Albertson's, Inc. v. Brady, 84-2372
| Decision Date | 18 September 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-2372,84-2372 |
| Parties | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 2187 ALBERTSON'S, INC., Appellant, v. Ruth A. BRADY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jeffrey R. Fuller of Williams, Brasfield, Wertz, Fuller & Lamb, P.A., St. Petersburg, for appellant.
Gregory T. Elliott of Law Offices of David B. Kesler, P.A., St. Petersburg, for appellee.
Albertson's, defendant below, appeals from a final judgment awarding Plaintiff Ruth Brady damages in a personal injury suit.
Ruth Brady sued Albertson's for injuries sustained on June 21, 1981, when she was struck by a stock cart being used by one of Albertson's employees. Prior to trial, Albertson's admitted liability and the cause proceeded to trial solely on the issue of damages. The jury awarded Mrs. Brady $155,000. Albertson's motion for a new trial was denied, and the trial judge entered a final judgment based on the jury verdict. This appeal by Albertson's ensued. We reverse and remand for a new trial on the issue of damages.
Albertson's contends that the trial court erred in admitting certain medical bills into evidence. We agree. At trial plaintiff's counsel sought to introduce a composite exhibit of Mrs. Brady's medical bills into evidence. Mrs. Brady, in responding to her counsel's questions, described the exhibit as follows:
Q Ruth, I also have a composite exhibit which includes all medical bills and prescriptions that have been incurred to date. They total $13,122.94.
A Yes, and I have some medical bills at home I never brought to you.
Q Okay. But you've had occasion already to review this composite exhibit. Does this contain all the bills to date other than those you've just made reference to to the best of your knowledge?
A Yes. It's pretty close 'cause I thought maybe fifteen or twenty--but I didn't know how many thousands it was.
Albertson's objected on the ground that there was no predicate laid as to reasonableness and necessity. The trial judge did not rule on the objection at that time. Just before closing arguments, plaintiff's counsel requested a ruling on the admissibility of the exhibit. After deleting the portions of the exhibit pertaining to diagnoses, the trial judge admitted the medical bills into evidence.
It is well established that the plaintiff in a personal injury suit has the burden to prove the reasonableness and necessity of medical expenses. Shaw v. Puleo, 159 So.2d 641 (Fla.1964); Schmidt v. Tracey, 150 So.2d 275 (Fla. 2d DCA 1963), cert. denied, 159 So.2d 645 (Fla.1964). Although some jurisdictions consider evidence of the amount of a medical bill to be sufficient proof of reasonableness, many, including Florida, require something more. See Annot., 12 A.L.R.3d 1347 (1967).
In Garrett v. Morris Kirschman & Co., 336 So.2d 566 (Fla.1976), our supreme court held that expert medical testimony is not required in order to admit medical bills into evidence. There, the only testimony relating the doctor's bills to the injury was that of the plaintiff. The court nevertheless found that plaintiff's testimony adequately established the reasonableness and necessity of the medical bills.
Following Garrett, this court, in Easton v. Bradford, 390 So.2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), opined that under certain conditions a plaintiff's testimony may adequately establish the reasonableness and necessity of medical bills. In Easton we held that, since plaintiff's "detailed description of the treatment procedures clearly related the therapy to the accident," the medical bills were properly admitted into evidence.
Here, unlike in Garrett and Easton, plaintiff's testimony does not associate each medical bill with injuries resulting from the accident at Albertson's. Cf. Polaco v. Smith, 376 So.2d 409 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979). Thus, we conclude that the reasonableness and necessity of the medical bills were not adequately established by Mrs. Brady's testimony.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Brady contends that the testimony of the physicians, the bills themselves, and the hospital records sufficiently established a prima facie case for admissibility. She relies on Crowe v. Overland Hauling, Inc., 245 So.2d 654 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971), to support her contention. In that case, the fourth district determined that the testimony of the doctor, plaintiff's husband, and plaintiff, coupled with defendant's stipulation that the charges were reasonable, established a proper predicate for admission of some pharmacy bills.
We find Crowe inapposite for two reasons. First, unlike the instant case, the physician in Crowe testified that he prescribed drugs for the plaintiff to take for pain resulting from the injuries (emphasis supplied). Second, in Crowe, there was no question before the court as to reasonableness since the parties had stipulated that the charges were reasonable. There was no such stipulation in this case.
With the exception of her chiropractor, 1 Mrs. Brady's physicians did not relate the charges for medical services to the Albertson's incident. Thus, as defense counsel pointed out at trial, some bills contained in the composite exhibit may be unrelated to the Albertson's incident. This danger is evident from the testimony of the doctors at trial, many of whom did not examine Mrs. Brady until nine months or more after the accident. The majority of these doctors could not say whether the injuries for which they treated Mrs. Brady were the result of the accident at Albertson's. Dr. Falkenburg, an osteopathic thoracic surgeon, did state that Mrs. Brady sustained thoracic outlet syndrome as a result of the accident. However, on cross-examination Dr. Falkenburg, who first examined Mrs. Brady almost three years after the accident, admitted that in forming this opinion he relied on Mrs. Brady's account of the origin of her injury.
Given the conflicting evidence from the physicians and plaintiff's failure to otherwise establish reasonableness and necessity, it was improper to present these bills to the jury to consider as a basis for determining the amount of damages to award. Nor should Albertson's be required to pay for medical expenses for which it is not responsible. Therefore, we order a new trial on the issue of damages. At that trial the judge must require proof as to the reasonableness and necessity of any medical bills offered into evidence.
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