Hall v. Thomas
| Decision Date | 29 June 1990 |
| Citation | 564 So.2d 936 |
| Parties | Ricardo HALL v. Mary Jane Cork THOMAS. 88-1191. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
James A. Hall of Ray, Oliver, Ward & Parsons, Tuscaloosa, for appellant.
Kenneth D. Davis of Zeanah, Hust, Summerford, Davis & Frazier, Tuscaloosa, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment rendered on a jury verdict in favor of the defendant, Mary Jane Cork Thomas, in a negligence action arising from a motor vehicle accident. The question presented is whether the jury's verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.
On September 26, 1986, Thomas was driving along an entrance ramp to Interstate Highway 59 ("I-59"), northeast of Tuscaloosa, when she turned to speak to the passenger in her car. At that moment, Thomas lost control of her vehicle, left the pavement, and crossed the grassy area separating the entrance ramp from I-59. She then entered the right lane of traffic and struck a United States Postal Service truck being driven by Ricardo Hall.
Hall filed an action against Thomas, alleging negligence and claiming damages based on medical expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of earnings. At trial, Thomas argued that Hall was precluded from recovering because he had been contributorily negligent by not keeping a proper lookout and because he failed to show that the damages he claimed were proximately caused by the accident. Although it is not clear why the jury returned a verdict in Thomas's favor, her negligence in this case is obvious; therefore, we must infer that the jury accepted one of those two arguments. Hall argues that the trial judge's denial of his motion for a new trial was error because, he says, the jury's verdict was against the great weight of the evidence. 1
To recover in a negligence action, the plaintiff must prove: (1) a duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; (2) a breach of that duty; and (3) an injury to the plaintiff as a result of that breach. Smith v. Blankenship, 440 So.2d 1063, 1065 (Ala.1983). All of the damages claimed by Hall are the result of purported injuries to his neck or back. He testified that he was in pain immediately after the accident and that his pain increased in severity over the next 24 hours. His testimony was corroborated by his mother and by Robert Bell, who was riding with Hall and who testified that Hall appeared to be in pain after the accident. However, both Thomas and Joseph Brzezinski, the state trooper who investigated the accident, testified that Hall did not appear to have been injured in the accident.
Hall was examined by four physicians in the nine-month period after the accident. The first physician, Dr. Dewey Jones, an orthopedic surgeon, testified that all of Hall's physical findings were normal, and that all of the objective tests he performed on Hall, including X-rays and a CAT scan,...
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