Court Opinion

ID: 9678293
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:15:57.518364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:03.280453
License: Public Domain

LEIBSON, Justice,
concurring.
Our opinion holds that the “effect of [KRS 304.39-06Q(2)(a) ] is to abolish the claims for lost wages and medical expenses of a person injured in an automobile accident against the person who caused the injury to the extent that basic reparations are payable therefor.”
As an inevitable consequence of our decision trial courts will be confronted with deciding what to do when evidence of lost wages and medical expenses of a person injured in an automobile accident is offered, not to prove special damages, but because it raises a legitimate inference as to pain and suffering caused by the injuries.
This question is answered in Barnes v. Jones, Ky., 351 S.W.2d 506 (1961), wherein our Court held that it was reversible error for the trial court to refuse to permit the introduction of evidence of the amount of special damages, offered for its evidentiary value as it bears on the question of pain and suffering. The Court stated:
“One of the few concrete standards by which a jury may measure pain and suffering is the cost incurred by reason of special damages. To preclude testimony on that point was prejudicial error.” 351 S.W.2d at 507.
See also, Williams v. Balmut, 298 Ky. 249, 182 S.W.2d 779 (1944), which holds to the same effect.
Therefore, the evidence of the claimant’s special damages are admissible for their evidentiary value as it pertains to the claimant’s pain and suffering, even though the claim is otherwise precluded by the No-Fault Act.
STEPHENS, C.J., joins in this concurring opinion.