Maldonado v. Flannery

Citations

• 343 Conn. 150

Syllabus

The plaintiffs, M and H, sought to recover damages for personal injuries they sustained when a vehicle driven by the defendant F and owned by the defendant T rear-ended the vehicle in which the plaintiffs were traveling. The defendants admitted that the accident resulted from F's negligence, and the trial was therefore limited to the issues of causation and damages. The plaintiffs introduced into evidence their medical records and bills, including reports by their chiropractor, P, in which P diagnosed M and H with, inter alia, various injuries to and conditions 343 Conn. 150 MAY, 2022 151 Maldonado v. Flannery associated with their necks and backs that, in his opinion, were perma- nent in nature and would require future treatment. After the accident, M was treated approximately sixty-two times over the course of two years and H was treated approximately forty-nine times over the course of eight months, primarily at P's practice, and they each received chiro- practic manipulation of the spine and neck, application of hot and cold packs, electrical stimulation, and, on one occasion, an epidural steroid injection. M received two magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) scans, H receive one MRI, and they both were referred for physical therapy. The defendants' expert, L, agreed that the plaintiffs sustained injuries to their necks and backs as a result of the accident and that a period of physical therapy and chiropractic treatment was reasonable and nec- essary, but he disagreed with P that the length of their treatment was reasonable and that future treatment was necessary. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded them each economic damages but zero noneconomic damages for their pain and suffering. The verdict form indicated that the jury awarded the plaintiffs all of their respective claimed medical expenses for their hospital visits on the day of the accident, as well as their MRIs, X-rays, and physical therapy, but made slight reductions in the