Roberts v. Rockwell International Corp.

462 So. 2d 502, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 54, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 16251
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 28, 1984
DocketNo. 84-933
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 462 So. 2d 502 (Roberts v. Rockwell International Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roberts v. Rockwell International Corp., 462 So. 2d 502, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 54, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 16251 (Fla. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, Judge.

Appellant, Kenneth Wayne Roberts, appeals the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of appellee, Rockwell International Corporation. We affirm.

On May 17, 1983, appellant filed suit against appellee for negligence, implied warranty and strict liability relating to injuries sustained by appellant while operating a ten-inch circular table saw manufactured by Delta Manufacturing Company (Appel-lee Rockwell’s predecessor in interest). Appellee answered the complaint and later, on leave of court, filed additional affirmative defenses, including that of res judicata and satisfaction of judgment. Appellee moved for, and the trial court granted, summary judgment for appellee on the basis of those affirmative defenses. The trial court, at the request of appellee, took judicial notice of portions of the record in ap[504]*504pellant’s previous action against Pasco County for the same injuries.

The facts established in that case show that on or about June 11, 1981, appellant was utilizing a ten-inch circular table saw to rip a sheet of plywood when the plywood bounced up out of the saw. As a result, appellant’s right hand was thrust into the unguarded saw blade amputating his index finger and thumb. The saw had been manufactured by Delta Manufacturing Company, appellee’s predecessor in interest.

Following appellant’s accident, he was transported to a hospital in Dade City. Appellant’s physicians decided to immediately transport appellant to Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville, where an expert in the field of microsurgery and revasculori-zation was waiting to perform surgery to reattach appellant’s amputated thumb and finger.

Pasco County Emergency Medical Service was hired to provide transportation to the hospital. Pasco County allegedly provided a vehicle with insufficient fuel and in poor mechanical condition to transfer appellant. The vehicle had to be started with jumper cables at the hospital in Dade City. In addition, the vehicle experienced further mechanical difficulty and became disabled along Interstate 75, somewhere south of Gainesville, which delayed appellant’s transport to the hospital. As a result of the delay, the surgeons at Shands were unable to repair the flexor tendons or digital nerves to appellant’s index finger and thumb because of massive swelling. Since the time of appellant’s initial surgery, he has had to have the index finger of his right hand amputated and his thumb repositioned. For all practical purposes, appellant has a malfunctioning right hand.

Appellant’s action against Pasco County alleged that it was negligent in failing to promptly transport appellant to Shands Teaching Hospital. Appellant estimated his damages at that trial as follows:

MEDICAL: $ 7,024.50
EST. FUTURE MEDICAL: $ 3,000.00
PAST WAGE LOSS: $ 42,572.92
EST. FUTURE WAGE LOSS: $191,549.00
EST. PAST PAIN AND SUFFERING: $ 19,000.00
EST. FUTURE PAIN AND SUFFERING: $ 43,080.00
EST. DISFIGUREMENT: $ 25,000.00
EST. LOSS OF CAPACITY FOR ENJOYMENT OF LIFE: $ 25,000.00
ESTIMATED TOTAL: $366,598.35

(The sum of appellant’s itemized damages totals $356,226.42. We cannot explain the discrepancy between that total and his “Estimated Total” of $366,598.35.)

The jury found that Pasco County was negligent and that negligence the legal cause of appellant’s damages. They found that appellant sustained $15,000.00 in damages.

Final judgment against Pasco County was entered for $15,000.00. A final cost judgment against Pasco County in the amount of $2,000.00 was later entered. Satisfaction of both judgments has been made.

The record in the case styled Kenneth Wayne Roberts v. Pasco County shows that appellant alleged the same damages, including aggravation of a pre-existing condition arising out of the same injury, as are alleged in the present action on appeal. Appellant was represented by the same attorney in both actions.

The medical evidence presented by appellant in the earlier trial focused on the issue of separability of the damages and disability as a result of Pasco County’s negligent delay in transportation. One doctor, who testified by deposition, stated that “the longer the ischemia time, the longer the, the more swelling there will be and the more probability of complications such as what we had.” That doctor was not asked whether he could medically distinguish between the injuries or resulting damages from the saw accident as opposed to the consequences of time delay and significant swelling which followed from Pasco County's conduct.

Another medical expert for appellant, whose testimony the jury heard and saw through videotape deposition, was asked if it was possible to delineate the conse[505]*505quences of the time delay, and told the jury, “No, I don’t think that’s possible.” He testified that although he felt the time delay, and its resulting complications, adversely affected appellant’s condition, that it was difficult to quantify and he could not say to what extent appellant’s condition was adversely affected.

Appellant’s counsel argued to the jury that he tried to examine his client’s total damages and see if he could apportion out what part of it was attributable to the County. He stated:

We know he would have had a cut hand. There is no question about that. He had a bad injury and I spent a lot of hours and a lot of time trying to do that. I couldn’t do it, and I don’t think any of the witnesses that testified can do it or could do it or did do it. So not being able to do that, in my own mind, and not having any real witnesses that could do that, could apportion it, we know it aggravates his condition.... We know he incurred additional expenses because of it, but we don’t know how much....
I told you, with all candor that I can muster, I can’t separate the damages.
When the jury comes back in with your assessment of what his total damages are, you have done that. You have struck that bell, rung that bell for the next 43.08 years and it can’t be unrung or rung again. ... You can’t do it, because once it’s done today, it’s done, and that is Wayne’s only day in Court.

In appellant’s action against Pasco County, the jury was instructed, in part, as follows:

There is no exact standard of measuring such damage. The matter should be fair and just in light of all the evidence; any aggravation of any existing disease or physical defect resulting from such injury.

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Bluebook (online)
462 So. 2d 502, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 54, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 16251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roberts-v-rockwell-international-corp-fladistctapp-1984.