Fain v. Benak

Excerpt

The plaintiff sought to recover damages for personal injuries that she sus- tained when her vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by the defendant B, an employee of the defendant Department of Administrative Services. The plaintiff alleged that her injuries were the result of B's negligence. Following a trial to the court, the court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and awarded damages. The plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration as to her claimed future medical expenses, and attached to that motion a letter from her treating physician, G, which had been admitted as a full exhibit at trial. The letter stated that it was more probable than not that the plaintiff would require future medical treat- ment. The court granted the plaintiff's motion, awarded additional dam- ages, and the defendant Department of Administrative Services appealed to this court. Held: 1. The defendant Department of Administrative Services could not prevail on its claim that the trial court erred in declining to apply the unavoidable accident doctrine, which was based on its claim that B was not negligent because she experienced a sudden emergency caused by the blowout of her left front tire: because the court found that B was negligent and caused the collision with the plaintiff's vehicle, the accident could not be considered unavoidable as a matter of law; the court determined that B was negligent in the way in which she operated the vehicle and that her actions were the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries, and, because these findings were inapposite to a determination that the record could support a finding that the negligence of neither party was involved, the court correctly determined that its finding of negligence necessarily precluded a finding that the accident was unavoidable. 2. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the plaintiff's motion for reconsideration after it determined that she had presented sufficient evidence to support an award o