Anton v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 07 March 2000
• Docket Number: Docket No. 203260.
• Citation: 607 N.W.2d 123,238 Mich. App. 673
• Parties: Alexis ANTON and Robert Anton, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

607 N.W.2d 123

238 Mich. App. 673

Alexis ANTON and Robert Anton, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 203260.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted March 4, 1999, at Detroit.

Decided December 3, 1999, at 9:10 a.m.

Released for Publication March 7, 2000.

Law Offices of Samuel I. Bernstein (by Michael L. Battersby), Farmington Hills, for the plaintiffs.

Moblo & Fleming, P.C. (by Daniel J. Fleming), Novi, for the defendant.

Before: GRIBBS, P.J., and RICHARD ALLEN GRIFFIN and WILDER, JJ.

RICHARD ALLEN GRIFFIN, J.

In this first-party no-fault automobile insurance case, defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company appeals as of right a judgment entered in favor of plaintiffs following a jury trial. The jury awarded $26,799 plus judgment interest in the amount of $3,333.24 to plaintiff Robert Anton and awarded $76,636 plus judgment interest in the amount of $9,200.90 to plaintiff Alexis Anton. Defendant also appeals the trial court's order denying its motions for a directed verdict, judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV), and remittitur. We affirm.

I

A major issue of fact tried to the jury was whether stress arising out of plaintiffs' automobile accident caused plaintiff Robert Anton to develop Graves' disease.¹ Before trial, defendant brought a motion in limine requesting that the proffered testimony of plaintiffs' expert witness attributing the onset of Mr. Anton's Graves' disease to the accident be excluded because, allegedly, such a theory of causation had not achieved general scientific acceptance or been independently validated as required by the Davis-Frye rule.²

The trial court conducted a Davis-Frye inquiry, reviewing the deposition testimony of Mr. Anton's treating physician, endocrinologist Dr. Charles Taylor, and defendant's expert, Dr. Solomon Rosenblatt. In concluding that the testimony of Dr. Taylor regarding the etiology of Graves' disease was admissible, the trial court ruled:

I am relying on the testimony of both experts. The experts pretty well agree on many concepts basically that it's generally accepted that there is a causal [sic] and affect [sic] relationship.... I'm speaking of the relationship between stress and Graves' disease....

I note in the deposition exhibit of Doctor Solomon Rosenblatt that there is a discussion in the article The Role of Stress in the Introduction of Graves' Disease this is from Autoimmune Diseases of the Endocrine System by Doctor Volpe. Both experts agree that he's the foremost expert in the area.

The article states on page 186 it is difficult to escape the conclusion that in some patients there is a cause and affect [sic] relationship between such stresses and the subsequent development of hyperthyroidism which is Graves' disease that we're talking about here. But only in already predisposed persons such event is recent bereavements, marital discord or recent upper respiratory infection or other infections, gastrointestinal disorders, motor vehicle accidents or even dieting have been cited.

It's further attached as a deposition exhibit a pamphlet that's referenced during Doctor Rosenblatt's deposition. The pamphlet is entitled The Thyroid Gland and discusses Graves' disease. Under one of the paragraphs there is a discussion of causes of Graves' disease. "It is believed that Graves' disease which is named for the doctor [who] first described it is caused by a combination of different factors including your family heredity, immune system, gender, age and stress.["]

This court's opinion that there is sufficient evidence on this record so as to warrant the admission of the testimony. It is a matter of weight for the jury to decide whether the plaintiff has sustained [his] burden and showing that the stress as resulting from the car accident was a cause of the onset of Graves' disease in plaintiff. But, there certainly is enough on this record for the court to make a preliminary ruling that it is a generally accepted scientific opinion that there is some type of relationship between stress and Graves' disease.

