Opinion ID: 1655626
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Verdict and the Denial of the Plaintiffs' Postjudgment Motions

Text: We first consider whether the trial court erred in denying the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial. The plaintiffs based that motion on the argument that the jury's verdict was not supported by the evidence. [W]hen the evidence meets the `sufficiency' test, jury verdicts are presumed correct, and this presumption is strengthened by the trial court's denial of a motion for new trial. Therefore, a judgment based upon a jury verdict and sustained by the denial of a post-judgment motion for a new trial, will not be reversed on a weight-of-the-evidence ground unless it is `plainly and palpably' wrong. Ashbee v. Brock, 510 So.2d 214 (Ala.1987). See, also, Jawad v. Granade, 497 So.2d 471 (Ala.1986). Alpine Bay Resorts, Inc. v. Wyatt, 539 So.2d 160, 162-63 (Ala.1988). Thus, this Court will reverse the trial court's denial of the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial only if this Court concludes that the verdict was plainly and palpably wrong. Generally, in order to prove liability in a medical-malpractice case, the plaintiff must show (1) the appropriate standard of care for the treatment supplied by the defendant health-care provider, (2) a deviation from that standard of care by the defendant, and (3) a proximate causal connection between the injury alleged by the plaintiff and the defendant's breach of the standard of care. Looney v. Davis, 721 So.2d 152 (Ala.1998). The plaintiffs presented the testimony of Dr. William E. Garrett, assistant professor of surgery at Meharry Medical College. Dr. Garrett testified that Dr. Gerlach's examination and treatment of Buchannon was below the standard of care. However, Dr. Sherry Squires, associate medical director of the emergency department at Huntsville Hospital, testifying as an expert on behalf of Dr. Gerlach, stated that Dr. Gerlach's treatment of Buchannon met the standard of care. The resolution of conflicts in the evidence rests solely with the trier of fact, in this case, the jury. Jones v. Baltazar, 658 So.2d 420 (Ala.1995); James v. Woolley, 523 So.2d 110, 112 (Ala.1988). The record contains substantial evidence to support the jury verdict; thus, we must conclude that the verdict was not plainly and palpably wrong. Stokes v. Long-Lewis Ford, Inc., 549 So.2d 51, 52 (Ala.1989); Merrell v. Joe Bullard Oldsmobile, Inc., 529 So.2d 943, 946 (Ala.1988). The trial court did not err in denying the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial.