Opinion ID: 2512400
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instruction on Aggravation of Pre-existing Condition

Text: ¶ 23 The injured party requested the inclusion of Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions-Civil (OUJI-Civ.), Instruction 4.10, which provides: MEASURE OF DAMAGES-AGGRAVATIONS OF PRE-EXISTING CONDITION A person who has a condition or disability at the time of an injury is entitled to recover damages for any aggravation of such pre-existing condition or disability directly caused by the injury. This is true even if the person's condition or disability made him more susceptible to the possibility of injury than a normally healthy person would have been, and even if a normally healthy person probably would not have suffered any substantial injury. When a pre-existing condition or disability is so aggravated, the damages as to such condition or disability are limited to the additional injury caused by the aggravation. Throughout this cause, the injured party has alleged that the accident caused him to suffer severe, persistent tinnitus. [38] He admitted in testimony that he had suffered occasional, minor tinnitus before the accident, due to his career as an Air Force pilot. He contended at the second trial that the accident exacerbated his pre-existing condition of tinnitus. The employer argued that the evidence presented by the injured party was of a claim for a new, debilitating condition, not an aggravation of his pre-existing condition. The trial court denied the injured party's request. The jury returned a verdict awarding the injured party $75,000 in compensatory damages for personal injury. ¶ 24 We find that, by the standard announced in Woodall, there is not a probability that the jury would have reached a different result if it had been given an instruction on the aggravation of a pre-existing condition. Therefore, the trial court did not err by denying the injured party's request to include OUJI-Civ. 4.10.