Terral v. Waffle House, Inc.

684 So. 2d 1165, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0589, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 3090, 1996 WL 732396
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 1996
DocketNo. 96 CA 0589
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 684 So. 2d 1165 (Terral v. Waffle House, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Terral v. Waffle House, Inc., 684 So. 2d 1165, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0589, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 3090, 1996 WL 732396 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

I2CARTER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a trial court judgment in an action for damages.

FACTS

On January 1, 1993,1 plaintiff, Clifton Timothy Terral, was a patron at the Waffle House restaurant in Hammond, Louisiana. After Terral had completed his breakfast, a waitress dropped a glass sugar container, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter. As a result of this incident, a piece of glass struck Terral’s left eye, causing injury. Ter-ral sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with an epithelial defect, i.e., an abrasion of the cornea. Terra! was treated with antibiotics and ointment, and a patch was placed over his left eye. By January 11, 1993, the abrasion had healed. Shortly thereafter, Terral complained of monocular diplopia with a ghosting of images (double vision) in his left eye.

On December 30, 1993, Terral filed an action for damages arising out of the January 1, 1993, incident, naming as defendants Waffle House, Inc. # 765 and its liability insurer, Employers Insurance of Wausau, A Mutual Company.

On August 15,1995, trial on the merits was held. On October 30, 1995, the trial court rendered judgment, finding that Terral’s diplopia was caused in part by the January 1, 1993, incident, and awarded Terral damages in the amount of $100,000.00.2 The defendants appealed, assigning the following specifications of error:

1.The trial court erred in its finding of liability.
2. The trial court erred in its finding that plaintiff suffered ghost vision or diplopia as a result of the accident.
3. The trial court erred in its award of damages to plaintiff.

IsLIABILITY

The defendants contend that the trial court erred in finding them liable for Terral’s injuries because there was no proof of defendants’ negligence. With regard to liability, the trial court specifically found as follows:

There is very little doubt about liability. Plaintiff was in defendant’s place of business as a legitimate customer, seated at a table when an employee of defendant dropped a glass sugar bowl. The glass shattered and struck plaintiff in the eye.
The Court finds that defendant is totally at fault and liable for the injury to plaintiff.

The record reflects that the parties stipulated that, on January 1, 1993, Terral was a patron at the Waffle House restaurant in Hammond, Louisiana, when a waitress, Allison Simpson, during the course and scope of her employment, dropped a glass sugar container, causing it to fall to the floor and shatter. The parties further stipulated that, as a result of this incident, a piece of glass struck Terral’s left eye. However, defense counsel did not stipulate to liability.

It is well settled that a stipulation amounts to full proof against those who made it. Davis v. Kreutzer, 93-1498 p. 7 (La.App. 4th Cir. 2/25/94); 633 So.2d 796, 801, writ denied, 94-0733 (La.5/6/94); 637 So.2d 1050. It has the effect of withdrawing a fact from issue and disposing wholly with the need for proof of that fact. State v. Thornton, 611 So.2d 732, 736 (La.App. 4th Cir.1992). A stipulation has the effect of a judicial admission or confession, which binds all parties and the court. Stevens v. Winn-Dixie of Louisiana, 95-0435 pp. 7-8 (La.App. 1st Cir. 11/9/95); 664 So.2d 1207, 1212; Stonecipher v. Mitchell, 26,575 p. 14 (La.App. 2nd Cir. [1168]*11685/10/95); 655 So.2d 1381, 1391. A court of appeal reviewing a decision based on stipulated facts is bound by the four corners of the stipulation. Successions of Verdon, 567 So.2d 119, 121 (La.App. 5th Cir.1990), writ denied, 572 So.2d 70 (La.1991).

In the instant case, once the parties stipulated to the facts regarding how the accident occurred, no further proof of those facts was necessary. The effect of the stipulation was that the defendants’ conduct fell below the standard of care required, Rthat the defendants’ actions were the cause in fact of Terral’s eye abrasion, and that the risk of harm was within the scope of protection afforded by the duty breached. Accordingly, the trial court determined that the defendants were liable for Terral’s damages. We cannot say that the trial court was clearly wrong in its determination.

CAUSATION

The defendants contend that the trial court erred in finding that plaintiffs diplopia was causally related to the January 1, 1993, incident.

In a personal injury suit, the plaintiff has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence a causal connection between the injury sustained and the accident which caused the injury. The test for determining the causal connection between the accident and the subsequent injury is whether the plaintiff proved, through medical testimony, that it is more probable than not that the subsequent injuries were caused by the accident. Maranto v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 94-2603 p. 3 (La.2/20/95); 650 So.2d 757, 759. The trial court’s finding regarding causation is a factual finding and must be reviewed under the manifest error standard of review. Housley v. Cerise, 579 So.2d 973, 979 (La.1991).

In the instant case, Terral testified that, on January 1, 1993, he was a patron at the Waffle House restaurant in Hammond, Louisiana. After completing his breakfast, Terral heard glass shattering and felt something strike him in the left eye and face. Terral subsequently realized that a waitress, Allison Simpson, had dropped a glass sugar container on the floor, causing it to shatter. At the time of the accident, Terral was thirty-seven years old and had been employed as a law enforcement officer with the Southeast ern University Police Department for approximately five years.

Terral testified that, after he left the restaurant, his left eye was red and irritated. Two days later, Terral sought medical attention at the Ochsner emergency room in New Orleans where his left eye was washed out, medication was applied, and a patch was placed over the eye. Terral was instructed to return the following day to see an ophthalmologist.

|sOn January 4, 1993, Terral consulted Dr. Constance L. Fry, an ophthalmologist at Ochsner Clinic. Dr. Fry performed an ophthalmologic examination on Terral and found a two millimeter by two millimeter epithelial defect with stromal edema and fold Descemet’s membrane in his left eye. According to Dr. Fry, the abrasion was “significant” because it was associated with stromal edema and fold Descemet’s membrane. Dr. Fry explained that an epithelial defect is an abrasion of the cornea, stromal edema is swelling of the cornea, and fold Descemet’s membrane relates to irregular folds in the cornea. According to Dr. Fry, these findings could have been consistent with an abrasion caused by a piece of glass striking Terral’s eye.

In taking Terral’s medical history, Dr. Fry discovered that Terral had been diagnosed with diabetes twenty-one years earlier and had undergone treatment in both eyes for diabetic retinopathy, which is bleeding in the retina. Dr. Fry felt that the corneal abrasion should have had no bearing on Terral’s diabetic retinopathy, but that the retinopathy could slow the healing of a corneal abrasion. However, Dr. Fry testified that Terral’s abrasion healed normally. According to Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
684 So. 2d 1165, 96 La.App. 1 Cir. 0589, 1996 La. App. LEXIS 3090, 1996 WL 732396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/terral-v-waffle-house-inc-lactapp-1996.