Opinion ID: 1127746
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: janis r. carollo

Text: After the collision, Mrs. Carollo was pinned under the dashboard of the car with her cheek against the car's courtesy light. The light was on, and she sustained a third degree burn on her cheek. She also suffered a compression fracture of the fifth cervical vertebrae as well as several facial lacerations. She was hospitalized for about twelve days following the accident. Although Mrs. Carollo testified that she sustained five broken ribs and required 400 stitches to repair facial lacerations, the record contains no medical evidence in support of these contentions. Dr. William J. Pollock, a plastic surgeon, treated Mrs. Carollo for the burn and lacerations on her face. He testified that she incurred a large circular third degree burn on her left cheek. He also found paralysis of the frontal zygomatic branch of the left facial nerve which resulted in her being unable to close her eye tightly. Dr. Pollock testified that the burn was not severe in terms of body surface affected (less than 1%) but was severe in terms of depth and location. The wound covered an area of about two inches in diameter. During the healing process, the wound granulated and closed rapidly. At this point in time, Dr. Pollock determined that it would not be necessary to do a skin graft. After the wound had completely healed, there remained a large oval shaped scar. Dr. Pollock then decided to surgically revise the scar to a linear shaped one. He considered that the latter would be far less noticeable, a cosmetic improvement. The procedure, similar to a cosmetic face lift, was performed under local anesthetic due to Mrs. Carollo's allergic reaction to various drugs. The operation lasted about two hours and required only one day of hospitalization. Subsequent examinations revealed that the wound was healing well; the stitches were removed two weeks after surgery. Although Mrs. Carollo would have a permanent linear scar, Dr. Pollock opined that its appearance would improve somewhat with time and that cosmetics would help reduce its visibility. Dr. Kenneth L. Veca, orthopedic surgeon, treated Mrs. Carollo for a compression fracture of the fifth cervical vertebrae. He testified that the fracture was stable and presented no danger to the spinal cord. He prescribed a four-poster brace which she wore for about a month. Thereafter, he prescribed a soft cervical collar which was worn by Mrs. Carollo for another five weeks. Mrs. Carollo complained of neck pain and headaches; Dr. Veca testified that the complaints were not unjustified. He opined that she would probably develop arthritis in the neck due to the injury and the degenerative process was already apparent. He estimated her disability at 15% of the whole body. Drs. Irvin Redler and Wilmot Ploger, orthopedic surgeons, testified that their examinations revealed that Mrs. Carollo had sustained a compression fracture of the fifth cervical vertebrae which had healed well. They estimated the residual disability from 10-15% of the cervical spine (neck). Dr. Pollock also confirmed Dr. Veca's prognosis of the degenerative arthritic changes. After careful review of the record, we find that the record clearly reveals that the jury abused its discretion in awarding $500,000 to Janis R. Carollo for the injuries sustained by her. We consider the maximum amount reasonably within the discretion of the jury to be $80,000. Accordingly, we do not find that the court of appeal erred in reducing the award to this amount.