Following the close of plaintiffs' proofs, defendant brought a motion for a directed verdict and later JNOV, arguing that there was insufficient evidence linking Mr. Anton's Graves' disease to the automobile accident. The trial court denied defendant's motions.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting Dr. Taylor's testimony regarding Graves' disease and in denying its motions for a directed verdict and JNOV in this regard. Defendant argues that the testimony adduced at the Davis-Frye hearing established that the correlation between stress and Graves' disease is only a hypothesis, not yet recognized in the scientific community as proven theory, and, thus, that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Anton's Graves' disease arose out of the ownership, operation, use, or maintenance of a motor vehicle. MCL 500.3105(1); MSA 24.13105(1). We disagree. Absent an abuse of discretion, the qualification of a witness as an expert and the admissibility of his testimony will not be reversed on appeal. Phillips v. Deihm, 213 Mich.App. 389, 401, 541 N.W.2d 566 (1995). The trial court may qualify a witness as an expert if it determines that recognized scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue. People v. Peterson, 450 Mich. 349, 362, 537 N.W.2d 857 (1995), amended 450 Mich. 1212, 548 N.W.2d 625 (1995). The facts and data on which an expert relies in formulating an opinion must be reliable. Amorello v. Monsanto Corp., 186 Mich.App. 324, 332, 463 N.W.2d 487 (1990). MRE 702 restricts the subject of an expert's testimony to "recognized scientific ... knowledge." As explained by this Court in Nelson v. American Sterilizer Co. (On Remand), 223 Mich.App. 485, 491-492, 566 N.W.2d 671 (1997):

MRE 702 requires a trial court to determine the evidentiary reliability or trustworthiness of the facts and data underlying an expert's testimony before that testimony may be admitted. To determine whether the requisite standard of reliability has been met, the court must determine whether the proposed testimony is derived from "recognized scientific knowledge." To be derived from recognized scientific knowledge, the proposed testimony must contain inferences or assertions, the source of which rests in an application of scientific methods. Additionally, the inferences or assertions must be supported by appropriate objective and independent validation based on what is known, e.g., scientific and medical literature. This is not to say, however, that the subject of the scientific testimony must be known to a certainty, Daubert [ v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 590, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)]. As long as the basic methodology and principles employed by an expert to reach a conclusion are sound and create a trustworthy foundation for the conclusion reached, the expert testimony is admissible no matter how novel. [Emphasis added.]

Pursuant to MRE 702, the Davis-Frye rule limits the admissibility of novel scientific evidence by requiring the party offering such evidence to demonstrate that it has gained general acceptance in the scientific community. People v. McMillan, 213 Mich.App. 134, 136, 539 N.W.2d 553 (1995); People v. Haywood, 209 Mich.App. 217, 221, 530 N.W.2d 497 (1995).³ In conducting a Davis-Frye inquiry, a trial court is not concerned with the ultimate conclusion of an expert, but rather with the method, process, or basis for the expert's conclusion and whether it is generally accepted or recognized. General scientific recognition may not be established without the testimony of impartial experts whose livelihoods are not intimately connected with the evidence at issue.⁴Id. at 221, 530 N.W.2d 497. See also People v. Tobey, 401 Mich. 141, 145, 257 N.W.2d 537 (1977). The party offering the evidence has the burden of demonstrating its acceptance in the scientific community. People v. Davis, 199 Mich.App. 502, 512, 503 N.W.2d 457 (1993); Kluck v. Borland, 162 Mich.App. 695, 697, 413 N.W.2d 90 ( 1987).

In the present case, plaintiffs' expert, Dr. Taylor, a board-certified endocrinologist, testified that a genetic predisposition is an essential prerequisite for the onset of Graves' disease. Further, Dr. Taylor stated that "most thyroid specialists agree that ... the most likely explanation why someone who is genetically predisposed to developing Graves' disease, develops Graves' disease is a stressful event." Dr. Taylor testified that in his opinion Mr. Anton was genetically predisposed and that the stress of the automobile accident was the triggering mechanism for his Graves' disease.

Defendant's expert, Dr. Rosenblatt, also a board-certified endocrinologist, agreed with Dr. Taylor that two elements are required for an individual to develop Graves' disease: a genetic predisposition toward Graves' disease and a precipitating event. Dr. Rosenblatt cited examples of several precipitating factors, such as infectious agents, viruses, and emotional stress. He felt comfortable, as a board-certified endocrinologist, making the statement that stress is a potential precipitating factor, the reason being "that there are many examples of individuals in whom prior to the diagnosis of Graves' disease, there was some type of stress." In Dr. Rosenblatt's opinion, it was possible that Mr. Anton's Graves' disease was caused by the stress from the automobile accident, although there were no studies confirming such a cause and effect relationship.

Each expert agreed that recognized medical opinion acknowledges a causal relationship between stress and the onset of Graves' disease; both Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rosenblatt relied in their testimony on the textbook Autoimmune Diseases of the Endocrine System, written by Dr....