Mottershaw v. Ledbetter

Supreme Court of Alabama

County | 148 So. 3d 45 | Nov. 8, 2013


New Trial was Granted Because Jury may have been Unduly Influenced by Exposure to Dismissed Evidence

Venoria Womack underwent a CT scan of her sinuses on May 11, 2007, which Dr. Ann Mottershaw, a radiologist, read but failed to detect a cancerous mass. Shannon Ledbetter, the administrator of Womack's estate, sued Dr. Mottershaw and her employer, The Radiology Group, for breaching the standard care by failing to diagnose the cancer in a timely manner.

During the trial, the jury was accidentally exposed to evidence of a CT scan done on May 25, which had also failed to detect Womack's cancer. This evidence had been previously dismissed by the trial court. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed that the trial court had not exceeded its discretion in granting a new trial to Ledbetter. The new trial was granted based on the consideration that the jury may have been unduly influenced by the exposure to the dismissed evidence.

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