Shanisha L. Saulsberry v. U.S. Toy Company, Inc.

473 S.W.3d 131, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 805, 2015 WL 4746876
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 11, 2015
DocketWD77562
StatusPublished

This text of 473 S.W.3d 131 (Shanisha L. Saulsberry v. U.S. Toy Company, Inc.) 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
Shanisha L. Saulsberry v. U.S. Toy Company, Inc., 473 S.W.3d 131, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 805, 2015 WL 4746876 (Mo. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Anthony Rex Gabbert, Judge

Shanisha L. Saulsberry appeals the circuit court’s judgment entered upon a jury verdict finding in favor of Saulsberry on her negligence claim against U.S. Toy Company, Inc. (U.S. Toy). Saulsberry alleged that she was injured at a U.S. Toy store after store racks fell upon her. The jury awarded Saulsberry $7,216.00 for economic damages. Saulsberry asserts five points on appeal. First, she claims that the circuit court erred in excluding evidence of her medical expenses because they were relevant to damages and admissible as business records and she was not responsible for any late production of the records in that any “discovery sanctions” neither followed the dictates of Rule 61’s mandated notice and hearing provisions nor advanced the purposes of deterrence of discovery abuse by penalizing Saulsber-ry rather than Saulsberry’s lawyer. Second, Saulsberry contends that the circuit court erred in not conducting an eviden-tiary hearing pursuant to Section 490.715, RSMo Cum. Supp. 2013, and Deck v. Teasley, 322 S.W.3d 536 (Mo. banc 2010), because Saulsberry had witnesses who could have laid a proper foundation and described the reasonable value of their services in that the statute by its plain language permits a party to testify about their own medical expenses, and medical experts had testified to the reasonable value of the services. Third, Saulsberry contends that the circuit court erred in admitting, over her objection, the hearsay testimony of Dr. Jay Zwibelman, because the testimony reflected the opinion of *133 counsel about rank hearsay, did not come in the form of an opinion, and was an unduly prejudicial comment on Saulsber-ry’s motives in bringing the lawsuit in that the witness was reading another physician’s note about which he had no person-, al knowledge and that reflected another person’s opinion, and he was not expressing his opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. Fourth, Saulsberry contends that the circuit court erred in admitting, over her objection, the hearsay testimony of Dr. Bernard Abrams because the testimony was inherently speculative, not given to a .reasonable degree of medical certainty and was an unduly prejudicial comment on Saulsberry’s motives in bringing the lawsuit in that the witness was merely listing a number of factors that could have been responsible for Saulsberry’s inability to walk, and was not expressing an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. Finally, Sauls-berry contends that the circuit court erred in refusing to admit the economist’s report because the economist’s report was based on the lifecare planner’s report which had firm evidentiary support, in that the trial court had redacted portions of the lifecare planner’s report based on its earlier errant rulings and this erroneous redaction made the economist’s report which was otherwise admissible, inadmissible resulting in prejudice to plaintiff. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

On October 18, 2008, Saulsberry was shopping at a U.S. Toy store when store racks filled with Halloween costumes fell upon her. Saulsberry filed a negligence suit against U.S. Toy on October 6, 2010, claiming to have sustained permanent injuries, including being confined to a wheelchair as a result of the incident and U.S. Toy’s negligence. She first attempted to litigate the suit pro se, however counsel entered an.appearance on Saulsberry’s behalf on September 23, 2011. Atrial was scheduled for January 23, 2012. After Saulsberry’s counsel moved to continue the trial, the case was scheduled for May 21, 2012. On May 18, 2012, Saulsberry moved to voluntarily dismiss the case and the court granted that dismissal.

On October 18, 2012, Saulsberry refiled her suit. On February 23, 2013, the case was set for jury trial on January 6, 20Í4. On December 27, 2013, new counsel entered an appearance on Saulsberry’s behalf. On December 31,' 2013, Saulsberry filed a motion for continuance and later ' that same day filed a supplemental motion for continuance. Saulsberry’s former counsel also requested leave to withdraw. On January 2, 2014, the court denied the continuance as well as the motion to withdraw. On January 6, 2014, the day of trial,- the court revisited Saulsberry’s supplemental motion for a continuance as Saulsberry was unavailable. The court continued the trial to January 21, 2014.

After hearing approximately three days of evidence,, the jury returned a verdict against U.S. Toy and in favor of Saulsber-ry. The .jury was instructed that, if it found U.S. Toy negligent and that such negligence caused damage to Saulsberry, the jury must award Saulsberry such sum as it believed would fairly and justly compensate Saulsberry for any damages that the jury believed were sustained by Sauls-berry and would be reasonably certain to sustain in the future as a direct result of the negligence. The jury awarded Sauls-berry $7,216 for economic damages. Saulsberry appeals arguing that we must remand for a new trial for reconsideration of Saulsberry’s damages.

Point I: Exclusion of Evidence

In Saulsberry’s first point on appeal she claims that the circuit court erred *134 in excluding evidence of her medical expenses because they were relevant to damages and admissible as business records and she was not responsible for any late production of the records in that any “discovery sanctions” neither followed the dictates of Rule 61’s mandated notice and hearing provisions nor advanced the purposes of deterrence of discovery abuse by penalizing Saulsberry rather than Sauls-berry’s lawyer.

“ ‘We review the trial court’s admission or exclusion of. evidence under a deferential standard of .review.’ ” McGuire v. Kenoma, LLC, 375 S.W.3d 157, 183-184 (Mo.App.2012) (quoting Ziolkowski v. Heartland Regional Medical Center, 317 S.W.3d 212, 216 (Mo.App.2010)). “ ‘On appellate review, the issue is not whether the evidence was admissible, it is whether the trial court abused its discretion in excluding the evidence.’” Id. “A circuit court has broad discretion in determining the admission of evidence and imposing sanctions for discovery violations.” Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136, 149 (Mo. banc 2014). A court abuses its discretion only where the court’s ruling is “clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock the sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration.” State v. Johnson, 207 S.W.3d 24, 40 (Mo. banc 2006). “If reasonáble persons may differ as to the propriety of an action taken by the trial court, then there was no abuse of discretion.” State v. Quick, 334 S.W.3d 603, 609 (Mo.App.2011) (citing State v. Reed, 282 S.W.3d 835, 837 (Mo. banc 2009)). “Even if there is an error, this [cjourt will not reverse a judgment unless the erroneous sanction resulted in prejudice.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Reed
282 S.W.3d 835 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2009)
Beaty v. St. Luke's Hospital of Kansas City
298 S.W.3d 554 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
Wilkerson v. Prelutsky
943 S.W.2d 643 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1997)
Ziolkowski v. Heartland Regional Medical Center
317 S.W.3d 212 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
State v. Johnson
207 S.W.3d 24 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2006)
State v. Quick
334 S.W.3d 603 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2011)
Deck v. Teasley
322 S.W.3d 536 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2010)
McGuire v. Kenoma, LLC
375 S.W.3d 157 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)
R.K. Matthews Investment, Inc. v. Beulah Mae Housing, LLC
379 S.W.3d 890 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
473 S.W.3d 131, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 805, 2015 WL 4746876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shanisha-l-saulsberry-v-us-toy-company-inc-moctapp-2015.