Austin v. SPECIALTY TRANSP. SERVICES

Decision Date29 March 2004
Docket NumberNo. 3768.,3768.
CourtSouth Carolina Court of Appeals
PartiesJoseph Michael AUSTIN and Sandra Austin, Respondents, v. SPECIALTY TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, INC., Appellant.

A. Todd Darwin, of Spartanburg, for Appellant.

Gene Adams and Robert E. Davis, of Spartanburg, for Respondents.

ANDERSON, J.:

Joseph Michael Austin and Sandra Austin (collectively, "Respondents") brought an action against Specialty Transportation Services, Inc. (Appellant) and its employee, Walter Ray Bishop, in connection with an automobile accident. Respondents obtained an entry of default against Bishop and Appellant.1 The trial court awarded actual and punitive damages to Respondents. We affirm.2

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On November 18, 1999, Respondents were seriously injured in an automobile accident when a tractor-trailer truck driven by Appellant's employee hit their vehicle. Respondents were traveling south on U.S. 29, and the truck was approaching U.S. 29 from an Interstate 85 exit ramp. A stop sign controlled the truck's lane of traffic. However, the driver of the truck failed to yield the right of way to Respondents' vehicle. The truck entered U.S. 29 and struck Respondents' vehicle.

Joseph was trapped in the vehicle for more than an hour. While Joseph was in the car, he was in tremendous pain, his leg was broken in such a way that it was resting between his left shoulder and cheek, and he feared he would burn to death. Joseph sustained injuries to his lower back, neck, right shoulder, right elbow, right leg, and right ankle. Joseph was hospitalized until December 1, 1999. During his hospitalization, Joseph had surgeries on his leg and received counseling for depression. Joseph underwent two additional surgeries after his release from the hospital and endured painful rehabilitation. Joseph described his injuries and resulting pain, including how they have altered his life:

[Respondents' Counsel]: Did you have immediate problems in all of those areas [right knee, right leg, neck, hands, and fingers] after the accident on November 18, 1999?
[Joseph]: The leg was very evident that it was broken, and I had again a long period of that. I complained fairly early about my neck but everybody seemed to be more concerned about the leg healing and basically being bedridden. I wasn't using my arm so I assumed that back problem or the neck problem wasn't really apparent.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: Now, Joe what was the state of your fitness prior to the accident? Did you exercise regularly, walk, jog and things like that?
[Joseph]: Yes. My download, or my basically the way I— instead of other people have different ways of relieving stress. My stress reliever is to walk behind our house. We had a place about a mile and a half down to a dam, on your way you visit like hanging rock and then down to the dam, then you cross the river and then you basically backtrack a different trial [sic], which the about the same length, that was a daily ritual. Cutting the grass, cutting the bushes, pretty much—we built a deck on the back of our house, me and Sandra. We decided we wanted a deck so we built a deck.
Anything I wanted to do. We were going every weekend. If we wanted to go somewhere we would pack the car and just go. Jonathan was in the Grand Canyon at eight months. It just all changed.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Joe, have you made that walk down to the river since the accident occurred?
[Joseph]: No, sir.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Can you make that walk now?
[Joseph]: No, sir.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: When you came to [after the accident], Joe, what configuration were you in?
[Joseph]: Well, I was laying kind of over and I was looking basically at the sole of my shoe of my right leg and I was wondering, "Well, how in the heck was that there."
[Respondents' Counsel]: Where was that? Show the Judge with your hand.
[Joseph]: Basically, it was laying kind of here.
[Respondents' Counsel]: You're showing on your left shoulder between your left shoulder and your cheek.
[Joseph]: Yes, sir.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Were you able to move as if to get out of the car?
[Joseph]: No. Because the door had pressed in on me, and all I could see was my foot and what I thought was blood everywhere, it was coffee from my wife's coffee. And all of the sudden this blue flame shot in and smoke started rolling in and I looked at my wife and told her to get away from the car.
[Respondents' Counsel]: What were your thoughts when the blue flame rolled through?
[Joseph]: I thought I was going to burn to death.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: What goes through your mind? What went through your mind?
[Joseph]: It's just a lot of pain, discomfort, question and confusion what's happened. At time an EMS person hops in the back seat and they start basically taking my clothes off with the scissors and stabbing me with a needle. Again, it was—I was trying to get out with the good leg but the good leg was actually trapped underneath the console of the car and this leg just over here.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: ... Were you on any pain medication? When did you first receive pain medication if you know?
[Joseph]: ... And I remember a doctor [in the Emergency Room] saying, "Son, can I take a look at that leg please?"
And I let go and he basically pulled it out and I must have passed out from the pain because when I woke back up they were still doing similar things. I was trembling, it was cold and they wouldn't get me any medication because they thought I had internal bleeding.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Tell us about your neck and back, Joe. What problems do you have with your neck and arm?
[Joseph]: Basically, it stiffens up. Like the tingles in the hands, if I drive long distances with arms elevated basically I lose my grip capability, ability of gripping or stiff gripping. I can still grip like if the object is as big as this I can grab it but if it's as small as a steering wheel on my car it's hard.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Do you have pain in your neck and back?
[Joseph]: Yes, sir, there's pain. That's kind of become a thing that you have everyday. When you get up in the morning it's either the leg, it's the foot, it's the back it's the beck [sic], it's the arms, it's the fingers.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: And are you in pain on a daily basis in your leg?
[Joseph]: Yes, sir, neck and pack [sic].

