Patey v. Lainhart, 970229

• Decision Date: 06 April 1999
• Docket Number: No. 970229,970229
• Citation: 977 P.2d 1193,366 Utah Adv. Rep. 21
• Parties: 366 Utah Adv. Rep. 21, 1999 UT 31 Michelle A. PATEY, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Kurt N. LAINHART, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 1193

977 P.2d 1193

366 Utah Adv. Rep. 21, 1999 UT 31

Michelle A. PATEY, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Kurt N. LAINHART, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 970229.

Supreme Court of Utah.

April 6, 1999.

Scott D. Brown, Salt Lake City, for Patey.

John M. Chipman, Linda L. Roth, Salt Lake City, for Lainhart.

STEWART, Justice:

¶1 Defendant Kurt Lainhart appeals from a jury verdict awarding plaintiff Michelle Patey damages for injuries she received in an automobile accident Lainhart caused. Lainhart argues that the trial court impermissibly allowed Patey's dentist, Dr. Leland Bitner, to testify that the car accident was caused injuries to her teeth and to relate the opinions of other dentists to whom he had referred Patey. Lainhart also asserts that Bitner was not qualified to give an opinion about the causation of Patey's injuries and that the basis for his opinion lacked inherent reliability under the doctrine announced in State v. Rimmasch, 775 P.2d 388 (Utah 1989).

¶2 On appeal from a jury verdict, we relate the facts in the light most favorable to that verdict. See Rees v. Intermountain Health Care, Inc., 808 P.2d 1069, 1073 (Utah 1991). We "present conflicting evidence only to the extent necessary to understand the issues raised on appeal." State v. Dunn, 850 P.2d 1201, 1206 (Utah 1993).

I. BACKGROUND

¶3 In 1991, Patey was driving on a residential portion of 11th East in Salt Lake City with one lane of traffic in each direction. She slowed and began to turn left into the driveway of her home when Lainhart, who was following two cars behind her, attempted to pass on the left. Lainhart struck the rear of the driver's side of Patey's car as she was turning. The force of the collision spun the passenger side of her car laterally into the curb. Patey suffered bruising on the left side of her face and a lump near the top of her head. Lainhart admitted he had been traveling at 30 to 35 miles per hour when he attempted to pass, and a witness estimated Lainhart's speed at 35 miles per hour. A police officer testified that there were "yaw" marks from Patey's tires as her car spun laterally into the gutter but that there were no skid marks from Lainhart's vehicle.

¶4 Although Patey did not initially perceive her injuries as being serious, she eventually experienced chronic back, neck, and dental problems. In particular, Patey asserted that evident trauma to her teeth arose some two years after the accident and eventually required root canals on all twenty-seven of her teeth. The only issue Lainhart has raised on appeal is the award for damages related to the dental problems.

¶5 Patey's principal witness at trial was Dr. Leland Bitner, who is Patey's uncle and had been her regular dentist for many years. He is a general dentist and routinely performs endodontic surgery. ¹ He performed the dental work for which Patey claimed damages. Although Dr. Bitner does not specialize in or limit his practice to endodontics, the trial court found that Dr. Bitner was qualified to testify concerning endodontic procedures.

¶6 During the course of treating Patey, Dr. Bitner consulted three other dental specialists: Dr. Bruce Kochevar, an endodontist who also testified at trial, Dr. James Guinn, a dentist who specializes in facial pain and jaw disorders, and Dr. L. Douglas Israelsen, an oral surgeon. Neither Dr. Guinn nor Dr. Israelsen testified at trial, but Dr. Bitner referred to their opinions while presenting his own testimony.

¶7 Dr. Bitner testified that he believed severe trauma to Patey's teeth was the only possible cause of so many damaged teeth requiring root canals. He stated that a direct blow to the teeth or a blow to the head or jaw causing teeth to strike each other violently, can crack the affected teeth, damage the roots, and eventually cause necrosis or death of the teeth. However, such necrosis, requiring root canal or other treatment, may become evident only months or years later.

¶8 Dr. Bitner testified to his conclusion that Patey's 1991 car accident was the only incident in her history that could have caused sufficient trauma to all twenty-seven of her teeth such that they all required root canals. He related the procedures he had employed to determine that her teeth needed root canals, and presented photographs of her teeth that showed extensive minute cracks in them. He testified the cracking was unusual and not the sort of damage that would result from ordinary chewing or grinding of the teeth.

