Court Opinion

ID: 9533277
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:30:07.407672+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:59.676813
License: Public Domain

ME. JUSTICE HASWELL
(specially concurring):
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but disagree with their rationale in setting aside Senecal’s $25,000 judgment and awarding a new trial as to his damages.
In my view the record establishes no more than that Senecal suffered a neck injury in the accident with accompanying pain and limitation of motion. Neither its nature or permanence were established by expert medical opinion to a reasonable medical certainty or by nonexpert substantial credible evidence. In my view the proof is insufficient to establish an injured or herniated cervical disc because (1) plaintiff’s medical expert had his facts wrong, believing that the injury occurred one year earlier than it did, and (2) there were equal alternative possibilities unrelated to the accident (tumor, overgrowth of arthritis, excessive thickening of ligaments from osteoarthritis).
*46While a jury verdict is conclusive unless the amount awarded is so out of proportion to the injury to shock the conscience, Rasmussen v. Sibert, 153 Mont. 286, 456 P.2d 835 and cases cited therein, a $25,000 verdict on the foregoing minimal injury whose permanence and relationship to the accident were not proven, meets this test and justifies this Court in setting aside the award.