Plaintiff in Damage Suit Says Crash Caused Loss of Memory

The single-car freeway crash that left Carol Fleming with a crushed pelvis, shoulder and arm also erased her memory of the accident, she said.

But Fleming testified Wednesday that she does remember a hospital visit after she left the intensive care unit, a visit by former professional football player Albert Carmichael, the only other occupant of the auto.

“All I remember is him saying to me, ‘You were driving the car,’ ” Fleming testified Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court.

Who was driving Carmichael’s Cadillac Eldorado when it rolled over on the San Diego Freeway in Irvine on Nov. 9, 1980, is the crucial question in an unusual case unfolding this week in the courtroom of Judge Jerrold S. Oliver.

Carmichael was driving, according to Fleming’s lawsuit against Carmichael for damages. Carmichael alleges that Fleming was the driver.

To Call Witnesses

Fleming’s lawyer, Sandra J. Montag, told jurors she would call several experts in accident reconstruction to prove that Carmichael must have been behind the wheel.

“This is a case about a cover-up,” Montag told jurors. “Albert Carmichael is trying to cover up the fact that he was driving the car.” But Montag said the evidence “will show otherwise.”

In contrast, Richard P. Booth, Carmichael’s attorney, told jurors he would show that Fleming was the driver and that she was responsible for her own injuries.

Fleming testified Wednesday about her lengthy recovery. She said she was in Tustin Community Hospital for three weeks--”until the money ran out.”

Fleming said she still suffers from recurring back and leg pain, dizziness, loss of hearing, scarring, and limited motion in her left arm.

She also received psychiatric counseling.

‘No Recollection’

“I was hoping that after the therapy, after I had calmed down some, I would remember” the accident, Fleming testified. “But I have no recollection.”

Booth told jurors that there are “no objective findings to lend support to her subjective complaints.”

Carmichael, according to court papers filed in the case, was injured in the accident, suffering severe cuts and recurring headaches.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Carmichael played professional football for the Green Bay Packers and then the Denver Broncos, after playing three years for USC in the 1950s.