¶9 Dr. Bitner briefly referred at trial to the findings of Dr. Guinn and Dr. Israelsen, neither of whom testified. Dr. Bitner stated he had consulted them in the normal and ordinary course of his treatment to confirm his diagnosis of Patey's dental injuries. Dr. Bitner testified that Dr. Guinn found Patey had suffered small fractures in her jaw, since healed over, caused by some traumatic incident. Dr. Bitner testified that Dr. Guinn believed Patey's car accident was the cause of the damage to her teeth.

¶10 Dr. Kochevar, an endodontist, also testified for Patey at trial. Dr. Bitner referred Patey to Dr. Kochevar during the course of her treatment. Dr. Kochevar corroborated Dr. Bitner's testimony in all material respects. He agreed Patey had suffered some sort of trauma that had damaged her teeth, leading to the need for the extensive dental work Dr. Bitner had performed.

¶11 Lainhart presented two witnesses to rebut Dr. Bitner's testimony concerning Patey's dental problems. Dr. Jay B. Sorenson, an endodontist, testified that he believed much of Dr. Bitner's dental work had been unnecessary. He asserted that Dr. Bitner had not adequately charted his diagnosis to justify performing root canals on every tooth in Patey's mouth. Dr. Sorenson also stated that serious trauma to teeth is generally caused by direct blows to the teeth or to the jaw, rather than to the upper portion of the head such as what Patey experienced. He opined that a blow to the top or side of Patey's head sufficient to crack every tooth in her mouth would have crushed her skull.

¶12 Dr. Sorenson's testimony was supplemented by E. Paul France, who represented himself as a biomechanical engineer specializing in injury-accident reconstruction. France claimed that a computer reconstruction of the accident demonstrated Lainhart was traveling at only 20 miles per hour when he struck Patey's vehicle, and that Patey could not have hit her head hard enough to cause the damages that she claimed.

¶13 The jury found in favor of Patey and awarded her $200,000 in general damages for pain and suffering and $54,469 in past and future medical expenses.

¶14 On appeal, Lainhart contends that (1) Dr. Bitner was not qualified to give an opinion concerning the need for root canal treatments; (2) Dr. Bitner should not have testified as to the cause of Patey's injuries; and (3) it was improper for the court to allow Dr. Bitner to testify about the findings made by Dr. Guinn and Dr. Israelsen. We address each argument in turn.

II. DR. BITNER'S EXPERT QUALIFICATIONS

¶15 Lainhart first attacks Dr. Bitner's qualifications to testify as an expert in endodontics. Utah Rule of Evidence states:

If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.

"Qualification of a person as an expert witness ... is in the discretion of the trial court." State v. Espinoza, 723 P.2d 420, 421 (Utah 1986); see also Dixon v. Stewart, 658 P.2d 591, 597 (Utah 1982). "The critical factor in determining the competency of an expert is whether that expert has knowledge that can assist the trier of fact in resolving the issues before it." Wessel v. Erickson Landscaping Co., 711 P.2d 250, 253 (Utah 1985). A person may be qualified to testify as an expert by virtue of experience and training; formal education is not necessarily required. See Randle v. Allen, 862 P.2d 1329, 1337 (Utah 1993).

¶16 This Court addressed the question of what constitutes appropriate "scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge" under Rule 702 in State v. Rimmasch, 775 P.2d 388 (Utah 1989). Rimmasch held that proffers of evidence based upon novel scientific theories were subject to "additional tests of admissibility," including that the novel technique be "inherently reliable." Id. at 396. Lainhart argues that Dr. Bitner's expert testimony was not "inherently reliable," and hence was inadmissible under Rimmasch. This argument is without merit. Rimmasch--and the "inherent reliability" standard it established--dealt with the admission of expert testimony "based upon novel scientific principles or techniques." 775 P.2d at 396. In this case, however, there has been no plausible claim that the type of expert testimony, which was offered by both parties in the case, was based upon novel scientific principles or techniques. The testimony offered by all of the dental experts about the need for endodontic work was not novel. Indeed, it was clearly of the sort that had "attained general acceptance in ... the relevant scientific community." Rimmasch, 775 P.2d at 396; see also Phillips v. Jackson, 615 P.2d 1228, 1234-35 (Utah 1980). Dr. Bitner's testimony did not even implicate Rimmasch, much less violate its requirements.

¶17 Lainhart also directly attacks Dr. Bitner's personal qualifications to testify as an expert. Lainhart asserts that Dr. Bitner cannot testify about endodontic treatments because he is not an endodontist. Dr. Bitner practices general dentistry, which has included the frequent performance of endodontic surgery. Dr. Bitner cannot hold himself out as an endodontist, Lainhart argues, because he does not limit his practice to endodontic treatments. Lainhart also asserts that Dr. Bitner's decision to consult specialists in the course of his diagnosis and...