CANDACE SCOTT VS. MICHAEL I. GOLDBERGER, M.D. (L-2185-16, MORRIS COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) ( 2021 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE
APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the
internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY
APPELLATE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. A-2245-19
CANDACE SCOTT and
DONALD SCOTT, her
husband,
Plaintiffs-Respondents,
v.
MICHAEL I. GOLDBERGER, M.D.,
MARIANNE CABEZAS, PA-C, and
TRI-COUNTY ORTHOPEDICS,
Defendants-Appellants.
______________________________
Argued October 12, 2021 – Decided November 24, 2021
Before Judges Sumners and Vernoia.
On appeal the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law
Division, Morris County, Docket No. L-2185-16.
Walter F. Kawalec, III, argued the cause for appellants
(Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin,
attorneys; Walter F. Kawalec, III, and Robert T. Evers,
on the briefs).
Bruce H. Nagel argued the cause for respondents
(Nagel Rice, LLP, attorneys; Bruce H. Nagel and Susan
Fetten Connors, of counsel and on the brief; Emma
McElliott, on the brief).
PER CURIAM
In this medical malpractice lawsuit, a jury found defendants Michael I.
Goldberger, M.D., and Tri-County Orthopedics liable for deviating from the
applicable standard of care with respect to treatment provided to plaintiff
Candace Scott following surgical repair of her torn peroneal tendon. The jury
awarded Candace1 and her husband, plaintiff Donald Scott, a total of $550,000
in damages.
Defendants contend the trial judge abused his discretion by: (1) denying
their motions for mistrial that were made during and after the trial on the basis
they were not informed that Candace's trial testimony would differ from her
deposition testimony regarding the name of the person she spoke to at
defendants' office seeking post-surgery advice, and (2) refusing to let defendants
present an avoidable-consequences argument by cross-examining plaintiffs'
expert to prove Candace was responsible for her emergency surgery caused by
blood clots following repair of her torn peroneal tendon. We disagree and affirm
substantially for the reasons articulated by the judge in his rulings.
1
For convenience, we refer to plaintiffs by their first names because they have
the same last name. We mean no disrespect.
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2
I
On October 13, 2014, after initially examining and treating Candace on
May 29, 2014, for lingering left-ankle pain and swelling, Dr. Goldberger, an
employee of Tri-County Orthopedics, successfully performed a surgical repair
of her torn peroneal tendon. Four days later, on October 17, Candace had a
follow-up visit with Dr. Goldberger, who instructed her to begin a daily regimen
of 325 milligrams of aspirin to thin her blood to prevent clotting, and if blood
clots formed, to prevent them from propagating. In addition, the doctor directed
his physician's assistant, defendant Marianne Cabezas, PA-C,2 to replace a splint
on Candace's left foot with a cast. Cabezas placed a cast just below Candace's
kneecap that covered her lower leg and foot, ending short of her toes.3
According to Candace, she told Cabezas the cast was "very tight." Cabezas
replied that it is supposed to be tight.
In Candace's next visit on October 24, she complained to Dr. Goldberger
about bruising of her left leg caused by the cast. Cabezas removed and replaced
the cast, with the new one being about two inches lower from her kneecap. The
doctor did not return to examine Candace, nor did he order any diagnostic tests.
2
Shortly before trial, claims against Cabezas was dismissed with prejudice.
3
A cast that is split down both sides.
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Candace had office visits on October 29 and November 7, voicing her
complaints to Dr. Goldberger regarding continuing leg pain and lack of feelings
in her toes. At the later visit, Cabezas removed the cast and a male staff person
replaced it. Dr. Goldberger was not present when the cast was replaced and did
not return to examine Candace before she left.
On November 9, while at a delicatessen after attending church, Candace
fell off her scooter,4 landing on the right side of her body. When her right leg
began to bruise, she called Dr. Goldberger's office on November 13 and 14 5 to
find out if she should stop taking aspirin. When Dr. Goldberger failed to return
her call her within the next few days, she stopped taking aspirin because her
bruises worsened.
On November 18, Dr. Goldberger examined Candace and, due to her left
calf swelling, ordered a Doppler study. The study revealed she had extensive
4
The scooter allowed her to place her surgically repaired left leg on a seat while
using her right leg to maneuver.
5
Candace did not specifically testify that this was the date but because she fell
on Sunday, November 9, 2014, and did not begin calling Tri-County
Orthopedics until that next Thursday, the date of the first phone call would be
November 13. These dates are consistent with plaintiffs' orthopedic surgery
expert, Dr. Harvey Sicherman, who referred to these phone calls as the ones that
occurred on November 13 and 14.
