Opinion ID: 1230132
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Award of Future Medical Expenses

Text: In response to Blumenshine's motion for JNOV, the superior court set aside the jury's award of $2,500 for future medical expenses. Baptiste presented medical testimony that his pain and disability were permanent and detailed evidence of his past medical expenses. He asserts that his future medical expenses can be inferred from the permanency of his injuries and the cost of his past medical treatment for pain and disability caused by the accident in question. To recover for future medical expenses one must prove to a reasonable probability that they will occur. Maddocks v. Bennett, 456 P.2d 453, 458 (Alaska 1969). [T]he jury cannot be allowed to speculate or guess in making allowance for future medical expenses; there must be some data furnished the jury upon which it might reasonably estimate the amount to be allowed for this item. Henderson v. Breesman, 269 P.2d 1059, 1061-62 (Ariz. 1954), quoted in City of Fairbanks v. Nesbett, 432 P.2d 607, 618 n. 31 (Alaska 1967). Baptiste was required to present both evidence that medical treatment would be necessary, and evidence of the treatment's anticipated cost to recover for future medical expenses. The Nevada Pain and Rehabilitation Center (Center), where Baptiste participated in a twenty-day chronic pain management program, concluded that Baptiste did not need any further medical evaluations or medical treatment. The Center recommended that Baptiste exercise, return to work and lose weight. Although cortisone treatment was suggested by a physician, Baptiste did not indicate that he would undertake the treatment or what this treatment would cost. Accordingly, Baptiste did not prove to a reasonable certainty that he would incur future medical expense. We therefore affirm the superior court's grant of JNOV as to the jury's award of damages for future medical expenses.