Court Opinion

ID: 9899390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-16 17:11:11.053284+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:22.999147
License: Public Domain

J-A19007-23

 NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

  NATIESHA BELL                                :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
                                               :        PENNSYLVANIA
                v.                             :
                                               :
  JACQUELINE O’NEILL                           :
                                               :
                       Appellant               :   No. 2393 EDA 2022

            Appeal from the Judgment Entered August 19, 2022
    In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Civil Division at
                           No(s): 1910003845

BEFORE:      BOWES, J., STABILE, J., and PELLEGRINI, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.:                            FILED NOVEMBER 16, 2023

       Jacqueline O’Neill (“Defendant”) appeals from the judgment entered in

favor of Natiesha Bell (“Plaintiff”) upon the jury’s verdict in this automobile

collision case. We vacate the judgment, reverse in part the order denying

Defendant’s post-trial motions, and remand for a new trial on causation and

damages.

       The salient background is as follows. On February 11, 2019, Defendant

rear-ended Plaintiff in a low-speed collision in Philadelphia. Plaintiff filed a

complaint on October 31, 2019, alleging that, as a result of the collision, she

suffered permanent injuries.        See Complaint, 10/31/19, at ¶ 6.   The case

proceeded to trial on both liability and causation.

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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       Plaintiff took the videotaped deposition of her treating physician, Scott

M. Fried, D.O., for use at trial. Dr. Fried explained that Plaintiff suffered from

brachial plexopathy.1 One form of this condition is the stretching, tearing, or

inflammation of the tissues surrounding the nerves that run from the neck

into the fingers. Unfortunately, this can produce scar tissue. See Videotaped

Deposition of Scott M. Fried, D.O., 3/17/22, at 25-28. The scar tissue, in turn,

can prevent the nerves and muscles from sliding separately from each other,

resulting in permanent nerve pain triggered by regular activities such as

turning the head or holding a cell phone. Id. at 32-35.

       Regarding causation of Plaintiff’s injuries, Dr. Fried testified as follows:

       Q.    With that understanding of medicine, could you explain to
       us what happened to [Plaintiff] on February 11, 2019 to cause this
       brachial plexopathy?

       A.      Surely. [Plaintiff is] driving her car. She is looking to the
       left, and she is suddenly hit from behind. Her hands are on the
       wheel, and her head goes not just flexion/extension, but also side
       to side, and this is important. The head and neck are pretty good
       at doing this (indicating), but doing this (indicating) is much more
       difficult for the neck. So when you have a neck that is rotated,
       and it is flexion/extensioned in this manner, it pulls much more
       aggressively on the side of the neck and impacts all of this. So,
       as she is hit and thrust like this, there is a stretch, and that is the
       initial tearing of that fascia.

       Q.    And that is what I wanted you to focus on. You say a tearing
       -- when you say “fascia,” is that synonymous with tearing the
       scalene muscle and the fascia within it?

____________________________________________

1 Brachial plexopathy involves an injury to “the nerves that are the main circuit

board[,] that form the major nerves that go down into the arm[.]” Videotaped
Deposition of Scott M. Fried, D.O., 3/17/22, at 24-25.

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     A.    Fair enough.

     Q.    What is a strain and sprain?

     A.    A strain and sprain is a stretching and tearing of soft tissue
     structures.

     Q.    Does one have to be hit hard to have a strain and --

     A.    Strain and sprain?

     Q.    Yes.

     A.    Not -- it is not the velocity of the impact, as much as it is
     what the body does in reaction to it. I mean, some people can
     have -- basically, if somebody comes up and pretends they’re
     throwing a punch at you and you go like this (indicating), you can
     pull, and you can actually partially tear muscle. You don’t
     necessarily have to be thrown on the ground to tear muscle and
     to tear fascia. And this is the key to it, it’s the loading. Where
     are you? She is here, she is looking this way (indicating). This is
     already on stretch. Everything is tight, it is on stretch. It doesn’t
     take that much more to push that over and begin to tear those
     tissues. So it is not the velocity of the impact, as much as what
     the body is doing and where it is when it is impacted, and this is
     the nature of this.

     Q.    And I think that is important for the jury to know. When
     you have this type of strain and sprain . . . and you have the
     stretching and tearing of the soft tissues, you are not saying that
     the nerves were initially injured or damaged during the impact,
     correct?

     A.   No. Basically, they were stretched somewhat, but the
     nerves themselves internally weren’t damaged. It’s the fascia
     around these nerves that became torn.