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blood clotting in the left-ankle region and proceeding up her leg and through her
pelvic region. Consequently, she had two emergency surgeries to restore blood
flow.
This medical malpractice action ensued in which plaintiffs asserted
defendants deviated from the applicable standard of care, causing them
damages. Discovery proceeded and the case went to trial, resulting in the jury
finding that Dr. Goldberger and Tri-County Orthopedics were liable to Candace.
Damages were awarded in the amount of $500,000 to Candace for pain and
suffering, disability, impairment, and loss of enjoyment of life; and $50,000 was
awarded to Donald on a per quod claim for loss of his wife's services,
companionship, and society. 6 During and after the trial, the judge denied
defendants' motions for mistrial, which form the basis of this appeal.
6
At trial, plaintiffs also presented a theory that Dr. Goldberger had negligently
supervised Cabezas. The jury disagreed and found in favor of defendants.
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II
Before us, defendants argue the judge abused his discretion in denying
their motion for a mistrial. They sought a mistrial, claiming they were
prejudiced by a "trial by ambush" when Candace testified that she spoke to Tri-
County Orthopedics's scheduling secretary, Tiffany Rodriguez, during the
November 13 and 14 telephone calls which differed from her deposition
testimony that she spoke to x-ray technician, Mercedes Peralta. Defendants
argue that plaintiffs' counsel violated her ethical duty under McKenney v. Jersey
City Med. Ctr, 167 N.J. 359 (2001), to inform them before trial of Candace's
material change in testimony. They assert this lack of notice of a substantial
change in testimony constituted a manifest injustice requiring a mistrial.
To provide context, we discuss the controverted testimony. At her
deposition, Candace, who had been Dr. Goldberger's patient for about five years
prior to her peroneal tendon surgery, testified she had "always worked with"
Mercedes7 when she called to schedule her appointments with Dr. Goldberger
during 2014. According to Candace, Tri-County Orthopedics has "like a tree[-
]chain [answering service] or something. [She] had the number for Dr.
7
We refer to Mercedes by her first name, as well as Tiffany, because this is
how they are mentioned throughout the record. We mean no disrespect.
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Goldberger's team. Whenever [she] called, it would always be Mercedes." She
indicated that Mercedes was always diligent and responsive.
During her deposition, Candace also said that after her fall at the
delicatessen, she tried calling Mercedes the following Thursday, November 13.
There was no answer. She left a voicemail message explaining her fall and
bruising down her right leg that attributed to taking aspirin. Her call was not
returned. She called again the next afternoon, November 14. Again, she left a
voicemail message. This time she said, "if I don't hear from anybody[,] I'll
assume that there is no problem with my stopping the aspirin." No one called
her, so she stopped taking aspirin on that Saturday. She testified that on Sunday
morning she "noticed that [her] left leg from the calf down was larger than [her]
right. It was scary, it was really scary." On Monday morning, Cabezas called
her and an appointment was scheduled for Tuesday, November 18. Candace
stated this was the first time she spoke to Cabezas on the phone. At the
appointment, Dr. Goldberg saw her and ordered the Doppler study.
At trial, during her direct examination, Candace said that following her
fall at the delicatessen, she tried to call Tiffany, not Mercedes, seeking direction
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on whether she should continue to take aspirin.8 She recalled speaking to
Tiffany, who was at the front desk at her October 17 appointment. Defense
counsel's objection to the change in testimony was overruled. Candace followed
by explaining her mental mistake in confusing the two women. On cross-
examination, defense counsel, over plaintiffs' counsel's objection, was allowed
to attack Candace's credibility about the Tiffany/Mercedes discrepancy. In fact,
despite still having Tiffany's business card from her October 17 appoi ntment,
Candace admitted she tried to speak to Mercedes and did not mention
Tiffanyuntil the trial.
At the conclusion of Candace's testimony, defendants moved for mistrial ,
claiming, as they do now, plaintiffs' counsel's failure to notify them that Candace
would change her deposition testimony by stating she tried to speak to Mercedes
warranted a mistrial under McKenney. Plaintiff's counsel acknowledged she
knew before trial that Candace was going to change the name of the person she
spoke to in her testimony. Defendants' motion was denied without prejudice,
8
Dr. Goldberger testified during trial that no such telephone calls were made
because, had they been, either a live operator or the office's answering service
would have responded to Candace.
