Case Name: Paulette BEAUVAIS, Appellant, v. Shirley Ann EDELL, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2000-06-07
Citations: 760 So. 2d 262
Docket Number: No. 4D98-2771
Parties: Paulette BEAUVAIS, Appellant, v. Shirley Ann EDELL, Appellee.
Judges: WARNER, C.J., DELL, STONE, POLEN, STEVENSON, SHAHOOD, GROSS, TAYLOR, and HAZOURI, JJ„ concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 760
Pages: 262–271

Head Matter:
Paulette BEAUVAIS, Appellant, v. Shirley Ann EDELL, Appellee.
No. 4D98-2771.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
June 7, 2000.
Tami R. Wolfe of Jones & Wolfe, Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Shelley H. Leinicke of Wicker, Smith, Tutan, O’Hara, McCoy, Graham & Ford, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellee.

Opinion:
EN BANC
KLEIN, J.
Appellant plaintiff contends that the trial court should have granted her motion for new trial because the total amount awarded her by the jury for injuries arising out of an accident was the same as her medical expenses. Plaintiff relies on two cases from this court in which we held that verdicts for medical expenses were inadequate as a matter of law. We now recede from those eases and hold that where there is a dispute as to whether the injuries have resulted from the accident, the inadequacy of the award is left to the discretion of the trial court.
The primary injuries for which plaintiff sought compensation were a torn rotator cuff shoulder injury and a carpal tunnel wrist injury, both of which required surgery. At the time the accident occurred, and in the hospital to which plaintiff was taken after the accident, she had no complaints of pain in either her shoulder or her wrist. Her own orthopedist testified that her shoulder problem resulted from osteoarthritis, and her neurologist testified that if she had torn the rotator cuff in the accident it would have "hurt like hell." In regard to her carpal tunnel injury, there were a number of other possible causes, but probably the most significant evidence was that she had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists, even though only one wrist was allegedly injured in the accident.
Plaintiff put on evidence that her medical expenses resulting from her injuries came to $68,501. Plaintiff submitted a general form of verdict which did not itemize damages, and the jury in that verdict awarded unspecified total damages of $68,-501. Plaintiff filed a post-trial motion seeking an additur, or in the alternative a new trial on the grounds that the verdict was inadequate as a matter of law or contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. The trial court denied the motion, and she appeals.
Plaintiff relies primarily on two cases, Daigneault v. Gache, 624 So.2d 818 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) and Mason v. District Bd. of Trustees of Broward Community College, 644 So.2d 160 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). In Daigneault, we stated that:
[A] jury verdict awarding to an injured person only the exact amount of the medical expenses incurred and nothing for pain and suffering is an inadequate verdict as a matter of law when there is uncontradicted evidence that the injured plaintiff suffered at least some pain from the injury. See e.g., Watson v. Builders Square, Inc., 563 So.2d 721 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); Gonzalez v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 463 So.2d 1229 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Skelly v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 445 So.2d 415 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Rodriguez v. Allgreen Corp., 242 So.2d 741 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971); Pickel v. Rosen, 214 So.2d 730 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968).
Daigneault, 624 So.2d at 819-20.
In the cases cited in Daigneault, it appears that it was undisputed that the injuries resulted from the accidents. In Daigneault, however, whether the injuries resulted from the accident was in dispute. This is a significant distinction which we may not have recognized in Daigneault. We followed Daigneault in Mason, in which there was also a dispute as to whether the plaintiff was injured in the accident.
In Allstate Ins. Co. v. Manasse, 681 So.2d 779 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), this court held that_ a finding of permanent injury and an award of future medical expenses required an award for future pain and suffering as a matter of law, relying on Daigneault and Mason. Because of uncertainty in this area of the law we certified the issue as one of great public importance. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed with our conclusion and held that the verdict in Manasse was not inadequate as a matter of law, .reiterating what it had said in Cloud v. Fallis, 110 So.2d 669, 673 (Fla.1959):
When a motion for new trial is made it is directed to the sound, broad discretion of the trial judge, who because of his contact with the trial and his observation of the behavior of those upon whose testimony the finding of fact must be based is better positioned than any other one person fully to comprehend the processes by which the ultimate decision of the triers of fact, the jurors, is reached.
Allstate Ins. Co. v. Manasse, 707 So.2d 1110, 1111 (Fla.1998). In Manasse, as in the present case, whether the accident was the cause of plaintiffs pain and suffering was an issue of fact. Defendant argues that it follows from Manasse that the verdict in the present case was not inadequate ás a matter of law. Manasse, however, involved an award of future medical expenses but no future pain and suffering, and our supreme court observed that future damages "are, by nature, less certain than past damages." Id. at 1111.
Although Manasse involved future damages and Daigneault, Mason and this case involved past damages, Manasse emphasized that post-trial motions concerning amounts of damages are left to the "broad" discretion of the trial judge. Id. at 1111. Our supreme court again reiterated that standard for post-trial motions in Brown v. Estate of Stuckey, 749 So.2d 490 (Fla.1999). In light of Manasse and Brown we have concluded that the award in the present case is not inadequate as a matter of law. It follows that the awards in Daigneault and Mason were not inadequate as a matter of law either.
We therefore recede from Daig-neault and Mason and hold that, where there is a dispute as to whether the injuries resulted from the accident, a verdict awarding only medical expenses does not require a new trial as a matter of law. Rather, a motion directed to the inadequacy, whether it seeks a additur or a new trial, is left to the broad discretion of The trial judge. We find no abuse of discretion in the present case and affirm.
WARNER, C.J., DELL, STONE, POLEN, STEVENSON, SHAHOOD, GROSS, TAYLOR, and HAZOURI, JJ" concur.
FARMER, J., concurring specially -with opinion, in which GUNTHER, J., concurs.
. Judge Farmer, in his concurring opinion, suggests that plaintiff's post-trial motion was only for an additur and was not a motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence was inadequate as a matter of law. We disagree. The motion contained twelve numbered paragraphs. Paragraphs six and nine assert that zero damages for past pain and suffering in light of the award of the medical expenses makes this verdict "inadequate as a matter of law." Paragraph ten asserts that "the jury's failure to award her lost wages as damages was contrary to the weight of the evidence." The last paragraph requests "an additur, or in the alternative, a new trial on the issues of past and future pain and suffering, past and future lost wages and, loss of earning capacity."
. We do not agree with Judge Farmer that an itemized verdict is required in order to preserve appellate review of a trial court's denial of additur or remittitur. The statute requiring an itemized verdict, section 768.77, does not require that economic losses be separated into medical expenses or lost income. Accordingly, even if an itemized verdict had been used, it would not have reflected whether the amount awarded was for medical expense, lost income which plaintiff also sought, or both. Moreover, if the legislature had wanted to make an itemized verdict a requirement for seeking a remittitur 'Or additur it would have said so. Instead, in section 768.74, authorizing remittitur and additur, the legislature adhered to the "discretionary standard of review for trial courts." § 768.74(6), Fla. Stat.. If trial courts have discretion, it follows that our standard of review is abuse of discretion.