Client Advisory

In Estate of Bainlardi v. Home Depot, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that the trial court had misused its discretion in admitting evidence of plaintiff’s prior medical history and falls where no competent medical opinion had been introduced attributing the subject injury to her medical condition or falls. The Court vacated the jury’s verdict and remanded the case for a new trial.

This claim arose when Bainlardi, a 79-year-old woman, fell while shopping at Home Depot. She was using a rolling walker when its front wheel collided with a bolt of a structural column situated in the middle of the store’s garden center. Before trial, the court denied Bainlardi’s limine motions to bar evidence of her prior falls, medical history, and use of a handicapped placard. At trial, defense counsel read Bainlardi’s deposition testimony regarding two prior falls, and an expert witness was cross-examined as to her prior medical history and falls. The jury found for Home Depot, finding that, although Home Depot was negligent, its negligence was not the proximate cause for Bainlardi’s fall.

The Appellate Division vacated the jury’s verdict and remanded for a new trial, finding that the evidence had the capacity to create an unjust result. The Court explained that evidence of plaintiff’s medical conditions and prior falls required expert testimony, especially where a reasonable explanation was provided for the cause of her fall: the bolt. Without competent medical opinion that plaintiff’s fall was attributable to her medical conditions or prior falls, the Court found this evidence was not probative and was highly prejudicial.

Key Takeaway: Additional consideration and caution should be given to the decision to proceed to trial without a responding expert where the opinions at issue relate to medical causation or other specialized issues.