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allowing them to renew it at the trial's conclusion. Following the trial, their
renewed mistrial motion was also denied.9
Upon weighing the parties' arguments, Judge W. Hunt Dumont determined
Candace's change in testimony was not material to any issue in the case to
warrant a mistrial. The judge reasoned:
[W]hen all is said and done, I regard this as a mistake
in the names and the testimony involving the change in
the names, while it had some impact on [Candace's]
credibility, it didn't have enough of an impact for the
jury to disbelieve [her]. And her testimony at her
deposition was really consistent with her trial testimony
except for the name change.
And while . . . the name change did result in a surprise
to [d]efense [c]ounsel, and you could argue, as he did,
as a good attorney, that it was a McKenn[e]y situation,
nonetheless, when all is said and done, I believe that it
was completely neutralized because it was a phone call
that was made with respect to the cessation of aspirin
therapy, and the aspirin therapy was stopped when
[Candace] did not receive a return call the day before
she got the return call. And no harm was done because
aspirin became an issue strictly because it implied some
type of fault by [Candace], and I wanted to make sure
that the jury did not weigh her fault against the fault of
[Dr. Goldberger], because that's not allowed.
9
We note that defendants' post-trial motion was for a mistrial rather than a Rule
4:49-1 motion for a new trial. The standard for granting the respective motions
is the same. Pressler & Verniero, Current N.J. Court Rules, cmt. 1.5 on R.
4:49-1 (2022).
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Comparative negligence is not allowed in this situation.
You don't compare [Candace's] conduct against [Dr.
Goldberger's] conduct. [Dr. Goldberger's] conduct,
was he negligent, was he not negligent, is to be viewed
in its own right without any reference to what
[Candace] did.
Also, in finding no prejudice, the judge distinguished this case from
McKenney:
Here, [unlike in McKenney,] the change arose during
[Candace's] own testimony. There was time to defend
it, there was time to bring in Tiffany, whether Tiffany
was on the witness list or not does not matter. The
[c]ourt would have allowed it because of the surprise to
[defense counsel]. Tiffany was not brought in, and
while yes, the rules at this point do everything they can
to eliminate unfair surprises during trial, trials are not
perfect. No one gets a perfect trial, they get a fair trial.
And under the circumstances, this was a fair trial, and
the motion for a mistrial is denied.
Having reviewed the record, we affirm substantially for the reasons stated
by Judge Dumont in his thoughtful oral opinion. We add the following
comments.
It is within a trial court's discretion to deny the extraordinary remedy of a
mistrial. Mistrials should only be granted "with the greatest caution, under
urgent circumstances, and for very plain and obvious causes." State v. Loyal,
164 N.J. 418, 436 (2000) (citation omitted). The question turns on whether
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continuance of the trial and submission of the case to the jury would result in
manifest injustice. Wright v. Bernstein, 23 N.J. 284, 296 (1957). A trial judge
should therefore exercise her or his discretion to grant a mistrial "with great
reluctance, and only in cases of clear injustice. . . . Neither trial nor appellate
courts may grant a new trial unless it clearly appears there was a miscarriage of
justice." Boryszewski v. Burke, 380 N.J. Super. 361, 391 (App. Div. 2005). In
considering the denial of a mistrial, our review depends "very largely on the
'feel' of the case which the trial judge has at the time." Greenberg v. Stanley, 30
N.J. 485, 503 (1959). Hence, we defer to a judge's decision not to declare a
mistrial absent an abuse of discretion. Ibid.There was no abuse of discretion by Judge Dumont in denying defendants'
motion for mistrial. Defendants' reliance on McKenney is misplaced. Candace's
changed testimony was unlike the material and prejudicial change in McKenney.
There, the plaintiffs sued the Jersey City Medical Center (JCMC) and several of
its staff members involved in the birth of their child who was afflicted with spina
bifida. McKenney, 167 N.J. at 364. The plaintiffs asserted the defendants failed
to inform them about their child's condition, claiming that such information
should have been seen on sonograms prior to the time an abortion could have
been lawfully performed. Ibid. In deposition testimony, one of the defendants,
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Dr. Long-Gue Hu, Chief Obstetric/Gynecological resident at JCMC,
acknowledged viewing the scans well in advance of the child's birth. Id. at 366.
However, at trial, Dr. Hu changed his testimony, stating that upon review of a
JCMC sonogram logbook that plaintiffs' counsel had unsuccessfully sought
during discovery, he determined that he probably did not review the sonogram
until weeks later after an abortion was no longer an option. Id. at 366-67.