     Q.    And once someone starts to develop the scar tissue, as you
     said, as part of the healing process, the normal healing process,
     what, if anything, does that scar tissue do to compress the nerve
     to cause a brachial plexopathy and the symptoms associated with
     it?

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     A.     Again, according to the inflammation, according to how that
     fascia begins to scar back down and heal back down, there is many
     degrees of what happens. But once that fascia is torn, and once
     it becomes inflamed, it then begins to form around these nerves.
     And then, unfortunately, in the early healing phases, just daily
     activities of living, brushing your teeth, reaching, turning your
     head, can retear that fascia, and then it becomes a progressive
     aggravating factor around it.

            So in different people, fascia heals in slightly different ways,
     and according to their body habitus, the nature of what they are
     doing, and also according to how inflamed that fascia became.
     Some people are more reactive than others, and then of course
     we can see that over the course of the development of the injury,
     but -- and it certainly shows on the ultrasound evaluations, but
     then we can see some people have fascia that just forms thicker,
     just like some people are [k]eloid scar formers. You don’t know
     who is going to have a more rigid result and fascial scarring.

     Q.   And Doctor, when someone has the scar tissue that
     compresses the nerve, is that a painful injury?

     A.    It is.

     Q.    Is it a progressive injury?

     A.    Yes, unfortunately.

     Q.    And is it a permanent injury?

     A.    Yes, once the scar is formed, this is permanent, and we can’t
     reverse that.

Id. at 35-40.

     During pretrial proceedings, Plaintiff pursued motions in limine as to,

inter alia, defense experts David L. Glaser, M.D., and McGowan Associates,

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biomechanical engineers.2 First, Dr. Glaser in his report asserted that: (1) it

is not unusual for people to develop soreness after “a minor motor vehicle

crash” due to sustaining “a minor strain;” (2) if Plaintiff had such a strain, it

had completely resolved; (3) MRI images showed “only minor age-related

degenerative disease without evidence of aggravation;” (4) “more force”

would have been required to injure Plaintiff’s musculoskeletal system; (5)

Plaintiff’s treatment to date was “excessive for this mechanism of injury;” and

(6) she required no further treatment. See Expert Report of David L. Glaser,

M.D., 10/5/20, at 4 (included in the certified record as Exhibit A to Plaintiff’s

memorandum of law in support of her motion in limine concerning Dr. Glaser).

       Pertinent to this appeal, Plaintiff sought to preclude Dr. Glaser from

opining that, based upon the amount of damage to the vehicles shown in

photographs, more force would have been required for Plaintiff to sustain her

injuries.   Defendant observed that Plaintiff’s expert, Dr. Fried, offered the

same type of testimony in his videotaped deposition for trial, indicating that

the photographs showed nothing inconsistent with his opinion that Plaintiff

suffered serious, permanent injuries as a result of the collision.     See N.T.

Motions, 4/21/22, at 12. The trial court agreed that Plaintiff was seeking to

____________________________________________

2 The report supplied pre-trial was authored by Peter Chhour, Ph.D., of
McGowan Associates. However, Defendant indicated in her response to
Plaintiff’s motion in limine that Dr. Chhour no longer was employed by
McGowan Associates or offering trial testimony. Instead, Joseph McGowan,
Ph.D., would adopt the report and testify based upon it.

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exclude testimony from Defendant’s medical expert equivalent to what she

had elicited from Dr. Fried, and indicated that, if Plaintiff were willing to forgo

offering that opinion from her expert, the court would preclude Defendant

from doing so. Id. at 15. Plaintiff indicated an unwillingness to withdraw Dr.

Fried’s testimony on that point. Nonetheless, oral argument continued, with

the trial court ultimately making the following ruling:

      And with regard to the testimony that more force would be
      required to sustain the injuries that the plaintiff is claiming she
      sustained in this accident, I have to hear his expertise. That
      certainly would be a biomechanical type of determination as
      opposed to a medical determination.

      Again, we have something in Pennsylvania called the eggshell
      skull plaintiff, whereas what would be an attack to a skull for
      someone in a normal state of health, if it happened to someone
      with an eggshell skull, it could result in a fractured skull and a
      very serious injury.

      So that principle, obviously, is not recognized in the testimony of
      this doctor so that portion of that testimony is stricken.

N.T. Motions, 4/21/22, at 19-20.

