Opinion ID: 1838841
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Evidence Pertaining to Plaintiff's Injury

Text: As noted above, plaintiff testified that he has been unable to return to work for any extended period of time since the arrest. At trial, he described his physical and mental state since the arrest as follows: I was tired ... I just don't have no energy ... I didn't feel like eating, if I ate a little something ... I would throw it up sometimes. . . . . . I just lost interest in my family. I just didn't feel like being bothered and I couldn't sleep. I was having headaches. I be shaking. Right now sometimes my leg go to shaking, my arms are shaking and I had these headaches that I couldn't get rid of ... . . . . . I was just laying in the bed, I was saying how could something like this happen to me ... and I couldn't get rid of it ... I couldn't get it out of my mind. I tried all kinds of ways, I just couldn't get it out of my mind. Dr. Chester Scrignar testified on plaintiff's behalf as an expert in the field of psychiatry. Dr. Scrignar first saw plaintiff for an interview on April 4, 1986. Plaintiff described the events of the arrest to Dr. Scrignar and complained of the symptoms and problems mentioned above. After two subsequent interview sessions with plaintiff, an interview with plaintiff's wife, and plaintiff's completion of a mental stress exam, Dr. Scrignar diagnosed plaintiff with posttraumatic stress disorder with phobic anxiety related to the circumstances of the incident of March 6, 1986 [the arrest]. Between April 4, 1986 and trial (September, 1987), Dr. Scrignar counselled plaintiff in thirty-four treatment sessions. Among the symptoms and problems which plaintiff exhibited or complained of during this period were intense anxiety, anger, nervousness, flashbacks of the arrest incident, headaches, rapid heartbeat, nightmares, obsession with the arrest incident and preoccupation with thoughts of death or serious bodily injury. Dr. Scrignar thought that these complaints evidenced post traumatic stress syndrome, and that an arrest of a person who was innocent of the charges against him was the type of traumatic incident which could trigger the syndrome. Dr. Scrignar treated plaintiff with various forms of counselling and with anti-anxiety medication. The doctor was of the opinion that plaintiff had been unable to work since the arrest because of his mental condition, and that while his condition had improved somewhat, he would be unable to work for the foreseeable future. Dr. Richard Roniger was called as an expert in psychiatry by the defendant. Dr. Roniger examined plaintiff on one occasion, during a forty-five minute interview conducted on August 26, 1987. Based on observations made during this interview, Dr. Roniger expressed the view that plaintiff appeared to be in good health and was not suffering from any perceptible mental disorder. Dr. Roniger also testified that in his opinion, post traumatic stress syndrome can only be caused by an incident involving violence or a great threat of violence, such as a plane crash or wartime conditions faced by soldiers, and that the plaintiff's arrest was not the type of violent incident needed to trigger the disorder. The trial judge apparently accepted the testimony of Dr. Scrignar over the testimony of Dr. Roniger, for she found that the arrest of Mr. Williams triggered a post traumatic stress disorder that he's currently suffering from.... The court of appeal, which held that plaintiff is not entitled to recovery based upon its legal conclusion that injuries caused by an arrest are not compensable under the Act, did not reach the issue of whether plaintiff proved that he suffered a mental disability caused by the arrest.