On February 13, 2020, after a 3 day jury trial before Judge James T. Anthony of the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, Paul Gambone obtained a favorable verdict on behalf of a client after a jury awarded the plaintiff $13,900 which included unpaid medical expenses. Prior to trial, plaintiff rejected efforts to resolve the claim and demanded the policy limits of $100,000.
Plaintiff began her case with live testimony of Dr. Todd Chertow, an orthopedic surgeon. He testified that plaintiff had sustained as a result of the car accident an aggravation of degenerative osteoarthritis of both knees which required plaintiff to undergo regular injections, and would eventually require her to undergo bilateral knee replacement surgery in the future. In addition, he testified that plaintiff had sustained lumbar and cervical sprain and strain which would require injections in the future.
Plaintiff then presented the live testimony of her neuropsychologist, Dr. Renee Cantwell. Dr. Cantwell testified that plaintiff had sustained a mild traumatic brain injury based upon her airbag striking her face at the time of the impact. According to her, plaintiff had sustained cognitive defects which included memory problems and processing information as verified by her testing of the plaintiff. In addition, she testified that plaintiff was now suffering with more depression and anxiety than before the accident.
Plaintiff finally presented the testimony of Mark Guillford, a data analyst, who testified that plaintiff would incur future medical expenses in the amount of $160,000 for the future knee surgeries and cervical/lumbar injections based upon his research of medical procedures in the Lehigh Valley.
During testimony of the plaintiff, she admitted that she had prior issues with her knees from 2003-2007, but testified that she had been asymptomatic from 2007 until the accident in 2016. Plaintiff admitted that since the accident, with the exception of being out of work for a period of time after the accident, she continued to seek and accept employment. All jobs she had after the accident were similar to jobs which she held prior to the accident. As recently as December 2019 until January 2020, plaintiff was working at a Walmart warehouse involved in restocking of merchandise.
After plaintiff rested, the defense presented the video testimony of defense medical expert, Dr. Kevin Anbari, an orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in knee surgery. He conceded that plaintiff probably did sustain a contusion of her knees as a result of the impact. However, he testified that based upon his review of her medical records, including records/diagnostic studies dating from 2003 to 2007, it was his opinion that she did not sustain any aggravation of her pre-existing osteoarthritis of her knees, but that her current complaints, injection treatment, and any possible future surgery only related to a natural progression of her osteoarthritis, and not the accident. The treatment and allegations regarding the neuropsychological complaints were so scant and unsupported that the defense did not retain an expert in that field.
Questions regarding this case and the experts noted herein can be referred to Paul Gambone, Esquire.
