Negligence : Damages – Medical Expenses – Hearsay Testimony

(1)Where a plaintiff who was injured when racks at a toy store fell on her sought a new trial, challenging her jury award of $7,216 in damages, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding medical evidence that the plaintiff provided as supplementation two days before trial as unseasonable and prejudicial to the defendant, and the plaintiff did not show that the interrogatory request was generic.

(2)Where a plaintiff injured by falling racks in a toy store argued that the trial court erred by failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing, the court did not err because the evidence that the plaintiff intended to present would be inadmissible at trial.

(3)Where a plaintiff in a personal injury action against a toy store challenged the admission of testimony of an expert, the trial court did not err because the plaintiff herself admitted an exhibit from which the expert’s testimony was derived, and the testimony regarding the term “secondary gain” was not prejudicial.

Judgment is affirmed.

Saulsberry v. U.S. Toy Company, Inc. (MLW No. 68183/Case No. WD77562 – 21 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Gabbert, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Byrn, J. (Edward Robertson, Nimrod Thomas Chapel, Anthony Louis Dewitt and Michael Christopher Rader for appellant) (James W. Fletcher and Jo Stephanie Warmund, Kansas City, Missouri, for respondent).

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