      As for Defendant’s biomechanical engineers, McGowan Associates had

supplied a report addressing “the kinematics associated with [Plaintiff] during

the subject incident” and “any potential biomechanical mechanisms associated

with injuries or pathologies described in her medical records.” See McGowan

Associates Report, 3/25/21, at 1 (included in the certified record as Exhibit A

to Plaintiff’s memorandum of law in support of her motion in limine concerning

Dr. Chhour). Ultimately, the report concluded that the force, direction, and

magnitude of the collision were no more likely to cause injury to lumbar and

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cervical spine than vigorous activities of daily living, and, as for the neck,

“were associated with non-injurious values, including cervical nerve root

impingement injuries radiating to the brachial plexus.” Id. at 13.

      With regard to Plaintiff’s claim that only a medical doctor was qualified

to offer an opinion as to what caused or did not cause Plaintiff’s injuries, the

trial court agreed, issuing the following decision:

      I’m not going to permit a nonmedical expert to give medical
      testimony. But [a] biomechanical expert could talk about load
      values, could talk about crash values, could talk about what
      happened to a body in a crash at five or ten miles an hour, 15
      miles an hour or above. But he cannot testify that an occupant in
      a motor vehicle in this case cannot have sustained the injuries
      that she is complaining of in the motor vehicle accident. That is a
      medical determination, which a biomechanical expert cannot
      make. He can talk all he wants about load values and things like
      that. That is assuming that he is qualified to testify as a
      biomechanical expert, and that’s within their bailiwick. But he
      cannot make a medical determination. And that’s my ruling.

N.T. Motions, 4/21/22, at 32.

      Trial was held from April 25 to 27, 2022.       The jury heard from the

parties, Plaintiff’s ex-husband, the above-reproduced testimony of Dr. Fried,

and Dr. Glaser, as constrained by the court’s pre-trial ruling. Defendant also

offered the videotaped testimony of Robert Lynch, P.E., an expert on collision

reconstruction.   Mr. Lynch testified that the force of the collision was not

significant enough to register as an event in the black-box Event Data

Recorder in Defendant’s vehicle, and that the change in velocity Plaintiff

experienced as a result of the collision was less than six miles per hour. See

Videotaped Deposition of Robert Lynch, P.E., 4/21/22, at 28, 32.

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       After closing arguments, and over Defendant’s objection,3 the trial court

charged the jury with the eggshell skull plaintiff instruction, as emphasized

below:

             In order for the plaintiff to recover in this case, the
       defendant’s negligent conduct must have been a factual cause in
       bringing about harm. Conduct is a factual cause of harm when
       the harm would not have occurred absent the conduct.

             To be a factual cause the conduct must have been an actual
       real factor in causing the harm even if the result is unusual or
       unexpected. A factual cause cannot be an imaginary or fanciful
       factor having no connection or only an insignificant connection
       with the harm.

             To be a factual cause the defendant’s conduct need not be
       the only factual cause. The fact that some other causes concur
       with the negligence of the defendant in producing an injury does
       not relieve the defendant from liability as long as you find the
       defendant’s own negligence is a factual cause of the injury.

             It is the law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
       that a wrongdoer takes his victim as the wrongdoer finds
       her. A wrongdoer is liable for all harm caused by his
       negligent act though increased by an unknown physical
       condition that could not have been discovered or
       anticipated prior to the wrongdoing.

N.T. Trial, 4/27/22, at 277-78 (emphasis added).

       The jury returned a verdict in favor of Plaintiff, awarding $700,000 in

economic damages and $300,000 in non-economic damages. Defendant filed

timely post-trial motions seeking judgment notwithstanding the verdict

(“JNOV”) or a new trial. The trial court denied relief, but granted a motion for

____________________________________________

3 See N.T. Trial, 4/27/22, at 183-84, 188.

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delay damages filed by Plaintiff. Thereafter, judgment was entered on the

verdict in the amount of $1,052,513.89. Defendant filed a timely notice of

appeal. The trial court ordered Defendant to file a concise statement of errors

complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). Defendant filed a

timely but far-from-concise twenty-three-page statement expounding upon

four claims of error. With the benefit of a trial court opinion and oral argument

from the parties, we entertain Defendant’s issues, stated as follows:

      1.     Did the trial court abuse its discretion or commit an error of
      law by (a) charging the jury with an eggshell-plaintiff instruction;
      (b) prohibiting Defendant’s medical expert from presenting certain
      testimony at trial; (c) placing improper restrictions on Defendant’s
      biomechanical experts; and (d) refusing to take corrective action
      after it became aware the jury “rounded up” the damages award
      by at least $42,500.00?

