Case Name: Bobbie BOUQUET and James W. Bouquet, Jr. v. WAL-MART STORES, INC.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2007-12-21
Citations: 978 So. 2d 447
Docket Number: No. 2006 CA 1811
Parties: Bobbie BOUQUET and James W. Bouquet, Jr. v. WAL-MART STORES, INC.
Judges: Before GUIDRY, PETTIGREW, DOWNING, HUGHES and WELCH, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 978
Pages: 447–454

Head Matter:
Bobbie BOUQUET and James W. Bouquet, Jr. v. WAL-MART STORES, INC.
No. 2006 CA 1811.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.
Dec. 21, 2007.
Writ Denied April 4, 2008.
Rehearing Granted Jan. 10, 2008.
Peyton P. Murphy, Lewis Unglesby, Baton Rouge, LA, for Plaintiffs-Appellants Bobbie and James W. Bouquet, Jr.
Mark D. Plaisance, Baker, LA, Appellate for Plaintiffs-Appellants Bobbie and James W. Bouquet, Jr.
Roy C. Beard, Sidney J. Hardy, Metair-ie, LA for Defendant-Appellee Wal-Mart Louisiana, L.L.C.
Before GUIDRY, PETTIGREW, DOWNING, HUGHES and WELCH, JJ.

Opinion:
DOWNING, J.
12This is an action for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff, a store patron, who claimed to have sustained injury when she slipped and fell while shopping at defendant's store. Following a trial by jury, plaintiff was awarded $115,000.00 in general damages, $110,000.00 in future medical expenses, and $143,766.30 in past medical expenses. Plaintiffs husband also received an award of $15,000.00 for his loss of consortium. The trial court thereafter denied plaintiffs' motions for additur, JNOV, and in the alternative, for a new trial. Plaintiffs have appealed. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.
FACTS
On August 26, 2002, plaintiff, Bobbie Bouquet, was a patron of the Wal-Mart store located at 14740 Plank Road in Baker, Louisiana. As Mrs. Bouquet was walking through the pet department of the aforementioned store, she allegedly slipped and fell due to water on the floor in front of the fish aquariums. According to the testimony of Mrs. Bouquet, her right foot slipped and she fell to the floor on her buttocks. Following her fall, Mrs. Bouquet claimed to have noticed paper towels on the floor, as if someone had previously attempted to wipe up the water.
After reporting the accident to store personnel, Mrs. Bouquet and her husband, James W. Bouquet, Jr. (also a plaintiff herein), continued along their planned journey to their daughter's home in Kent-wood, Louisiana. Several hours after arriving at her daughter's home, Mrs. Bouquet testified that her back pain increased and she sought treatment at the emergency room of Lallie Kemp Hospital. After filling out the necessary paperwork, Mrs. Bouquet claimed that she was required to wait approximately eight hours until she left the hospital without seeing a doctor.
Mrs. Bouquet testified that she traveled to Baton Rouge the following day and sought treatment at the walk-in clinic at Earl K. Long Medical Center. Personnel at the hospital took x-rays of Mrs. Bouquet's left knee and lumbar spine, and prescribed a muscle relaxant together with anti-inflammatory |smedication. On September 4, '2002, Mrs. Bouquet sought treatment from Dr. Charles K. Angelo, Jr., a family practitioner in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. At this point, Mrs. Bouquet testified that she obtained an attorney, and was referred on September 12, 2002, to the care of Dr. F. Allen Johnston, an orthopedic surgeon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. Johnston treated Mrs. Bouquet conservatively, prescribing anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy. When Mrs. Bouquet returned to Dr. Johnston on October 31, 2002, with continued complaints of unremitting pain in her lower back, Dr. Johnston ordered an MRI. The results of the MRI suggested degenerative problems between Mrs. Bouquet's fourth and fifth vertebrae. Dr. Johnston thereafter scheduled Mrs. Bouquet to undergo one, then later a second, epidural steroid injection, in an effort to alleviate the irritation in the nerve root and lessen the pain radiating down her leg.
When the epidural steroid injections failed to diminish Mrs. Bouquet's complaints of pain in her lower back, Dr. Johnston referred Mrs. Bouquet to a fellow orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jorge Isaza, for a surgical evaluation. Dr. Isaza began treating Mrs. Bouquet on February 21, 2003. Dr. Isaza reviewed Mrs. Bouquet's medical records and ordered additional testing, including a lumbar myelogram, in an attempt to diagnose Mrs. Bouquet's ongoing complaints of lower back pain. At trial, Dr. Isaza conceded that many of the findings that he observed (i.e., lumbar os-teophytes, narrowing of the disc space, foraminal stenosis, and facet hypotrophy) were degenerative conditions that predated Mrs. Bouquet's fall at Wal-Mart. Based upon these findings, Dr. Isaza performed a lumbar fusion at the L4-5 level on May 10, 2004.
Dr. Isaza referred Mrs. Bouquet to Dr. John E. Clark, a Baton Rouge physician, specializing in physical medicine, rehabilitation, and pain management. Dr. Clark initially saw Mrs. Bouquet prior to her surgery in August 2003, and attempted, through pain management techniques, to obviate the need for surgery. Unfortunately, Dr. Clark was unable to alleviate Mrs. Bouquet's pain. Following the surgery performed by Dr. Isaza, Mrs. Bouquet no longer Rcomplained of pain in her leg, but continued to express complaints of pain in her lower back and- buttocks. Dr. Clark. continued to treat Mrs. Bouquet with narcotic pain medications, antidepressants, muscle relaxants, and a series of steroid injections.
