TTH Attorney Adam Kleiber recently won partial summary judgment in a Union County motor vehicle accident case brought by a plaintiff with limited tort coverage.  Plaintiff allegedly sustained a lower back injury in connection with the motor vehicle accident.  He underwent approximately nine months of conservative treatment before having a lumbar fusion surgery performed.  The Plaintiff produced an expert report opining that his back injury was substantially related to the accident.

Adam filed a Motion for partial summary judgment that sought to preclude Plaintiff from recovering non-economic damages due to his limited tort status.  In the Motion, Adam highlighted that Plaintiff had two decades worth of significant preexisting injuries, including chronic back pain, a prior lumbar fusion, diabetes, and a work-related right shoulder injury.  Adam further noted that Plaintiff continued to work the same job after the accident, and did not testify to any recreational activities that he was no longer able to engage in due to the accident.

In motor vehicle accident cases, a plaintiff’s limited tort status will bar the recovery of non-economic damages unless the plaintiff sustains a “serious injury.”  To pierce this threshold, a plaintiff will ordinarily need to demonstrate that he or she sustained a serious impairment of a bodily function.  In the instant case, Adam argued that Plaintiff failed to produce any objective medical evidence that would allow a jury to discern any significant dissimilarity between his physical condition prior to the accident and in the immediate aftermath of the accident.  In other words, given Plaintiff’s longstanding impairments, there was no evidence that the alleged back injury further impaired his ability to function in everyday life.  The Court agreed with Adam’s argument and held that “Plaintiff cannot . . . reasonably argue that there was any significant dissimilarity between his pre-accident and post-accident condition; or that he sustained a ‘serious injury’ as a result of the accident.”  Therefore, the Court held, as a matter of law, that Plaintiff was not able to recover non-economic damages, and partial summary judgment was entered in favor of Adam and his client.

Questions about this case can be directed to Adam Kleiber at (717) 237-7157 or akleiber@tthlaw.com.