      2.    Did the trial court abuse its discretion or commit an error of
      law by not ordering a new trial on all issues or, alternatively, on
      the issues of causation and damages?

      3.    Did the trial court abuse its discretion or commit an error of
      law by not reducing or remitting the $1 million verdict?

Appellant’s brief at 3.

      Initially, we observe that “[w]hen reviewing an order denying a new

trial, our standard of review is to decide whether the trial court committed an

error of law that controlled the outcome of the case or committed an abuse of

discretion.” Pittsburgh Const. Co. v. Griffith, 834 A.2d 572, 585 (Pa.Super.

2003) (cleaned up).

      As we find it dispositive, we begin with Defendant’s claim that the trial

court erred in precluding Dr. Glaser from testifying that the collision produced

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insufficient force to cause the injuries that Plaintiff alleged. Our standard of

review of the trial court’s ruling is as follows:

      The admission of expert testimony is a matter committed to the
      discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed absent an
      abuse of that discretion. An abuse of discretion is not merely an
      error of judgment, but if in reaching a conclusion the law is
      overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised is manifestly
      unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill-will,
      as shown by the evidence or the record, discretion is abused.

Farese v. Robinson, 222 A.3d 1173, 1185 (Pa.Super. 2019) (cleaned up).

      We have further observed:

      It is well settled in Pennsylvania that the standard for qualification
      of an expert witness is a liberal one. The test to be applied when
      qualifying an expert witness is whether the witness had any
      reasonable pretension to specialized knowledge on the subject
      under investigation. If he does, he may testify and the weight to
      be given such testimony is for the trier of fact to determine.

Davis v. Steigerwalt, 822 A.2d 22, 25 (Pa.Super. 2003) (cleaned up).

      Here, as recounted above, the trial court initially indicated that it would

need to hear more about Dr. Glaser’s qualifications to decide whether he would

be permitted to testify, consistent with his report, that more force would have

been required to produce a musculoskeletal injury in Plaintiff. However, rather

than deferring a ruling on Plaintiff’s motion in limine until trial, the court

immediately proceeded to rule that Dr. Glaser could not offer any such

testimony based upon the perceived inconsistency of this opinion with

Pennsylvania law concerning an eggshell skull plaintiff.

      Defendant argues that the trial court’s ruling conflated the concepts of

factual causation on the one hand and proximate causation of damages on the

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other. See Defendant’s brief at 37. She maintains that Dr. Glaser’s proposed

testimony spoke to a lack of factual causation, not that the injuries were too

unexpected to justify imposition of liability, and thus “did not run afoul of the

eggshell-plaintiff rule.” Id. at 40 (cleaned up). Moreover, Defendant asserts

that Plaintiff opened the door to the proposed testimony, which the trial court

initially contemplated when considering the in limine arguments, by

introducing the portion of Dr. Fried’s testimony where he opined that the

speed of the impact was sufficient to cause Plaintiff’s injury.       Id. at 41.

Defendant contends that the trial court improperly and unfairly prevented her

from responding to and rebutting Dr. Fried’s testimony. Id. at 41-42.

      We agree with Defendant that the trial court erred in precluding Dr.

Glaser from opining that the collision was not of sufficient magnitude to cause

the serious injuries described by Dr. Fried.        Critically, the eggshell-skull

plaintiff instruction does not speak to causation, but to the extent of damages

for which the defendant is liable. See, e.g., Meyer v. Union R. Co., 865

A.2d 857, 863 (Pa.Super. 2004) (indicating that the eggshell skull principle

dictates that “the tortfeasor is liable for the full extent of the injury that his

conduct has caused” and that total damages may be reduced if the jury credits

evidence that the plaintiff would have ultimately sustained the same injury

eventually as a result of a particular susceptibility).

      Dr. Glaser’s opinion that this collision was medically incapable of

producing the results that Plaintiff alleged is not a violation of Pennsylvania

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law concerning damages, but rather proper causation testimony from a board-

certified orthopedic surgeon who specialized in musculoskeletal medicine,

namely nerves, ligaments, tendons, and joints, with a focus on the upper

extremities. See N.T. Trial, 4/27/22, at 26-27. Accord Davis, supra at 25-

26 (holding trial court properly permitted a medical doctor to testify as to the

kinetic energy necessary to cause the plaintiff’s injury based upon training and

experience with skull fractures). Just as Dr. Fried was permitted to opine that

the collision caused Plaintiff’s brachial plexopathy despite the minor damage

to the vehicles, Dr. Glaser should have been permitted to rebut that the small

force involved in the collision was insufficient to have caused in fact the

extensive injuries Plaintiff claimed to have suffered.