Joseph's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Michael Wayne Funderburk, estimates Joseph will require surgery on his knee every two to five years for the remainder of his life. Dr. Funderburk assessed a forty percent permanent impairment to Joseph's lower right extremity. Joseph has $170,010.62 in present and future medical bills. At trial, Dr. Funderburk discussed Joseph's present and future condition:

[Respondents' Counsel]: All right, sir. Tell us about his course of recovery after that, Doctor.
[Funderburk]: Well, he's done very well for this fracture in my opinion. He certainly has a painful situation as far as his kneecap, and this is because of extensive muscle trauma as well as the damage to the inside of the knee. There's a lot of scarring and limited mobility over that segment, which worsens the arthritic problem underneath that kneecap because there's so much tethering from the muscle damage and the damage to the kneecap proper.
We have subsequently performed arthroscopy surgery and debridement of this, with some benefit. I think that this is going to be a progressive problem for him unfortunately.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Well, will he require, in your professional judgment, debridement surgery in the future for that knee?
[Funderburk]: Yes, I do believe he will.
[Respondents' Counsel]: How often will he require that in your judgement, Doctor?
[Funderburk]: You know, I think that as the arthritis and as the debris within the knee builds up he may need this every two years to clean the knee out. The only other option you have is to replace the knee. And I think in someone this age you would hope that you could use conservative means to try to keep this knee as long as you could before you performed a replacement type surgery on him.
[Respondents' Counsel]: This condition that he has in the knee underneath the kneecap, is that a painful condition?
[Funderburk]: It is.
....
[Respondents' Counsel]: Okay. Tell us about—you said [Joe has] pain in the neck and also some tingling or pain into the hands. Tell us what that comes from.
[Funderburk]: Well, anytime there's swelling or problems around the neck from degenerative changes or disk problems there can be neurological symptoms or nerve pain down into the hands with numbness being one of the common findings into the arms from the neck.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Okay. Are these permanent conditions?
[Funderburk]: They are. They can be progressive conditions that can worsen.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Is it fair to say they're not going to get any better?
[Funderburk]: I don't believe they are.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Okay. Now Doctor, do you believe that Joe has sustained a permanent injury to his leg—his lower right extremity?
[Funderburk]: Yes, sir.
[Respondents' Counsel]: Do you have an opinion as to the percent disability he sustained to his lower right extremity?
[Funderburk]: I've rated him at forty percent permanent impairment to this extremity.
[Respondents' Counsel]: And that rating is based upon what consideration?
[Funderburk]: That rating is based upon the consideration on limitation of motion, the arthritis I know is going to occur within this knee as well as the limitation of motion and pain in the right foot as well. I felt that with the progressive problems within the right knee as well as the permanency to the right foot that this was a rating that I gave to his leg.

Sandra suffered injuries to her breast, right hand, and neck. She incurred $57,460.58 in liquidated actual damages. Sandra detailed her injuries:

Basically I had a large bruise over my
...

To continue reading

Request your trial
82 cases
  • Limehouse v. Hulsey
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 10 d4 Março d4 2011
    ...§ 15-33-135 (2005) (stating punitive damages must be proved by clear and convincing evidence); Austin v. Specialty Transp. Servs., Inc., 358 S.C. 298, 312, 594 S.E.2d 867, 874 (Ct. App. 2004) (indicating punitive damages may be awarded for various reasons). Generally, this court will not re......
  • Mellen v. Lane
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 11 d2 Março d2 2008
    ...to weigh the evidence, but to determine if there is any evidence to support the damages award. Austin v. Specialty Transp. Servs., Inc., 358 S.C. 298, 310-311, 594 S.E.2d 867, 873 (Ct. App.2004) (internal citations Lane insists the Master erred in determining his actions were the direct, ef......
  • Limehouse v. Hulsey
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 12 d5 Agosto d5 2011
    ...§ 15–33–135 (2005) (stating punitive damages must be proved by clear and convincing evidence); Austin v. Specialty Transp. Servs., Inc., 358 S.C. 298, 312, 594 S.E.2d 867, 874 (Ct.App.2004) (indicating punitive damages may be awarded for various reasons). Generally, this court will not reve......
  • Solley v. Navy Fed. Credit Union, Inc.
    • United States
    • South Carolina Court of Appeals
    • 1 d3 Fevereiro d3 2012
    ...to weigh the evidence, but to determine if there is any evidence to support the damages award. Austin v. Specialty Transp. Servs., Inc., 358 S.C. 298, 310–11, 594 S.E.2d 867, 873 (Ct.App.2004) (citations omitted). A defendant in default admits liability but not the damages as set forth in t......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT