Thompson v. Mattucci

AGEE, J.

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. De

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fendant 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 hot 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.”