Mrs. Bouquet also saw Dr. Robert Davis, a psychologist, who diagnosed her with clinical depression and psychosis associated with her physical pain and limitations. Prior to trial, Mrs. Bouquet also saw Dr. J. Michael Burdine, a board-certified pain .management specialist, who testified via deposition that his office had provided Mrs. Bouquet with routine literature regarding further treatment options that might help to lessen her pain. These treatment options included implantation of a spinal cord stimulator, intrathecal infusion device, or possibly, additional lumbar surgery at some point in the future.
ACTION OF THE TRIAL COURT
On July 10, 2003, Mr. and Mrs. Bouquet (hereinafter referred to collectively as "plaintiffs") filed suit in East Baton Rouge Parish, naming Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart") as a defendant. Wal-Mart later responded to the petition filed by plaintiffs, generally denying the'allegations contained therein, and asserted a third party demand against Feather & Fin Ranch (hereinafter "Feather & Fin"), and its insurer, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America (hereinafter "Travelers"). Wal-Mart claimed that at the time of Mrs. Bouquet's alleged accident, Feather & Fin was providing maintenance service to Wal-Mart's aquariums and related appurtenances in accordance with a vendor's agreement executed by representatives of Feather & Fin and Wal-Mart.
On December 1, 2004, plaintiffs filed an amended and supplemental petition, naming Feather & Fin and Travelers as additional defendants therein. Wal-Mart and plaintiffs later moved to dismiss their claims against Feather & Fin and Travelers on March 29, 2005 and April 4, 2005, respectively.
This matter ultimately proceeded to a trial by jury on January 31, 2006 through February 2, 2006. After listening to the evidence presented and the | r,charges of the trial court, the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiffs and against the defendant, Wal-Mart. The jury awarded to Mrs. Bouquet the following sums:
Past medical expenses.$ 143,766.30
Future medical expenses.$ 110,000.00
Physical pain and suffering (past and future)$ 60,000.00
Mental pain and suffering (past and future)... $ 50,000.00
Loss of enjoyment of life.$ 15,000.00
TOTAL.$368,766.30
In addition, the jury awarded to Mr. Bouquet the following sum:
Loss of consortium.$ 15,000.00
Believing that the amounts awarded by the jury were unreasonably low, plaintiffs thereafter filed a Rule for Additur, a Motion for JNOV, and in the alternative, for a New Trial. At the conclusion of a hearing held on May 22, 2006, the trial court rendered a judgment in open court denying the plaintiffs' motions. Plaintiffs thereafter appealed.
ISSUES PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
In connection with their appeal in this matter, the plaintiffs present the following issues for review and consideration by this court:
1. Is a jury award of $115,000 in general damages unreasonable when the plaintiff has a lumbar disc fusion, has nearly all of her movements restricted, and must take medicine the remainder of her life to make her pain tolerable?
2. When expert testimony demonstrates that future medical treatment is necessary and that the present value of future medical expenses is no less than $310,338 and maybe as high as $472,404, does a jury commit error by awarding only $110,000?
3.When the spouse of an injured party must perform all household duties, has no intimate relations with his injured spouse, and must assist that spouse with her personal hygiene, does a jury commit error by awarding only $15,000 in consortium damages?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
In the assessment of damages in cases of offenses, quasi offenses, and quasi contracts, much discretion must be left to the trier of fact. La. Civ.Code art. 2324.1. The standard for appellate review of general damage awards is set forth in Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 623 So.2d 1257, 1261 (La.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1114, 114 S.Ct. 1059, 127 L.Ed.2d 379 (1994), wherein |8the Louisiana Supreme Court stated that "the discretion vested in the trier of fact is 'great,' and even vast, so that the appellate court should rarely disturb an award of general damages." The appellate court's initial inquiry is whether the award for the particular injuries and their effects under the particular circumstances on the particular injured person is a clear abuse of the "much discretion" of the trier of fact. Only after such a determination of an abuse of discretion is a resort to prior awards appropriate and then for the purpose of determining the highest or lowest point which is reasonably within that discretion. Youn, 623 So.2d at 1260. The role of the appellate court in reviewing general damage awards is not to decide what it considers to be an appropriate award, but rather to review the exercise of discretion by the trier of fact. Millican v. Ponds, 99-1052, p. 6 (La.App. 1 Cir. 6/23/00), 762 So.2d 1188, 1192. Each case is different, and the adequacy or inadequacy of the award should be determined by the facts or circumstances particular to the case under consideration. Youn, 623 So.2d at 1260.
ANALYSIS
The issues raised by the plaintiffs in this appeal challenge the adequacy of the quantum of damages awarded by the jury.
Based upon a thorough review of evidence before us, we find that the jury abused its discretion by awarding an inadequate award of only $115,000.00 in general damages. Once it is determined that there has been an abuse of discretion then we must determine the lowest point which is reasonably within the discretion of the jury. A review of prior damage awards for comparable injuries indicates that the lowest reasonable award of general damages that was with the jury's discretion would have been $200,000.00. See Use' v. Use', 94-0972, p. 15 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/7/95), 654 So.2d 1355, 1366, and Cheramie v. Contract Haulers, Inc., 98-1399, p. 7 (La.App. 1 Cir. 9/24/99), 754 So.2d 987, 991.
|7We do not find that the jury abused its discretion in the award of future medicals nor do we find that the jury abused its discretion in the award of consortium to James W. Bouquet, Jr.
DECREE
For the reasons above, we increase the general damages award of Bobbie Bouquet from $115,000.00 to $200,000.00. In all other awards, we affirm the trial court.
AMENDED AND AFFIRMED AS AMENDED.
GUIDRY, P., concurs in-the result.
WELCH J., concurs and dissents for reasons assigned.
PETTIGREW, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
. During the course of the trial, the parties agreed, with permission from the court, to orally amend the record to reflect the proper name of the defendant in this case, Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC.