HARRISBURG – The Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently upheld an Adams County court decision, which denied a new trial to a plaintiff who sued after being involved in a car accident – finding that her prior conviction for crimes of deceit and use of narcotic pain medications effectively tainted her credibility.
Superior Court judges Mary Jane Bowes, Alice Beck Dubow and Kate Ford Elliott affirmed the Feb. 13 decision reached by the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, in the matter of appellant Jaime Mongi against appellee Virginia Zavala-Gomez. Dubow authored the opinion for the Court.
“Upon review, we discern no abuse of the trial court’s discretion in denying appellant’s post-trial motion, in which she sought a new trial based on the weight of the evidence. We affirm on the basis of the trial court’s opinion filed Feb. 12, 2020,” Dubow stated.
In its opinion, the Adams County Court of Common Pleas set forth the case’s underlying facts.
On July 19, 2015, Mongi was involved in a minor vehicle accident with Zavala-Gomez while stopped at a gas station. Mongi had an extensive history of medical treatments for her back and knees. Although she denied to local police that she had sustained any injury and drove her vehicle several hours home from the location of the accident, Mongi later claimed that the accident had aggravated her pre-existing conditions.
“Appellant commenced this litigation. On Nov. 7, 2019, following a brief trial, a jury determined that appellee had not caused appellant’s injuries. Appellant timely filed a post-trial motion, requesting a new trial based on the weight of the evidence,” Dubow said.
“The trial court denied this motion, noting that the evidence in appellee’s favor was overwhelming. Appellant timely appealed and filed a court-ordered Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure 1925(b) Statement. The trial court issued a responsive opinion.”
But Mongi contended that the trial court abused its discretion, in denying her request for a new trial based on the weight of the evidence and appealed to the Superior Court.
The Superior Court explained its review of a weight claim “is a review of the trial court’s exercise of discretion, not of the underlying question of whether the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.”
Dubow opined that Mongi “did not develop an argument in support of the issue identified in her statement of questions”, but instead “pursues a specific and novel legal claim that the jury’s verdict was manifestly unreasonable, because she presented purportedly incontrovertible evidence from a medical expert.”
As a result of not preserving this argument in either her post-trial motion or her Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure 1925(b) Statement, or being fairly implied by her general challenge to the weight of the evidence, Dubow and company deemed it waived.
“Following our review of the record, the briefs of the parties, the applicable law, and the trial court opinion, we discern no abuse of the trial court’s discretion in denying appellant’s challenge to the weight of the evidence,” Dubow said.
“The Honorable Thomas R. Campbell has authored a well-reasoned opinion, citing the record and relevant case law and concluding that the jury’s verdict did not shock its sense of justice. Thus, no relief is due.”
Dubow added this affirmance was due to (1) The evidence supported a finding that the accident was minor; (2) Zavala-Gomez effectively questioned Mongi’s credibility by introducing evidence of her prior conviction for a crimen falsi; (3) Mongi conceded extensive pre-existing conditions and ongoing treatment, including narcotic pain-killers several times per day; (4) Zavala-Gomez effectively disputed Mongi’s expert opinion through cross-examination; and (5) The evidence supported a finding that Mongi’s pain and physical limitations were unrelated to her accident with Zavala-Gomez.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania case 1977 MDA 2019
Adams County Court of Common Pleas case 2017-SU-0000785
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com