Earlington v. Anastasi

• Decision Date: 25 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 18044.,No. 18042.,18042.,18044.
• Citation: 293 Conn. 194,976 A.2d 689
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Omar EARLINGTON, Jr., et al. v. Anthony ANASTASI et al.

976 A.2d 689

293 Conn. 194

Omar EARLINGTON, Jr., et al. v. Anthony ANASTASI et al.

No. 18042.

No. 18044.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 28, 2009.

Decided August 25, 2009.

Jeffrey R. Babbin, New Haven, with whom were James B. Rosenblum, Stamford, and, on the brief, Bonnie L. Patten, New Haven, for the appellants (defendants).

Kathleen L. Nastri, with whom, on the brief, was Cynthia C. Bott, Bridgeport, for the appellees (plaintiffs).

ROGERS, C.J., and NORCOTT, PALMER, ZARELLA and McLACHLAN, Js.

McLACHLAN, J.

In this medical malpractice appeal, the defendants, Anthony Anastasi, an obstetrician, and F.A.L. Medical Associates, P.C.,¹ appeal from the judgment of the trial court, rendered after a jury trial, in favor of the plaintiffs,² Omar Earlington Jr. (Omar), Tamar Earlington (Tamar) and Omar Earlington. On appeal,³ the defendants claim that the trial court improperly: (1) included specifications of negligence in the jury interrogatories that the court previously had ruled were not supported by the evidence; (2) permitted the jury to consider specifications of negligence in the jury interrogatories that were not supported by the evidence; (3) failed to order a new trial on the ground that the jury's responses to the interrogatories were internally inconsistent; and (4) failed to order a remittitur of the economic damages awarded to Omar. We disagree with the defendants' first three claims, and, accordingly, affirm the judgment as to liability. Because we conclude that the evidence does not support the jury's award of economic damages, however, we remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

On April 10, 2002, Tamar went into labor and presented to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford for the delivery of Omar. At approximately 8 a.m. the following morning, Tamar had become fully dilated and was instructed to begin pushing. During the delivery, Omar began to experience decelerations of his heart. After observing continuing decelerations, Anastasi utilized a vacuum extractor to facilitate Omar's delivery. Anastasi applied the vacuum extractor to Omar's head and pulled down on the device during each of the following six contractions. Anastasi then cut an episiotomy and delivered Omar's head. Anastasi then discovered that Omar was experiencing a condition known as a shoulder dystocia, which means that Omar's shoulder was stuck behind Tamar's pubic bone. In order to dislodge the shoulder, Anastasi instructed the nurses to pull back on Tamar's legs while he applied suprapubic pressure, which is known as the McRoberts maneuver. Anastasi then unsuccessfully applied downward pressure on Omar. After that attempt failed, Anastasi rotated Omar 180 degrees, which is known as the Woods rotational maneuver, and again applied downward pressure on Omar. After these maneuvers were unsuccessful, Samuel Vigneri, a senior attending physician, intervened and was able to manipulate Omar's other arm and to deliver him successfully. Subsequent to the delivery, Omar was diagnosed as having Erb's Palsy, which is a paralysis of the arm that results from injury to an arrangement of nerves known as the brachial plexus.

On April 19, 2004, the plaintiffs initiated an action against the defendants alleging various acts of negligence and seeking damages for physical and emotional injuries. The allegations in the amended complaint, which were later transcribed verbatim into the jury interrogatories, alleged that Anastasi: (a) failed to adequately and properly assess Tamar for risk factors of shoulder dystocia and/or pelvic adequacy (b) failed to recognize that Tamar had a small pelvis; (c) failed to perform a clinical pelvimetry during labor; (d) failed to adequately and properly evaluate Omar's size in utero; (e) improperly used a vacuum extractor for attempted delivery of Omar; (f) failed to perform a timely cesarean section; (g) applied excessive traction, pressure and/or torsion to Omar following the occurrence of a shoulder dystocia; and (h) failed to maintain accurate and adequate medical records. During the course of a jury trial, the defendants filed a motion for a directed verdict. Following trial, the trial court accepted the jury's verdict finding the defendants liable. The jury awarded $1,588,000 in economic damages and $1 million in noneconomic damages to Omar.⁴ On November 8, 2006, the defendants renewed their request for a directed verdict and filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and, in the alternative, the defendants requested a new trial or a reduction in the award. On May 16, 2007, the trial court issued its memorandum of decision denying the defendants' postverdict motions. This appeal followed.

