Thompson v. Mattucci

• Decision Date: 11 December 1963
• Citation: 35 Cal.Rptr. 741,223 Cal.App.2d 208
• Parties: T. G. THOMPSON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Richard MATTUCCI, Joseph Mattucci, Defendants and Respondents. Civ. 21067.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 741

35 Cal.Rptr. 741

223 Cal.App.2d 208

T. G. THOMPSON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Richard MATTUCCI, Joseph Mattucci, Defendants and Respondents.

Civ. 21067.

District Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Dec. 11, 1963.

Morgan & Moscone, San Francisco, for appellant.

Mullally & McCorkindale, Oakland, for respondents, Richard Mattucci and Joseph Mattucci.

AGEE, Justice.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of $1,000 entered upon a jury verdict in his favor in a personal injury action. The sole issue is whether the award is inadequate as a matter of law.

On February 12, 1960 plaintiff was a passenger in an automobile which was stopped in a line of traffic waiting for a change in the signal light at the intersection ahead. Defendants' automobile ran into the rear of this automobile and knocked it into the rear of the automobile ahead. Defendant driver testified that his speed upon impact was 23 miles per hour. The force of the impact threw plaintiff violently forward and dazed him for a few minutes.

Plaintiff was taken to the office of Dr. Deissler, an internist who had been treating him for hypertension and a heart condition. Dr. Deissler ordered X-rays of the neck area and then referred the case to an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lewis, who diagnosed the injury as a sprain of the cervical spine.

Plaintiff was hospitalized on February 15, 1960. His neck was placed in traction and he was given medication and not compresses to relieve the pain. He was released from the hospital on March 1, 1960, at which time the muscle spasms were less acute. He was fitted with a neck collar, which he wore until April 7, 1960.

Physical therapy treatments were continued at the hospital on an outpatient basis until April 18, 1960, at which time the muscle spasm was gone but there was still some limitation of motion in the neck. There were 19 of these treatments given in all.

Dr. Lewis saw plaintiff almost every day during his hospitalization and continued to see him at his office thereafter. On December 5, 1960 and December 12, 1960 he injected Novocain and hydrocortisone solution into the left side of plaintiff's neck, which was the focus of the pain. He last saw plaintiff for treatment on December 19, 1960.

On January 8, 1962 Dr. Lewis saw plaintiff at the request of plaintiff's attorney. He testified at the trial on the following day that plaintiff still had pain in his neck and that he was 'going to have to learn to live with it--with the way his neck is.'

Plaintiff incurred the following hospital and medical expenses: hospital, $642.16; Dr. Lewis, $282; X-rays, $25; and post-hospital physical therapy, $114. These items total $1,063.16.

Defendants argue that such total should be reduced to $833.65. We do not agree. While the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to defendants, we do not believe that this requires us to accept the reductions suggested by defendants when in our opinion there is no reasonable basis for so doing.

Defendants call attention to plaintiff's testimony that he personally paid $171.08 on account of the hospital bill. The record shows that plaintiff was covered by 'Blue Cross.' Apparently the balance was paid under this plan. Defendants do not contend that such coverage reduced the amount of their liability for the hospital bill. (Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Starley, 28 Cal.2d 347, 349, 170 P.2d 448, 166 A.L.R. 198.) However, they suggest that plaintiff's personal payment of $171.08 'could have been for special services paid for by himself and not connected with the injury.' This conjecture is clearly and directly refuted by the itemized hospital bill, which was admitted in...