Title: Devine v. Southern Pacific Co.

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Reversed and remanded March 28, 1956.
Petition for rehearing denied April 18, 1956.
*263 Oglesby H. Young, Portland, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs were Koerner, *264 Young, McColloch & Dezendorf, and James H. Clarke, all of Portland.
Ulysses G. Plummer, Jr., Portland, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent.
Before WARNER, Chief Justice, and ROSSMAN, LATOURETTE and PERRY, Justices.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
PERRY, J.
The plaintiff, as administratrix of the estate of Frank Devine, deceased, brought this action against the defendant Southern Pacific Company to recover for the pecuniary loss suffered by her as widow and sole surviving heir of the deceased.
The deceased Frank Devine was employed as a laborer by the defendant in its railroad operations at Portland, Oregon. On July 21, 1951, the deceased was injured when a door on the side of a cattle car, which was being opened by a fellow-employe, fell and struck the deceased, causing a fracture of his left clavicle or shoulder blade. The fracture was reduced, and on September 7, 1951, the deceased was again assigned to work by the defendant. On October 17, 1951, the deceased was hospitalized, complaining of a cough, fever, tightness in his chest, and pain in his right side. X-rays of the chest produced in the minds of the attending physicians in Portland the thought that he might be afflicted with bronchiogenic cancer. He was transferred from the hospital in Portland to the Southern Pacific hospital in San Francisco, California, where a biopsy confirmed the suspicion of the Portland doctors. The death of the deceased from this cancerous condition occurred on January 12, 1952, and there is testimony to the effect that an autopsy was performed.
1. The plaintiff alleged and the defendant admitted *265 that at the time of his injury on July 21, 1951, the deceased was engaged in duties pertaining to interstate commerce; therefore, this action lies exclusively within the purview of the Federal Employer's Liability Act.
From a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff the defendant has appealed.
The defendant contends the trial court should have sustained its motion for a directed verdict and for a judgment non obstante veredicto, for the reason that there was no substantial evidence showing a causal connection between the injury received from the falling of the door and the lung cancer from which deceased died.
2, 3. We have often stated that an issue of fact may be submitted to a jury only when the proof shows reasonable certainty as opposed to "a finding dependent upon conjecture and speculation," and that mere possibility, alone, of a causal relation between an injury and a physical result are insufficient to lift the case out of the area of conjecture and speculation. Henderson v. U.P.R.R. Co., 189 Or 145, 160, 219 P2d 170.
It must be admitted that the answer to this question lies solely in the realm of medical science. In a case such as this, where "the physical processes terminating in the death are obscure and abstruse," the triers of fact, without the aid of expert testimony, can only speculate upon the effect of the trauma as resulting in the disease causing death. Any facts that could be shown by the plaintiff, apart from the medical testimony, would not warrant a conclusion that the cancer which resulted in death was caused by the blow from the falling cattle car door.
It is the contention of the defendant that the testimony given by Dr. DeNorval Unthank, a physician *266 and surgeon who had never attended the deceased, but who was called and qualified as an expert by the plaintiff, disclosed, at most, only a possible causal connection between the accident and the lung cancer, and that this was wholly insufficient to support the verdict.
The pertinent part of Dr. Unthank's testimony is as follows:
The foregoing testimony of the doctor is all of plaintiff's evidence tending to show a causal relation between the injury and the cancerous condition which resulted in death.
4. While the doctor's explanation of his answer to the hypothetical question would be insufficient to establish a causal relation, because a possibility only appears, nevertheless, without objection, he stated that in his opinion the injury received caused the diseased condition which resulted in Devine's death, and we are of the opinion that the positive statement of the fact of causation raises the quality of the evidence from possibility to probability. Note to 135 ALR 541, and cases cited therein.
The defendant, however, points out that the doctor's positive statement, like his answer to the hypothetical question, is improper and should have been stricken on defendant's motion, because both were based upon information not contained in the record.
*273 5, 6. An expert must state his opinion upon facts presented in the record, for the reason that a jury must determine the weight to be given the opinion, and, without knowledge of what facts the expert accepts as true, an evaluation of his opinion is impossible. Henderson v. U.P.R.R. Co., supra; Lippold v. Kidd, 126 Or 160, 269 P 210, 59 ALR 875.
7. Nevertheless, the defendant cannot now complain, because it specifically waived its objection to the hypothetical question. Further, its motion to strike points out only that the doctor relied upon the autopsy report. The hypothetical question referred to the fact that the autopsy report disclosed that the deceased died from cancer of the left lung, and, so far as the record shows, this is the only portion of the autopsy report relied upon by the doctor in stating his opinion.
At the close of defendant's case, the plaintiff asked and received permission of the trial court to read into the record as rebuttal an extract from a book or pamphlet entitled "Trauma and New Growths," by Behan. The record in this regard (made in chambers) reads as follows:
8-10. No cautionary instruction to the effect that the matter received was not substantive evidence, but was offered only for impeachment purposes, was given, and even if such an instruction had been given, the error would not have been cured. The use of textbooks in this jurisdiction are for the sole purpose of testing the qualifications and truthfulness of an expert, and then only may he be asked on cross-examination as to whether or not he agrees with the statements of authors of recognized standard authorities in the profession *276 with which he states he is familiar. Tuite v. Union Pacific Stages, 204 Or 565, 284 P2d 333; Kern v. Pullen, 138 Or 222, 6 P2d 224, 82 ALR 434.
Dr. Allen L. Mundal, a witness for the defendant, although the book by Behan was not present in court, was asked the following questions, upon cross-examination, and gave the following answers:
11. It is to be noted Dr. Mundal was not on the witness stand when the evidence was offered, so he could not explain his answers as to the various types of cancer, and, likewise, it is evident from a careful reading of the evidence so offered that the jury must assume that in the instances cited the physicians determined that the trauma was the primary cause of the carcinoma, which later developed, in each illustration set forth in the evidence offered.
12, 13. The trial court also erred in failing to instruct the jury (as requested by the defendant) that damages recoverable are limited to those pecuniary benefits which the widow might reasonably expect from the continued life of the deceased. Stark v. Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Ry. Co., 203 F2d 786. When recovery is sought for the benefit of the widow, "pecuniary loss" as understood in its application to damages under the Federal Employer's Liability Act refers to the monetary assistance and support reasonably to be expected, and does not include her loss of the society and companionship of the deceased. Michigan C.R. Co. v. Vreeland, 227 US 59, 33 S Ct 192, 57 L ed 417.
*278 14. In his argument to the jury, counsel for plaintiff referred to the fact that the deceased was a negro, and then stated:
The plaintiff's right of recovery is based solely upon rights arising out of the death of Frank Devine. The treatment he received was not alleged as a negligent act of the defendant resulting in death; therefore, the argument concerned a matter entirely immaterial and irrelevent to the issues of the case; it could be of no possible assistance to the jury, and could result only in inciting passion and prejudice against the defendant.
15. While the control of the argument is left largely within the sound discretion of the trial judge, conduct which has a tendency to incite the hostility of the jury against an opposing party should not be permitted. Shaw v. Pacific Supply Coop., 166 Or 508, 113 P2d 627; Haltom v. Fellow, 157 Or 514, 73 P2d 680; Huber v. Miller, 41 Or 103, 68 P 400.
Reversed and remanded.