Hicks v. Westbrook

• Decision Date: 16 January 1987
• Citation: 537 So.2d 482
• Parties: Marjorie L. HICKS and Julie Nicole Odom, a minor v. Dale William WESTBROOK, Bob Westbrook, and Cardinal Transport Co. Civ. 5691.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

Page 482

537 So.2d 482

Marjorie L. HICKS and Julie Nicole Odom, a minor v. Dale William WESTBROOK, Bob Westbrook, and Cardinal Transport Co.

Civ. 5691.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

Jan. 16, 1987.

Rehearing Denied March 18, 1987.

Jim L. Wilson, of Wilson & Day, Gadsden, for appellants.

Jack W. Torbert, Jr., of Torbert and Torbert, Gadsden, for appellees.

BRADLEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a $6,000 judgment awarded to the plaintiffs in an automobile accident case.

The present case arose when the plaintiffs, Marjorie L. Hicks and Julie Nicole Odom, were involved in an automobile accident with a tractor-trailer rig, operated by defendant Dale William Westbrook. The record indicates that on January 28, 1982 one Bill Austin telephoned defendant Bobby Westbrook and asked him if he could deliver a load to Atlanta for the defendant Cardinal Transport Company. Defendant Bobby Westbrook's trailer was already loaded and, for this reason, he instructed his son, defendant Dale Westbrook, to take his tractor to the Cardinal Transport depot in Decatur, Alabama to pick up the load contained in a Cardinal trailer.

Dale Westbrook subsequently took his father's tractor to the Cardinal depot and picked up a Cardinal trailer which had previously been loaded. Dale Westbrook then left Decatur and went to his destination in Atlanta. Westbrook arrived in Atlanta on the evening of January 28, and he unloaded the Cardinal trailer on the morning of January 29.

After unloading the trailer Westbrook immediately started to his home at Summerville, Alabama. While in route to Summerville, however, Westbrook was involved in an accident with an automobile driven by the plaintiff Marjorie L. Hicks.

Plaintiff Hicks and plaintiff Julie Nicole Odom, a passenger in the automobile at the time of the accident, filed suit against defendants Dale Westbrook, Bobby Westbrook, and Cardinal Transport Company. The plaintiffs alleged that defendants Dale and Bobby Westbrook were negligent in the manner in which they operated and maintained the tractor, and that defendant Cardinal Transport Company was liable for the negligence of its agents, Dale and Bobby Westbrook.

The case was tried in the Circuit Court of Etowah County on January 13, 1986. At the close of the plaintiffs' case, defendant Cardinal Transport moved for a directed verdict. The trial court granted defendant Cardinal Transport Company's motion on the basis that the plaintiffs failed to prove that an agency relationship existed between defendant Cardinal Transport and Dale and Bobby Westbrook. The jury subsequently returned a $1,000 verdict in favor of plaintiff Odom and a $5,000 verdict for plaintiff Hicks. The verdicts were rendered against defendants Dale and Bobby Westbrook.

The plaintiffs appeal and raise two contentions of error. First, the plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in refusing to admit medical bills related to plaintiff Hicks' treatment for psychological symptoms. Second, the plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in directing a verdict in favor of defendant Cardinal Transport.

At the outset, we note that, as a general proposition, a plaintiff who obtains a verdict and judgment in the trial court can appeal only on the issue of the adequacy of the damages awarded him. See, Cleveland v. Gilbert, 473 So.2d 1075 (Ala.Civ.App.1985). However, this principle is inapplicable in regards to a plaintiff's appeal against another party against whom a judgment was not rendered. Ex parte Rollins, 403 So.2d 918 (Ala.1981).

In the present case separate verdicts were rendered against defendants Dale and Bobby Westbrook; therefore, the plaintiffs may appeal only on the issue of the adequacy of the damage award against Dale and Bobby Westbrook. A directed verdict, however, was rendered in favor of defendant Cardinal Transport. For this reason, the plaintiffs' appeal against Cardinal is not limited to the issue of the adequacy of the damages, and, therefore, the plaintiffs may properly raise the agency issue against Cardinal Transport. Ex parte Rollins, supra.

The plaintiffs' first contention of error is that the trial court erroneously refused to admit evidence of plaintiff Marjorie Hicks' medical bills incurred for treatment of depression she suffered after the accident in question. The record reveals that the defendants objected to the admission of the evidence on the basis that no legal evidence existed to indicate that the medical expenses arose out of the automobile accident.

The trial court in the case at bar excluded the evidence in question and, therefore, the jury's award for the plaintiffs did not include expenses incurred by plaintiff Hicks for her hospitalization relating to psychosomatic symptoms allegedly caused by the January 29 accident. After the jury verdict was rendered in this case, the plaintiff moved for a new trial on the basis that the trial court improperly excluded the hospital bills in question, which caused the jury to return an inadequate award.

Alabama cases have held that the inadequacy of a jury verdict may be based upon a trial court's error in excluding medical expenses which were, in fact, admissible. See, Kraas v. American Bakeries Co., 231 Ala. 278, 164 So. 565 (1935). Thus, plaintiffs' argument on appeal that the trial court improperly excluded evidence of the relevant hospital expenses from the jury's consideration is analogous to an argument that the jury verdict was rendered inadequate by the trial court's error. Since the plaintiffs are, in effect, challenging the adequacy of the jury verdict by raising the alleged evidentiary error committed by the trial court, we will address the merits of their contention.

The trial court refused to admit plaintiff Hicks' hospital expenses into evidence because it found that insufficient The defendants in the present case stipulated that the hospital expenses in question were both reasonable and necessary. Before a plaintiff can recover damages for injuries suffered or expenses incurred, she must present competent proof of both the reasonableness as well as the necessity of the claimed damages. Hamrick v. Daniel, 449 So.2d 1247 (Ala.Civ.App.1984). Having demonstrated that the hospital bills were both reasonable and necessary, the only thing left for plaintiff Hicks to prove to create a jury question on the issue of the disputed expenses was whether the accident caused the depression for which she was hospitalized. Alabama Farm Bureau v. Henderson, supra.

evidence existed to prove that the January 29 accident caused the depression and anxiety for which plaintiff Hicks was hospitalized. As a general proposition, where any legal evidence exists from which reasonable persons could find a causal relationship between an act and an injury, the issue of proximate cause must be submitted to the jury. Alabama Farm Bureau v. Henderson, 374 So.2d 355 (Ala.Civ.App.1979). Additionally, a trial court in a negligence case must submit all issues to the jury if the evidence or any reasonable inference therefrom produces the merest gleam, glimmer, or spark in support of those issues. Quillen v. Quillen, 388 So.2d 985 (Ala.1980).

The record in this case demonstrates that the plaintiff presented expert medical testimony that the accident in question could have caused her depression, which created the necessity for her hospitalization. We believe that the expert medical testimony adduced at trial is sufficient proof to create at least a scintilla of evidence that the accident proximately caused the anxiety and depression from which plaintiff Hicks suffered. For this reason, we hold that sufficient evidence existed to present a jury question on the issue of whether plaintiff Hicks' hospitalization was a consequence of the January 29 accident. The trial court, therefore, erred in refusing to admit plaintiff Hicks' hospital bills to the jury in this case. For this error the judgment of the trial court must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.

Plaintiffs also contend that the trial...