      We reject Plaintiff’s argument that she did not open the door to the

testimony in question because “Dr. Fried never testified on force.” Plaintiff’s

brief at 38-39. As recounted above, Dr. Fried’s testimony was that “it is not

the velocity of the impact, as much as it is what the body does in reaction to

it” that was determinative of the issue of causation. Videotaped Deposition of

Scott M. Fried, D.O., 3/17/22, at 36-37. He informed the jury that one did

not “necessarily have to be thrown on the ground to tear muscle and to tear

fascia,” but rather the position and motion of the body at the time of the

collision could cause the tearing irrespective of “the velocity of the impact.”

Id. at 37.

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      Although Dr. Fried spoke of impact velocity while Dr. Glaser used the

term “force,” both plainly addressed the same issue, namely whether one

sedan travelling at a speed of less than five miles per hour colliding with a

comparably-sized stationary vehicle was a factual cause of permanent brachial

plexopathy in Plaintiff.   Dr. Fried was of the opinion that it was, while Dr.

Glaser deemed it insufficient to cause the claimed injury.        The different

terminology did not warrant disparate rulings as to admissibility. The court

should have permitted the jury to hear both opinions and weigh them as they

saw fit.

      Plaintiff alternatively argues that any error was harmless since

Defendant was not prejudiced by the trial court’s ruling. See Plaintiff’s brief

at 39-40. In this vein, Plaintiff asserts that “[t]he defense was able to put on

all the evidence it wanted to try and prove Dr. Fried’s testimony and expert

opinions wrong . . . [b]ut the jury — the ultimate factfinder — did not find it

credible.” Id. at 38.

      We cannot agree. The defense obviously was not permitted “to put on

all the evidence it wanted.”     As Defendant also challenges on appeal, in

addition to precluding Dr. Glaser from opining that the collision was not

forceful enough to cause serious injury to Plaintiff, the trial court ruled that

Defendant’s biomechanical engineer could not testify about how much force

was actually involved. The court properly noted that only a medical expert

may testify about medical causation.      See N.T. Motions, 4/21/22, at 32.

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However, it then ruled that the proposed testimony from McGowan Associates

was inadmissible because the biomechanical expert sought to “testify that an

occupant in a motor vehicle in this case cannot have sustained the injuries

that she is complaining of in the motor vehicle accident.” Id.

     Biomechanical engineers determine how injuries occur by applying the

principles of physics. See Webb v. Volvo Cars of N. Am., LLC, 148 A.3d

473, 485 (Pa.Super. 2016). Here, a representative of McGowan Associates,

based upon a biomechanical analysis that incorporated, inter alia, the force

calculations indicated in Mr. Lynch’s report, proposed to offer the following

opinions:

     1.     Neck mo[ve]ments associated with the subject incident for
            an individual anthropometrically similar to [Plaintiff]
            were comparable to those associated in the scientific
            literature with vigorous activities of daily living and
            chiropractic manipulation and by comparison were no more
            likely to cause injury or to exacerbate existing cervical
            pathology.

     2.     Based on testing results and the severity of the subject
            incident, neck motion and loading in the subject incident
            were associated with non-injurious values, including
            cervical nerve root impingement injuries radiating to the
            brachial plexus.

     3.     Considering the subject occupant kinematics as well as the
            crash test results and their application to the subject
            scenario and occupant, force direction and magnitude of
            calculated loading were below levels associated with
            lumbar spinal injury in the biomechanical literature.
            Such loading, given the subject incident geometry, was
            inconsistent with an expectation of lumbar spine
            compressive injury for an individual anthropometrically
            similar to [Plaintiff]. Further, the forces and motions
            bounding the incident were no more likely to be associated

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              with exacerbation of existing lumbar spine pathology in a
              person anthropometrically similar to [Plaintiff] than
              would have been activities of routine daily and occupational
              living.

       4.     Head accelerations associated with the subject incident are
              indistinguishable from zero percent risk of concussion based
              on published risk curves.