I

We first address the defendants' claims that the trial court improperly submitted several interrogatories to the jury for deliberation. The defendants make two separate but related claims. First, the defendants claim that the trial court improperly included interrogatories that the parties had agreed not to submit to the jury. As noted previously in this opinion, the plaintiffs claimed eight acts of negligence denoted in the jury interrogatories as alphabetical letters ranging from (a) to (h). Prior to the submission of the interrogatories to the jury, the parties agreed to omit interrogatories (b) and (h), which referred to whether Anastasi recognized that Tamar had a small pelvis and whether Anastasi failed to maintain accurate medical records, respectively. In addition, the parties agreed to amend interrogatory (g), which referred to whether Anastasi applied excessive traction, pressure and/or torsion to Omar following the occurrence of a shoulder dystocia by deleting reference to "pressure and/or torsion" and leaving the application of excessive "traction" as the sole basis for the interrogatory. The jury, however, received an unmodified set of interrogatories that included interrogatories (b) and (h) and an unmodified interrogatory (g). We agree that the submission of these interrogatories to the jury was improper, but we conclude that such submission was harmless.

Second, the defendants claim that the trial court also should not have submitted to the jury interrogatories (c) and (d), which referred to Anastasi's failure to perform a clinical pelvimetry and failure to evaluate Omar's size in utero, respectively, because there was not sufficient evidence adduced at trial to support those allegations. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we conclude that the defendants' claim is without merit.

"In Freedman v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 81 Conn. 601, [612] 71 A. 901 (1909), this court observed ... that the purpose of interrogatories was to elicit a determination of material facts, [and] to furnish the means of testing the correctness of the verdict rendered, and of ascertaining its extent.... The power of the trial court to submit proper interrogatories to the jury, to be answered when returning their verdict, does not depend upon the consent of the parties or the authority of statute law. In the absence of any mandatory enactment, it is within the reasonable discretion of the presiding judge to require or to refuse to require the jury to answer pertinent interrogatories, as the proper administration of justice may require.... The trial court has broad discretion to regulate the manner in which interrogatories are presented to the jury, as well as their form and content." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Viera v. Cohen, 283 Conn. 412, 449-50, 927 A.2d 843 (2007). Moreover, "[i]n order to establish reversible error, the defendant must prove both an abuse of discretion and a harm that resulted from such abuse." Bovat v. Waterbury, 258 Conn. 574, 594, 783 A.2d 1001 (2001).

In its responses to the interrogatories, the jury did not find Anastasi negligent with respect to claim (b)—the failure to determine whether Tamar had a small pelvis—but did find Anastasi negligent with respect to claims (g) and (h)—the application of excessive traction and the failure to maintain accurate medical records, respectively. With respect to the latter two interrogatories, the jury found that the application of excessive traction was a proximate cause of Omar's injuries, but that the failure to maintain accurate medical records was not a proximate cause of Omar's injuries. In its memorandum of decision, the trial court concluded that although it was improper to include interrogatories (b) and (h) and the unmodified version of interrogatory (g), the jury's responses "showed the jury to be deliberative and not confused and one [that] followed the court's instructions. The jury answers indicate that submission of allegations (b) and (h) had no effect on the result...." Accordingly, the trial court concluded that such error was harmless.

With respect to interrogatories (b), (h) and (g), because there is no dispute that those interrogatories should not have been submitted to the jury, we focus solely on whether the error was harmful. "In a civil case, an error is harmful if it likely affected the outcome at trial." Friezo v. Friezo, 281 Conn. 166, 226, 914 A.2d 533 (2007). In the present case, the record indicates that the inclusion of interrogatories (b) and (h) and the unmodified version of interrogatory (g) did not affect the outcome of the trial. Indeed, as the trial court determined, the jury's responses indicate that it was deliberative and not confused about the issues. The jury found that Anastasi was not negligent with respect to interrogatory (b). Although the jury found, with adequate support in the record,⁵ that Anastasi failed to maintain accurate medical records, as claimed in interrogatory (h), that finding did not affect the outcome because the jury found that such failure was not a proximate cause of Omar's injuries. Moreover, there is no evidence in the record to suggest that the inclusion of "pressure and/or torsion" in...