Nicole Beamon v. Maycin H. Grant (2011)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

A Hearing in Damages was conducted before the undersigned on March 4, 2011, the defendant having been defaulted for failure to appear on July 20, 2007, and no later appearance having been filed.

The plaintiff testified to being asleep in bed in her first-floor Waterbury apartment on October 30, 2004, when she was awakened in the middle of the night to find the bed in which she had been sleeping “folded in half” with her squeezed in the middle and ceiling plaster on her head and body.   A vehicle operated by the defendant had been driven across the lawn of the property tenanted by the plaintiff, crashed into a wall of the home, and caused the ceiling of the plaintiff's bedroom to fall upon her.   The vehicle (a Ford Explorer) was found outside the building with the driver's door open and unoccupied.   The plaintiff's sister, who had been staying the night with the plaintiff, called for an ambulance in response to her sister's inability to remove herself from her collapsed bed and her complaint of pain.

She was taken to St. Mary's Emergency Room and was seen there primarily by Dr. Alan Couture.   Then eighteen (18) years old, and in response to complaints of pain, the patient had x-rays of her cervical and thoracic spines, her chest and pelvis, and her left foot.   She had a CT scan of her head and cervical spine.   Multiple contusions were observed and she was evaluated for a head injury.   The x-rays were read as negative with the exception of a nondisplaced oblique fracture of the distal end of the proximal phalanx of the left second toe (without involvement of the PIP joint) which was treated by wrapping and minimal straightening of the upper cervical lordosis without fracture or discoloration.

Her neck and back pains resolved within a day of the incident but the left foot injury continued painful for approximately one week.   She has not been assessed a permanency.   A student at the time, she testified to no time lost from class nor does she claim lost wages.   Though clearly “scared” at the time of the incident, she asserts no claim for continuing emotional distress and she continues to be employed by a cosmetology business and to care for two young children now ages seven (7) and one and one-half (1–1/2) years.

The court has carefully reviewed the plaintiff's medical bills in the amount of $4,160.86 (for emergency room care, x-rays, CT scans, and the Franklin Medical Group [who attended in the emergency room] ).   Full Exhibits # 1 and # 2 chronicle her treatment at St. Mary's Hospital.   The plaintiff has established the above referenced injuries were proximately caused by the defendant's negligent operation as a result of his loss of control of the vehicle he was operating and the timely failure to apply his brakes so as to avoid contact with the plaintiff's residence.¹

Judgment for the plaintiff enters this date in the total amount of Twenty–One Thousand Dollars ($21,000.00) of which $4,160.86 represents economic damages and $16,839.14 represents non-economic damages.

SHEEDY, J.

FOOTNOTES

FN1. The plaintiff has asserted a cause of action for recklessness in Count Two of her complaint—specifically, a violation of Connecticut General Statute § 14–218a (traveling unreasonably fast) and Connecticut General Statute § 14–222 (reckless driving upon a public highway, road, or parking area for ten [10] or more, cars).   No evidence to establish the defendant's speed prior to impact was offered at trial..  FN1. The plaintiff has asserted a cause of action for recklessness in Count Two of her complaint—specifically, a violation of Connecticut General Statute § 14–218a (traveling unreasonably fast) and Connecticut General Statute § 14–222 (reckless driving upon a public highway, road, or parking area for ten [10] or more, cars).   No evidence to establish the defendant's speed prior to impact was offered at trial.

Sheedy, Barbara J., J.