See McGowan Associates Report, 3/25/21, at 13-14 (emphases added).

       Hence, the proposed testimony was not impermissible causation

testimony from a non-medical expert, but information about the forces

involved in the collision and the results they typically produce in people

anthropometrically similar to Plaintiff.       This was permissible biomechanical

expert testimony.4 See Webb, supra at 485 (explaining that a biomechanical

engineer did not offer improper medical testimony in opining that the forces

involved in a collision were such that additional padding in a car seat would

not have prevented the plaintiff’s death).

       Defendant wished the jury to hear both that (1) McGowan Associates

was of the opinion that the type of collision involved in this case does not

typically cause injury in people like Plaintiff, and (2) that Dr. Glaser opined

____________________________________________

4 Plaintiff and the trial court contend that, since Defendant did not call anyone

from McGowan Associates to testify at trial, she failed to preserve this issue
for appeal. See Plaintiff’s brief at 40; Trial Court Opinion, 11/17/22, at 18.
However, as Defendant aptly counters, it would have been futile to call a
witness whose desired testimony was precluded. See Defendant’s reply brief
at 18 (citing, inter alia, Pa.R.E. 103(b) (“Once the court rules definitively on
the record--either before or at trial--a party need not renew an objection or
offer of proof to preserve a claim of error for appeal.”). Thus, the issue is
properly before us.

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that this low-impact collision did not in fact cause such an injury to Plaintiff.

Neither expert sought to improperly tread outside their area of expertise, but

rather to offer evidence tending to show that it was not more likely than not

that Plaintiff sustained her claimed injuries as a result of Defendant’s

negligence. Yet the trial court allowed neither expert to testify as proffered.

       Under these circumstances, we are not convinced that the trial court’s

rulings had no impact upon the verdict and were therefore harmless. See,

e.g., Turnpaugh Chiropractic Health & Wellness Ctr., P.C. v. Erie Ins.

Exch., 297 A.3d 404, 416 (Pa.Super. 2023) (holding that erroneous ruling on

the admissibility of expert testimony prejudiced defendant and was therefore

not harmless). However, the errors related only to the questions of causation

and damages and not to Defendant’s negligence. Accordingly, we reverse the

trial court’s order denying Defendant’s post-trial motions insofar as the court

declined to award a new trial on causation and damages.5          Consequently,

Defendant’s remaining issues concerning the jury’s damages award are moot.6

____________________________________________

5 None of Defendant’s claims of error advocated on appeal challenge the
propriety of the jury’s determination that Defendant breached a duty of care
owed to Plaintiff. Hence, Defendant’s negligence need not be relitigated, only
the elements of whether the negligence caused damages to Plaintiff and the
amount of those damages. See, e.g., McNeil v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas
Corp., 680 A.2d 1145, 1148 (Pa. 1996) (“[W]here the only trial errors
disclosed in the record deal with specific and discrete issues, the grant of a
new trial should be limited to those issues.”).

6 Our award of a new trial based upon this evidentiary issue moots Defendant’s

challenge to the amount of damages awarded. However, as it is likely to be
(Footnote Continued Next Page)

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       Judgment vacated. Order denying post-trial motions reversed in part.

Case remanded for a new trial on causation and damages.               Jurisdiction

relinquished.

Date: 11/16/2023

____________________________________________

a point of contention upon retrial, we hold that the trial court’s decision to
offer an eggshell skull plaintiff damages instruction based upon Dr. Fried’s
testimony was not an abuse of discretion. As our recitation of the case above
illustrates, Defendant’s theory was that this low-impact collision either caused
no injury to Plaintiff or caused a mild strain or sprain that had completely
resolved. Plaintiff sought to prove the contrary by eliciting testimony that,
while that may be true of some people, that was not true in this case, because
Plaintiff in fact did develop scarring as a result of this collision, causing a
substantial and permanent injury. Accordingly, the trial court was within its
discretion in instructing the jury that, if it found that Defendant’s negligent act
was a factual cause of an injury, Defendant was nonetheless responsible for
the unexpectedly severe result Plaintiff realized. Accord Fretts v. Pavetti,
422 A.2d 881, 885 (Pa.Super. 1980) (holding question of future damages was
properly put to the jury based upon the fact that the plaintiff “was particularly
susceptible to serious injury” based upon having varicose veins, because
“[t]he tortfeasor must take his victim as he finds him” and is subject “to the
same degree of liability [for the more extensive damages] as the infliction of
an original wound”).

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