A Frackville chiropractor received $5,000 from a Schuylkill County jury on Monday at the end of a one-day trial resulting from an accident in December 2007 at Schuylkill Mall.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated approximately 1 1/2 hours before agreeing on the damages suffered by Richard T. Adams Jr. at the hands of Marlin Weyant, Tamaqua, on Dec. 21, 2007. Jurors awarded nothing to Michelle Adams, Richard's wife.
Weyant had conceded the accident was his fault, and that Adams was injured, so the only question for jurors to decide was how bad those injuries were.
"It's head pain," Adams testified to the jurors and Judge James P. Goodman, who presided over the trial. "My body was thrown forward. It was very fast."
"Did you have any physical limitations?" Stephen T. Carpenito, Pottsville, Adams' lawyer, asked his client of his condition before the accident.
"No, I did not," Adams answered. "I had no problems whatsoever."
However, Dr. Milind J. Kothari, Hershey, Weyant's main witness, testified that Adams had no nerve injury and that he would not put him under any restrictions.
"It's purely subjective," Kothari testified in a videotaped deposition.
Kothari did say that Adams could have suffered a cervical strain or whiplash in the accident.
Christopher Reeser, Harrisburg, Weyant's lawyer, stressed in his closing argument that the vehicles were going about 15 mph at the time of the accident.
"This was not the type of accident that causes permanent, debilitating injuries," Reeser said.
He also told the jurors that Adams changed his version of the accident, testifying that he had hit his head after not having said that in his pre-trial deposition.
Carpenito said in his closing argument that his client was not exaggerating and had been consistent in his complaint.
"What he has are excruciating headaches," Carpenito told jurors. "He has them every day. It interferes with his practice. It interferes with his life."
Carpenito, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of his clients on Oct. 10, 2008, also said that his client deserved to be fairly compensated for something that was not his fault.
"He didn't ask for this," Carpenito said of his client.
In the only other civil trial that started on Monday in the county court, testimony started in the medical malpractice lawsuit filed by Theresa and Nick Michels, Pottsville, against Dr. Myron D. Haas, Dr. Thomas D. Guastavino and Orthopedic Associates of Pottsville Inc.
The lawsuit alleges that improper treatment caused Theresa Michels to suffer reflex sympathy dystrophy, while defendants allege she suffers from that condition as a result of a fall, not their treatment.
The jury trial, which is presided over by Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin, is scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. today.