Richardson v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.

150 F.R.D. 1, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1478, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9439, 1993 WL 299448
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedJuly 14, 1993
DocketCiv. A. No. 90-1592
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 150 F.R.D. 1 (Richardson v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., 150 F.R.D. 1, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1478, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9439, 1993 WL 299448 (D.D.C. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SPORKIN, District Judge.

This case involves a personal injury suit filed by Plaintiff, Johnny Richardson, against Defendant National Railroad Passenger Corporation (“Amtrak”) under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51 et seq. Presently before the Court are Defendant’s Motion to Set Aside Plaintiffs Purported Acceptance of Defendant’s Offer of Judgment Due to Revocation of Offer and Fraud and Defendant’s Motion for a New Trial. The procedural background of this case is as follows.

In the fall of 1987, Plaintiff, an employee of Amtrak, injured his right shoulder while working on the job. In February 1988, Plaintiff underwent surgery for injury to his shoulder. In July 1990, Plaintiff filed suit and in December 1991, a jury trial was held. On January 2, 1992, the jury returned a judgment in favor of Plaintiff and found damages in the amount of $500,000. The jury also found Plaintiff to be 12% contributorily negligent, thereby reducing his award to $440,000.

On February 25, 1992, the Court issued a remittitur reducing the amount of total damages to $175,000; applying the 12% contributory negligence found by the jury, the Court reduced the judgment to $154,000. The Court gave Plaintiff 30 days to accept the remittitur or to elect a new trial solely on the issue of damages.

Plaintiff rejected the remittitur and elected to proceed to trial on the issue of damages. Trial on damages was set for June 8, 1992. Defendant then requested leave to conduct an independent medical examination and for limited discovery on the question of damages, and at a May 22, 1992 status hearing, the Court granted Defendant’s request.

On May 22, 1992, prior to the date of the new trial, Defendant filed an Offer of Judgment in the amount of $150,000 pursuant to Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On June 4, 1992, by letter transmitted to Plaintiffs counsel by facsimile, Defendant withdrew its Offer of Judgment. On June 5, 1992, Plaintiff accepted Defendant’s Offer. Plaintiff interprets Rule 68 to require an Offer of Judgment to remain open for the statutorily-prescribed 10-day period. Therefore, Plaintiff contends that his acceptance of Defendant’s Offer is valid, despite Defendant’s purported withdrawal.

Defendant does not quarrel with Plaintiffs contention, unless “extenuating circumstances” are present. If the Court finds that such extenuating circumstances—for example, fraud—exist, Defendant maintains that it should be permitted to withdraw the Offer. Based on this rationale, Defendant filed a Motion to Set Aside Plaintiffs Purported Acceptance of Defendant’s Offer of Judgment. Evidentiary hearings on Defendant’s motion began on August 12,1992. On December 11, 1992, Defendant went further and filed a Motion for a New Trial pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). These two motions are currently before the Court. Evidentiary hearings were held on August 12, 1992 and January 15, February 5, February 19, March 12, March 26, April 15, April 16, May 20 and May 26, 1993. Oral argument was heard on July 9, 1993.

The Court has allowed a full exploration of the issues raised in Defendant’s motions. Amtrak has presented compelling testimony of fifteen of the finest physicians and surgeons in the Washington, D.C. area. The [3]*3Court commends these doctors for their willingness to come forward in this case. Their testimony raises the question whether Plaintiffs treating physician and expert at trial, Dr. Jeffrey Goltz performed the operation which he testified he had performed in February 1988. Equally troubling to this Court is the uncontested fact that at trial Dr. Goltz falsely identified the educational institutions he attended and misrepresented certain other of his credentials.

Defendant bears a heavy burden in this case. Amtrak agrees that it must prove its case by clear and convincing evidence. Dr. Goltz also has presented strong evidence that the operation could have been performed as claimed.1

Defendant has not provided any real evidence that the plaintiff was in any way implicated in Dr. Goltz’ misstatements or alleged misconduct. Thus, for the reasons stated more fully below, the Court finds that Amtrak has not met its burden and that the equities in this case weigh heavily in favor of the Plaintiff who, as far as the Court can determine, is an innocent victim in these proceedings. Accordingly, Defendant’s motion for a new trial will be denied. Defendant will not be permitted to withdraw its Offer of Judgment, and Plaintiffs acceptance of the Offer will stand.

Rule 68 provides that an offer of judgment must be accepted within 10 days from the date the offer is made. An offer not accepted within 10 days automatically expires. The rule, however, is silent on the question of whether or not an offer of judgment can be revoked prior to the expiration of the statutorily-prescribed ten-day period. At oral argument on July 9, 1993, Defendant conceded that, once made, a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment must remain open for ten days and cannot be withdrawn absent so-called “extenuating circumstances”.

While Defendant’s concession obviates the Court’s need to rule on a defendant’s absolute right to withdraw an Offer of Judgment at any time prior to Plaintiffs acceptance and before the expiration of the ten-day period, the Court believes that Defendant is correct that a Rule 68 Offer of Judgment must remain open for ten days absent extenuating circumstances.

Amtrak submits that such circumstances do exist. Amtrak alleges that Dr. Goltz inflated his credentials and testified falsely at trial regarding the operation he performed on Plaintiff and the extent of the injury Plaintiff sustained. In particular, Defendant alleges that Dr. Goltz falsely testified that the Plaintiff suffered from a 19% permanent partial disability and that Dr. Goltz had surgically repaired a large tear in the rotator cuff of Plaintiffs injured shoulder. Defendant claims that, while there is no question that Dr. Goltz performed some surgery, Plaintiff never had a rotator cuff tear and does not suffer from a permanent disability, at least not to the extent asserted by Dr. Goltz at trial.

A The Operation

At the December 1991 trial, Dr. Goltz testified to the following sequence of events. Dr. Goltz first saw the Plaintiff on October 7, 1987, eight days after Plaintiff sustained an injury to his right shoulder. At that time, Dr. Goltz made a diagnosis of bursitis, impingement of the right shoulder and decreased range of motion of the shoulder.2 He gave Plaintiff some anti-inflammation treatment and started him on physical thera[4]*4py. Initially, Plaintiffs condition improved, but beginning in mid-November Plaintiff started to lose some range of motion. On December 10,1987, at Dr. Goltz’ direction, an arthrogram of Plaintiffs injured shoulder was taken in order to aid in further diagnosis of Plaintiffs injury. The primary purpose of the arthrogram was to see whether or not Plaintiff suffered from a tear in the rotator cuff. An arthrogram involves the injection of a dye into the patient’s joint and the subsequent taking of an x-ray.

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Bluebook (online)
150 F.R.D. 1, 27 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1478, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9439, 1993 WL 299448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-v-national-railroad-passenger-corp-dcd-1993.