January 28, 2025. The Georgia Court of Appeals Affirmed a defense verdict obtained at trial in the State Court of Fulton County.
The underlying case case arose out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on July 12, 2021 in Woodstock, Georgia when the Plaintiff was driving his work van and Defendant made a left turn from a business parking lot and pulled out in front of the Plaintiff’s vehicle causing the collision. Both vehicles were drivable and no citations were issued. Neither party reported injury at the scene. The defendant admitted negligence, and the issues for the jury were causation and damages. The case was tried to a jury in January 2024 and the plaintiff asked the jury to award all of the past medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering in a total amount of $650,000. The defense asked the jury to return a defense verdict arguing that the treatment was related to chronic degenerative conditions and not the car accident. Ultimately, the jury deliberated for approximately 1 hour before returning a defense verdict.
The Plaintiff appealed the verdict arguing that the Plaintiff was improperly impeached with a prior medical record which was not disclosed to him prior to trial. The record in question was from a medical facility located in Mississippi. The Defendant had filed a notice of intent to introduce medical records listing the facility in question and listed the records from that facility in the pre trial order. In his appeal brief, Plaintiff repeatedly referred to the record in question as “surprise evidence.” The record in question was relevant at trial because at trial, the Plaintiff denied having ever injured his back or neck in a prior accident, the record in question refuted that. Plaintiff objected to the use of the record and the Court overruled that objection.
On appeal, Plaintiff contended that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing the impeachment with the subject medical record. The Court of Appeals found the record was not undisclosed as Plaintiff had been served with a Notice of Intent and the record was listed in the pre trial Order as documentary evidence. They further found that it was proper to allow impeachment with the Plaintiff’s prior medical records consistent with longstanding precedent under Barone v. Law.
The Court of Appeals Case number is A24A1215, the Opinion can be downloaded here.
The original case was The Case is Isaac Smith vs Julia A. Mizer, State Court of Fulton County CAFN 21-EV-007338.
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