot which was injured bears the weight of the person standing, he testified that the whole foot takes part in the weight bearing when you stand on it. It was his opinion that plaintiff will continue to have the symptoms essentially as he is having them now.

Dr. Samson Wennerman examined plaintiff on two occasions. He first saw plaintiff February 21, 1959. He took an x-ray picture. His interpretation of the x-ray was a fracture of the fourth metatarsal of the right foot with some “slight displacement.” Later, when his x-ray was examined by another doctor, the other doctor testified that the x-ray showed the fracture was in the fifth metatarsal of the right foot. When Dr. Wennerman was asked if he had any opinion as to whether the pain which plaintiff still experiences after certain activities will or will not be permanent, he answered, “I think he will continue to have trouble with his foot.” It was his opinion that this pain and trouble will continue indefinitely. In addition to his x-ray findings Dr. Wennerman found some thickening of the foot at the region of the metatarsals and it was his opinion that this thickening would probably remain. He applied diathermy heat treatments to the foot.

Testifying for defendant was Dr. E. C. Funsch who examined plaintiff on October 9, 1959. He said plaintiff was 37 years of age and his complaint was limited to his right foot.

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Bluebook (online)
349 S.W.2d 416, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parrinello-v-rulo-investment-co-moctapp-1961.