Rizzi v. Mason

799 A.2d 1178, 2002 Del. Super. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 1038819
CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedMay 22, 2002
DocketNo. C.A. 99C-09-271-JRJ
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 799 A.2d 1178 (Rizzi v. Mason) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rizzi v. Mason, 799 A.2d 1178, 2002 Del. Super. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 1038819 (Del. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JURDEN, J.

Defendant, Judith Mason, has filed a post-trial Motion for a New Trial, or in the Alternative, Remittitur. This personal injury case arises from a motor vehicle collision which occurred on May 8, 1998. Plaintiff was driving on Delaware Route 7 in New Castle County when her vehicle was struck by a vehicle operated by Defendant. Plaintiff alleged that as a proximate result of Defendant’s negligence she sustained cervical disc and soft tissue injuries. Defendant stipulated prior to trial that liability was conceded and only causation and damages remained in dispute. This matter was tried before a jury on March 11 — 13, 2002. The jury awarded $340,680.29 to Plaintiff. In her motion, Defendant advances ten arguments as to why a new trial or remittitur is warranted. For the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion is DENIED.

1. Exclusion of Defendant’s Biomechanical Expert’s Testimony

Prior to trial, the Court granted Plaintiffs Motion in Limine to Exclude the Expert Testimony of Peter Cripton, a biomechanical engineer. Defendant sought to introduce two opinions from Cripton:

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 Court excluded Cripton’s opinion that the force of the impact was comparable to or less than “everyday” forces for two reasons. First, Defendant offered no expert medical testimony that would make Cripton’s opinion concerning the amount of the force a relevant fact for the jury’s consideration. Defendant admitted that her medical expert, Dr. Townsend, was not going to render an opinion at trial that “everyday forces” could not have caused an injury to Plaintiff or an injury of the magnitude Plaintiff claimed. In fact, Dr. Townsend offered no opinion on the amount of force, or lack of force, that was required to cause Plaintiffs injuries. In other words, Defendant had no expert medical testimony establishing a correlation between the force (or lack of force) generated upon impact and Plaintiffs injuries. Dr. Townsend did not rely on Crip-ton’s opinion to formulate his medical causation opinion. Defendant argued that Cripton’s report was relevant because it explained the “general forces” caused to the body “in this particular impact.” In [1182]*1182trying to ascertain the relevance of Crip-ton’s opinion in the absence of expert medical testimony establishing a correlation, the Court responded:

.. .if you’re not going to have a doctor tie up the general [forces] to the specific [injuries], then isn’t it far too prejudicial to have the general out there so that the jury extrapolates without competent medical testimony relating the biome-chanical expert’s opinions to the plaintiff’s specific [injuries]? 1

After hearing extensive argument, the Court concluded that without such testimony from Dr. Townsend, Cripton’s opinion was irrelevant, highly prejudicial, and should be excluded.2 Based on Defendant’s argument, the Court understood that Defendant intended to argue to the jury that (1) because the impact generated so little force, Plaintiffs injuries could not be as severe as she alleged, and (2) Plaintiff could have received the same injuries performing daily activities and therefore her injuries were not proximately caused by the collision. Either inference would be improper under Davis v. Maute3 and Delaware Rule of Evidence 403. Moreover, the second inference flies in the face of the undisputed, conclusive medical testimony that the collision caused injury to plaintiff and is therefore improper under Amalfitano v. Baker,4

Defendant’s rebanee on Kelly v. McHad-don5 is unavailing. In Kelly, the medical expert relied on the biomechanical expert’s report in rendering his opinion that plaintiffs injury was not caused by the cohision. In contrast, here, not only was Defendant’s expert unable to reach such a conclusion (and, in fact, opined the opposite with respect to Plaintiffs cervical soft tissue injury), but Defendant’s medical expert did not rely on the biomechanical studies in formulating his opinion that Plaintiffs surgical injury was not solely caused by the May 8, 1998 collision.6

The second reason the Court excluded Cripton’s opinion is because Cripton’s analysis was based on studies of normal spines, not spines already injured. Prior to the May 8, 1998 collision, Plaintiff injured her cervical spine and underwent disc surgery. Defendant conceded Plaintiff did not have a “normal” spine before the collision. The relevance and probative value of Cripton’s opinion, therefore, was questionable. To permit such an opinion based on studies of normal spines would have resulted in juror confusion and unfair prejudice to Plaintiff.7

The Court excluded Cripton’s opinion regarding causation of Plaintiffs injuries because not only was it based on studies of normal spines, but because Cripton is not a medical doctor and is therefore not quah-fied to render an opinion regarding the medical cause and degree of an injury.8

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,9 Amalfitano v. Baker,10 and Delaware Rules of Evidence 401, 403 and 702.

[1183]*11832. Exclusion of Evidence Regarding ths Force Generated by the Collision

Defendant claims the Coui’t erred by excluding any evidence of the damage (or lack thereof) to Plaintiffs or Defendant’s vehicles. The Court disagrees. Defendant sought to introduce evidence concerning the lack of property damage in order to persuade the jury that Plaintiff could not have been injured by the impact or that her injuries were not as severe as she claimed. This is impermissible under Delaware law.11 In her motion, and as noted above, Defendant overlooks the critical evidence she was required to offer under Davis v. Maute in order to make this type of evidence relevant and admissible. As the Court noted before trial and again during trial, Defendant failed to offer an opinion from a competent medical expert that would have made evidence of the force of impact relevant. Consequently, this evidence was properly excluded pursuant to the Supreme Court’s holding in Davis v. Maute.12

3. Admission of Dr. Rudin’s and Dr. Rosenfeld’s Testimony

Defendant argues that the Court should have excluded the trial testimony of Dr. Rosenfeld and Dr. Rudin because of an alleged discovery violation by Plaintiff. Defendant claims Plaintiff failed to produce documents prepared by Dr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
799 A.2d 1178, 2002 Del. Super. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 1038819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rizzi-v-mason-delsuperct-2002.