Another witness, a certified ultrasound sonographer, who was an original
defendant but was dismissed on summary judgment, also changed her testimony
during trial from what she initially provided in her deposition. Id. at 367. It
was later revealed that defense counsel learned of the testimony changes the
night before trial and failed to notify plaintiffs' counsel. Id. at 369.
The McKenney Court held a mistrial was warranted because the two
changes in testimony required the plaintiffs to develop entirely new theories on
liability and damages because changes made by: (1) the ultrasound sonographer
suggested that she may, in fact, have had a role to play in causing the parents'
injury, but she had been dismissed from the case because her earlier testimony
had suggested the opposite; and (2) Dr. Hu intimated that he did not review the
sonogram until after it was impossible for the plaintiffs to seek a legal abortion,
but their action was based on their belief that a legal abortion would have been
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possible because he had reviewed the sonogram at an earlier date. Id. at 373-
75.
The Court concluded:
For [the] plaintiffs to proceed to trial without being
informed of the surprise testimony created a "'make
believe' scenario [for the plaintiffs], the legal
equivalent of half a deck." [The] [p]laintiffs went to
trial misled by false information. Hence, the failure to
grant a mistrial was an abuse of discretion.
[Id. at 375-76 (2001) (citations omitted).]
In this case, Judge Dumont did not abuse his discretion in denying the
motion for a mistrial, as the changed testimony was hardly akin to that which
justified a new trial in McKenney. The judge correctly found Candace's changed
testimony about whom she spoke to at defendants' office—Tiffany or
Mercedes—did not affect a material or significant issue before the jury.
Candace's change in testimony regarding whom she called before deciding to
cease her aspirin regimen was not a material issue because, as will be discussed
in detail below, the judge correctly determined that the "[a]spirin's out of the
case," and therefore her comparative negligence was not an issue to be decided
by the jury.
Moreover, assuming Candace's change in testimony was material, there
was no prejudice to defendant to warrant a mistrial as was the situation in
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McKenney. Candace's change in testimony speaks only to her credibility.
Defendants argue had they known she was going to change her testimony from
speaking with Mercedes to Tiffany, they would have had more time to prepare
a stronger case as to why the jury should not have believed her account of the
phone-call timeline and, in turn, rejected Dr. Sicherman's conclusion that Dr.
Goldberg had deviated from the standard of care. Defendants, however, were
given an opportunity to make these credibility attacks. The judge, over
plaintiff's counsel's objection, allowed defense counsel to spend ample time
cross-examining Candace about to whom she spoke and stressing the
inconsistencies between her deposition and trial testimony, getting her to admit
she had Tiffany's business card all along.
III
Defendants additionally contend the judge should have permitted them "to
present [avoidable consequences] evidence, under Ostrowski [v. Azzara, 111
N.J. 429 (1988)], that a portion of the harm [Candace] allegedly suffered was
caused by her lack of ordinary care in stopping her aspirin regimen without being
instructed to do so by Dr. Goldberger." Defendants contend they should have
been able to present such evidence through plaintiffs' orthopedic surgery expert
Dr. Sicherman.
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Dr. Sicherman testified on direct examination that Dr. Goldberger twice
deviated from the standard of care. He first opined the doctor failed to return
Candace's November 13 and 14 telephone calls, seeking guidance on whether
she should continue to stay on her aspirin regiment. He then contended that Dr.
Goldberger's failure to order the Doppler study in a timely manner allowed deep-
vein thrombosis and extensive, propagated blood clotting to develop throughout
Candace's lower body. He asserted that when Candace told Dr. Goldberger
about her pain, swelling, and cast tightness in her late-October and early-
November visits, a Doppler study should have been performed.
Defendants sought to discredit Dr. Sicherman's testimony on
cross-examination by showing that Candace's decision to stop taking aspirin
contributed to her blood-clot propagation, as Dr. Sicherman had indicated at his
deposition. Plaintiffs countered that Candace's potential fault was not an issue
in the case, and that the judge had already instructed the jury that it could not
consider Candace's own conduct when deciding if Dr. Goldberger was negligent.
The judge noted that while the jury could not consider Candace stopping her
aspirin regimen to determine if she was comparatively negligent, it could
determine if her damages should be mitigated under the doctrine of avoidable
consequences.
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Plaintiffs then contended that defendants' evidence of Candace's potential
fault under avoidable consequences could not come from the cross-examination
of Dr. Sicherman, when defendants' expert was silent on the issue. In fact, the
judge pointed out the defense expert opined in his report that it was appropriate
for Candace to stop taking the aspirin after her fall. After conducting a Rule
104 hearing, the judge held defendants would not be allowed to elicit testimony
from Dr. Sicherman regarding Candace's decision to stop taking her aspirin
because "[a]spirin's out of the case."
