A plaintiff relying on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur may not survive a motion for directed verdict at the close of all the proof if the defendant's evidence concerning the cause of the plaintiff's injury is so strong that reasonable persons could draw no conclusion other than that the injury was not caused by the defendant's negligence. Poor Sisters of St. Francis v. Long, 190 Tenn. at 442-43, 230 S.W.2d at 663; Swiney v. Malone Freight Lines, 545 S.W.2d 112, 116 (Tenn.Ct.App. 1976). The res ipsa loquitur doctrine addresses only two of the five elements of a common-law negligence claim.

Restatement (Second) Torts § 328D, comment g at 161. The plaintiff relies on Swiney v. Malone Freight Lines, 545 S.W.2d 112 (Tenn. App. 1976); while it is factually similar to the case at bar, Swiney is not relevant to the case before us as Tennessee law does not require the elimination of other responsible causes for an accident. It is well established that the findings of a trial justice sitting without a jury will not be disturbed on appeal unless the trial justice was clearly wrong or overlooked or misconceived material evidence.

We see no reason why the competent testimony of the injured spouse or a third party cannot be used to support a consortium claim, though undoubtedly a claimant's direct testimony would be both more definitive and more persuasive.See Swiney v. Malone Freight Lines, 545 S.W.2d 112, 117 (Tenn.App. 1976) (spouse injured in automobile accident): [Defendants] contend that the proof does not justify an award of $1000 to Mrs. Swiney for loss of her husband's service and consortium because, according to their principal contention, she did not testify nor participate in the trial.

Finally, the Tennessee Court of Appeals held the defendants' claim that the plaintiff wife's failure to testify precluded her recovery on a claim of loss of consortium to be meritless, relying on the "proof as to the injuries and disabilities of her husband. . . ." Swiney v Malone Freight Lines, 545 S.W.2d 112, 117 (Tenn App, 1976). Given the apparent absence of any authority to the contrary, see anno: Excessiveness or adequacy of damages awarded for noneconomic loss caused by personal injury or death of spouse, 61 ALR4th 309, 317 (accepting Burns, supra, as authority for its conclusion that failure to testify "does not appear to be significant" for a claim of loss of consortium), we find the rationale underlying the decisions of the foreign courts to be equally persuasive in Michigan.

The very heart of the res ipsa doctrine is the principle that the injury complained of does not ordinarily occur absent negligence on the part of the person who has the instrumentality used in his exclusive control. See Brown v. University Nursing Home, Inc. (1972 Tenn. App., M.S.) 496 S.W.2d 503; Swiney v. Malone Freight Lines (1976 Tenn. App., E.S.) 545 S.W.2d 112. The Court cannot take judicial notice that whenever an injection is given which causes pain and swelling, negligence is ordinarily present, especially so when the proof is to the contrary.