Coakley v. Marple

• Citation: 159 S.E.2d 378,152 W.Va. 68
• Decision Date: 20 February 1968
• Docket Number: No. 12638,12638
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: W. B. COAKLEY et al. v. G. S. MARPLE.

Page 378

159 S.E.2d 378

152 W.Va. 68

W. B. COAKLEY et al. v. G. S. MARPLE.

No. 12638.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted on Rehearing Jan. 30, 1968.

Decided on Rehearing Feb. 20, 1968.

Syllabus by the Court

1. In an action for damages for personal injury allegedly due to the negligence of the defendant, a verdict of the jury in favor of the plaintiff for a Nominal amount will not be set aside on the ground of inadequacy where the evidence is such that if a verdict had been returned for the defendant the trial court could not have disturbed the verdict, inasmuch as such verdict must be considered as a finding for the defendant perversely expressed.

2. In an action for damages for personal injury allegedly due to the negligence of the defendant, a Substantial verdict for the plaintiff will not be set aside as inadequate unless the disparity between the amount of the verdict and the evidence makes it apparent that the verdict was not based upon the evidence but was a result of prejudice, partiality, passion or corruption on the part of the jury that they were influenced in their conclusions by some mistaken view of the case.

3. In an action for personal injury by a female plaintiff and by her husband for medical and hospital bills and loss of consortium allegedly due to the negligence of the defendant, a verdict for the female plaintiff which is substantial and a verdict against the male plaintiff denying him recovery of any sum of money will not be disturbed if the evidence is such that the jury could have found that a substantial portion, at least, of the disability of the female plaintiff and all of the expenditures for medical and hospitals bills by her husband and any loss of consortium resulted from causes other than the injury received by the famale plaintiff as a result of the alleged negligence of the defendant.

Callaghan & Callaghan, Dan O. Callaghan, Brooks B. Callaghan, Richwood, for appellants.

Ernest V. Morton, Jr., Webster Springs, Barber & Dunn, James A. Barber, Richwood, for appellee.

BROWNING, Judge.

Plaintiffs, W. B. Coakley and Nina R. Coakley, husband and wife, instituted this action in the Circuit Court of Webster County to recover damages allegedly the result of an automobile collision caused when the defendant, G. S. Marple, drove his automobile into the rear of the Coakley automobile. Mrs. Coakley, the driver and owner of the automobile, sought recovery for property damage to her automobile in the amount of $163.66 and for personal injuries. Mr. Coakley sought to recover the medical and other expenses incurred in behalf of his wife and for loss of consortium. Medical expenses incurred by Mrs. Coakley in the amount of $834.20, while stipulated as to amount and reasonableness, were denied to have been occasioned by the accident. Evidence of additional expense of $520.00 for employment of household help, while uncontradicted, was contested for the same reason. On the trial of the case, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mrs. Coakley in the amount of $1,000.00 but refused any recovery to her husband and judgment was entered thereon. A motion to set aside the verdicts and judgment was overruled and, on application of plaintiffs, this Court granted an appeal and supersedeas on December 12, 1966.

The accident happened on October 22, 1964, at approximately 2:30 p.m. at the intersection of Routes 41 and 20 at Craigsville, Nicholas County, West Virginia. Mrs. Coakley's automobile was traveling west and she testified that upon reaching the intersection she stopped, intending to make a left turn; that she had turned on her directional signal light, pulled up in the life side of her lane, and while waiting for oncoming traffic to clear the intersection, she was struck in the rear by defendant's automobile. She is corroborated by another witness as to the signal light and the position of her car on the highway. The defendant, proceeding west on the same highway and following the Coakley car, testified that Mrs. Coakley gave no signal of her intention to turn but stopped suddenly in front of him whereupon he applied his brakes and turned to the right but was unable to avoid a collision. Repairs to defendant's automobile were estimated to be $229.00 while the repairs to the Coakley automobile amounted to $163.66. The defendant, however, produced witnesses to show that only minimum damage to the Coakley automobile was occasioned by the accident and not the entire $163.66 itemized statement contended for by plaintiffs. Mrs. Coakley further testified that while she did not immediately feel any ill effects she subsequently became dazed, suffered much pain and the next morning sought medical treatment. Her attending physician testified that upon examination his diagnosis was a fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra and a 'tearing' of the supporting ligaments. Mrs. Coakley was hospitalized in traction for twenty-one days and released with a neck brace. Her physician further testified that upon his last examination of Mrs. Coakley he was of the opinion that she had a permanently unstable neck and would have to wear a brace for the rest of her life.

Defendant's evidence, adduced from radiologists, was that she suffered no fracture of the neck and that the degenerative condition of the neck vertebra antedated the accident of October 22, 1964. Defendant also produced evidence that the condition presently existing in plaintiff's neck may or may not be of a permanent nature; that plaintiff had been involved in automobile accidents in Buckhannon, West Virginia, in May, 1961, and in Kentucky in October of 1961; that she underwent surgery for a facial disorder as a result of the Kentucky accident; and, that in January of 1964 Mrs. Coakley had been hospitalized in Morgantown, West Virginia, complaining of facial pain radiating down into her neck and arms. Plaintiff contends that the complaint as to her neck in January was with regard to a small swelling, which was exhibited to the jury, and which she stated had not increased in size. She also testified that previous to the accident she had attended to her normal household duties and produced corroborating evidence to that effect, and that subsequent to the accident she had been unable to engage in any heavy household activities, which testimony was also corroborated. It was admitted that Mrs. Coakley had no estate of her own and that her husband was primarily responsible for her medical expenses. As heretofore noted the jury returned a verdict in favor of Nina R. Coakley in the amount of $1,000.00 and found nothing for W. B. Coakley. Plaintiffs therefore contend that the jury verdicts should be set aside on the grounds of inadequacy and as showing that the verdicts were arrived at as a result of passion, prejudice, bias or a misconception of the law. Defendant contends that the evidence was in such conflict that even though the jury found for the plaintiffs on the question of liability they could find that the medical treatment and expenses were incurred not as a result of the accident but resulted from a pre-existing condition.

This case was originally decided by this Court on July 11, 1967, and thereafter and on the 14th day of December, 1967, a rehearing was granted upon petition of counsel for the appellee, the defendant in the trial court. The original opinion of this Court is recalled and superseded by this opinion. Actually there has occurred in the decision, opinion and reporting of this case by West Publishing Company an almost unbelievable comedy of errors. When this case was at the pre-trial stage in the trial court, counsel for the parties apparently agreed that certain facts would be stipulated and read to the jury by the trial court as evidence without the necessity of formal proof of such...