Articles Posted in Semi Truck Accident

In a recent unpublished opinion, a panel of the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court’s award of additur in a personal injury lawsuit stemming from a low-speed rear-end automobile accident occurring in Terrebonne Parish in October 2005. The plaintiff sued for damages for personal injuries, medical expenses, and loss of wages, as well as loss of consortium for his wife and their two minor children. The jury returned a unanimous verdict allocating 70% of the fault to defendants, a towing company, its driver, and the truck’s insurer. They awarded damages to plaintiff and his family for the following: past physical pain and suffering, physical disability, impairment, and inconvenience, the effect of plaintiff’s injuries and inconvenience on the normal pursuits and pleasures of life, loss of past income, impairment of future earning capacity, past medical expenses, and loss of consortium.

In this matter, plaintiffs filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or Alternatively for a New Trial and/or Additur as to both the allocation of fault and the amount of damages. After a hearing, the trial court granted plaintiffs’ motion for additur and increased the general damages award (which includes past physical pain and suffering, physical disability and impairment, the effect of the injuries and inconvenience, mental anguish, and future pain and suffering) from $28,000 to $100,000 and otherwise denied the motion. The defendants in the case appealed the decision, asserting that the jury did not abuse its discretion in awarding $28,000 (which was determined to be the case when the award was increased) in general damages and that the trial court abused its discretion by increasing the general damages award to $100,000. Plaintiffs, on the other hand, asserted that the additur was improperly low, the jury erred in its allocation of fault and damages, the trial court should have granted JNOV, and that the jury’s decision was a “compromise” or “quotient jury” verdict. Other procedural deficiencies were noted and eventually corrected.

The main issues upon appeal were: 1) whether the jury was unreasonable in allocating fault 70%-30% between the defendants and plaintiff, 2) whether a general damages award of $28,000 was unreasonably low and whether the trial court’s resulting additur to $100,000 was improper, 3) whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant JNOV, and 4) whether the jury compromised its damage awards and did not fully deliberate on all of the issues.

In a very recent Louisiana Court of Appeals Case, the Court took a rare action to uphold summary judgment when considering whether the lead vehicle in multi car pileup was negligent. The Court found the lead driver, Martin Lopez, was not negligent because he acted with ordinary care. This idea of ordinary care is extremely important

The accident in question occurred in Shreveport, Louisiana. Adam Parisy was driving north on I-49 with 3 passengers. He exited on a high rise ramp that curved over I-49 to Highway 3132, behind a freightliner driven by Lopez. The turbocharger on the 18 wheeler exploded, engulfing the area in smoke. Lopez pulled the liner over, unaware of any collission. Parisy stopped at the top of the ramp because he couldn’t see and was rear ended by another drive, who was also rear ended.

Parisy and two of his passengers were seriously injured. Several separate lawsuits were filed, including against Lopez, his insurer, and his employer, which were dismissed via summary judgment.

It is well settled in Louisiana law that “a tortfeasor takes his victim as he finds him and when a defendant’s tortious conduct aggravates a pre-existing condition, the defendant must compensate the victim for the full extent of the aggravation.” Lasha v. Olin Corp. In other words, when a person injures another, that person is responsible for all damages he caused the victim, even if the victim’s own unusual susceptibility contributed to the extent of the damages. This does not mean, however, that the injured plaintiff is relieved from the standard requirement of tying the damages he suffered to the defendant’s negligent action.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeal recently explored this concept in the case of Downing v. Miller. On October 15, 2007, Carolann Downing was involved in a car accident with John Miller in Lafayette. The incident occurred when Miller pulled out of a restaurant parking lot onto Congress Street and crashed into Downing’s vehicle. Downing did not suffer any physical injuries, but the experience aggravated her pre-existing bi-polar anxiety and obsessive-compulsive mental disorders. At trial, the parties stipulated Miller’s liability for the accident; the only issue in dispute was the amount of damages. Downing testified that she experienced mania followed by depression after the accident. Her symptoms included loss of sleep, loss of appetite, racing thoughts, nervousness, agitation, and anger. Thereafter, she became depressed and was unable to care for herself: she did not leave the house but instead stayed in bed and slept most of the time. However, on cross examination, Downing acknowledged that during her life she commonly experienced “periods of ups and downs” and that the episode following the accident with Miller was consistent with other “down” periods she had suffered in the past. Downing offered the testimony of Dr. Bob Winston, her treating physician, who confirmed that the accident exacerbated her mental issues. Dr. Winston further offered a summary of the behaviors Downing exhibited in the five-month period following the wreck, which he attributed to the stress she experienced in the event. Essentially, however, Dr. Winston’s summary showed that Downing steadily improved over time. The trial court awarded Downing $7,500 in damages. Dowling appealed, arguing that the trial court’s award was so low as to be “clearly wrong.”

As we have covered previously on this blog, the trial court enjoys “great discretion” in setting damages awards, and an appellate court may disturb a trial court’s award only on the showing of a clear abuse of discretion. Wainwright v. Fontenot. Although Dowling argued that the trial court abused its discretion in not fully taking into account the accident’s role in exacerbating her mental disorders, the Third Circuit found sufficient evidence that the trial court’s decision was well-grounded on the evidence presented at trial. For example, the court noted that Dr. Winston observed an increase in symptoms when Dowling’s aunt passed away and also on an occasion when she was nervous about an upcoming visit with her son. The trial court determined that Dowling’s response to the accident was similar to other aggravations triggered by ordinary events in her life; therefore, the accident did not cause an unusual result for Dowling for which she was entitled to a higher amount of compensation. The Third Circuit agreed with this reasoning in light of the evidence of Dowling’s mental health history and affirmed the award.