The doctrine of avoidable consequences "proceeds on the theory that a
plaintiff who has suffered an injury as the proximate result of a tort cannot
recover for any portion of the harm that by the exercise of ordinary care he [or
she] could have avoided." Ostrowski, 111 N.J. at 437. In its application to
medical malpractice claims, "[t]he underlying rationale is that once a patient
comes under a physician's care, the law can justly expect the patient to cooperate
with the physician in their mutual interests." Cohen v. Cmty. Med. Ctr., 386
N.J. Super. 387, 400 (App. Div. 2006) (citing Ostrowski, 111 N.J. at 445). "As
opposed to contributory negligence, the doctrine of avoidable consequences
'normally comes into action when the injured party's carelessness occurs after
the defendant's legal wrong has been committed.'" Russo Farms v. Vineland Bd.
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of Educ., 144 N.J. 84, 108-09 (1996) (quoting Ostrowski, 111 N.J. at 438).
Avoidable consequences are thus "[limited to] consideration of a plaintiff's fault
to the time period that begins after a defendant's wrongful conduct." Del Tufo
v. Twp. of Old Bridge, 147 N.J. 90, 120 (1996) (citing Ostrowski, 111 N.J. at
438). "Unlike comparative negligence, the doctrine of avoidable consequences
is not a defense to liability and serves only to mitigate damages." Komlodi v.
Picciano, 217 N.J. 387, 412 (2014). The doctrine "will reduce a recovery
because a plaintiff cannot claim as damages the additional injury [ a plaintiff]
causes to herself [or himself] after a defendant commits a tortious act." Id. at
412-13. For instance, "[a] plaintiff whose broken wrist is wrongly set by a
surgeon cannot claim increased damages when, against doctor's orders, [the
patient] causes additional harm to [the] wrist while playing tennis." Id. at 413.
Guided by these principles, we conclude Judge Dumont did not err in refusing
to allow defendants to apply the doctrine of avoidable consequences.
We preface our analysis with the acknowledgement that it is permissible
for a party—in this case defendants—to cross-examine or call to testify an
opposing expert, or witness, to establish facts to support their trial strategy.
Fitzgerald v. Stanley Roberts, Inc., 186 N.J. 286, 301-02 (2006) (citations
omitted) ("Even an expert whose knowledge has been purchased cannot be
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silenced by the party who is paying him on that ground alone."); see also
Lazorick v. Brown, 195 N.J. Super. 444, 454 (App. Div. 1984) ("As a general
proposition . . . no party to litigation has anything resembling a proprietary right
to any witness's evidence."). Defendants sought to highlight Dr. Sicherman's
deposition testimony that the aspirin Candace was taking was to "prevent[]
propagation of the clot"; and once she stopped taking her aspirin in mid-
November, "the platelets that were being produced were not under the influence
. . . of aspirin so these were clottable platelets, and that's when things started to
propagate." Once the Doppler study was ordered a few days later, Candace's
injuries were revealed. Nevertheless, this strategy was an improper application
of avoidable consequences.
Plaintiffs alleged propagation of the blood clots was due to Dr.
Goldberger's negligence by not ordering the Doppler study when she complained
on two occasions prior to her November 18 appointment and when he failed to
return her November 13 and 14 phone calls concerning continuation of the
aspirin regimen. Under the avoidable consequences doctrine, Candace's
comparative negligence was not an issue. Her decision to discontinue taking
aspirin was not admissible because that decision, and the attendant damages,
were the result of defendants' negligence. Even though Dr. Sicherman could be
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a permissible source from whom defendants could elicit testimony to make their
case, the purpose of the sought-after testimony––not to limit plaintiffs' damages
but to eliminate or minimize defendants' negligence––rendered it inadmissible.
Thus, Judge Dumont did not abuse his discretion in prohibiting defendants from
eliciting this testimony, and, in turn, denying their mistrial requests.
IV
Finally, defendants argue that the cumulative effect of the errors by Judge
Dumont require a new trial. In a cumulative error analysis, "we consider the
aggregate effect of the trial [judge's] errors on the fairness of the trial." Torres
v. Pabon, 225 N.J. 167, 191 (2016). As detailed above, we discern no error
based upon our careful review of the record. Thus, there was no cumulative
effect that impacted the fairness of the proceedings.
Affirmed.
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