Causey v. Hartford Accident Indemnity Company

1 Citing case

  1. Perry v. New Hampshire Ins. Co.

    233 So. 2d 362 (La. Ct. App. 1970)   Cited 2 times

    We are satisfied from our review of the record that plaintiff failed to give an accurate history of her back condition to Dr. Battalora and to Dr. Haslam, which conclusion is especially obvious from a comparison of the asymptomatic history related by plaintiff to Dr. Battalora with the back difficulties and various episodes of lumbosacral strain experienced by plaintiff during the years immediately preceding the accident in question. This inconsistency is further evidenced by plaintiff's judicial admissions in her pending workmen's compensation suit for total and permanent disability wherein she alleged she sustained, inter alia, a disabling back injury resulting from her fall at her place of employment with White Brothers Jewelry Store on November 28, 1963. (Defendant Exhibit No. 7) It is well settled that a medical opinion based on an inaccurate history given by the patient is of little value, Hawkins v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, 221 So.2d 588 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1969); Causey v. Hartford Accident Indemnity Company, 94 So.2d 128 (La.App. Orleans Cir. 1957), writ denied. We are satisfied from our review of the evidence that plaintiff has failed to prove by the requisite preponderance of the evidence that she sustained any more injury than a minor lumbosacral strain which caused some temporary aggravation of her preexisting back condition but which resulted in no permanent injury, nor do we feel plaintiff has carried the burden of proving that the accident sued on necessitated the spinal fusion which she subsequently underwent.