Title: Hammargren v. Montgomery Ward & Co.
Citation: 172 Kan. 484, 241 P.2d 1192
Docket Number: 38,487
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: March 8, 1952

172 Kan. 484 (1952)
241 P.2d 1192
EUNICE C. HAMMARGREN and WALLACE F. HAMMARGREN, Appellees,
v.
MONTGOMERY WARD &amp; COMPANY and GOLDIE WEHBY, Appellants.
No. 38,487

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed March 8, 1952.
Emmet A. Blaes, of Wichita, argued the cause and W.D. Jochems, J. Wirth Sargent, Roetzel Jochems, Robert G. Braden, S.C. Durbin and J. Francis Hesse, all of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellants.
Lloyd M. Kagey and Payne H. Ratner, both of Wichita, argued the cause and Max L. Hamilton, Keith Eales, Ora D. McClellan, Eugene L. Pirtle, Louise Mattox, Payne H. Ratner, Jr., Keith Sanborn, Edgar M. Miner and Gerald L. Michaud, all of Wichita, were with him on the briefs for the appellees.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
SMITH, J.:
This action was to recover for damages alleged to have been sustained when plaintiffs were caused to be falsely imprisoned by defendants. Judgment was for the plaintiffs and defendants have appealed.
There were two actions, one by the wife and one by the husband. They were consolidated in the trial court and tried together. They have been presented in this court as one appeal. Hereafter the pleadings will refer to the pleading in the case of the wife since they are identical with the exception of the names. At the outset, the George Innes Company, one Wertz and one Marshall, as well as Montgomery Ward and Company and one Wehby were defendants. During the course of the trial plaintiffs dismissed as to the George Innes Company and Wertz. The demurrer of Marshall to the evidence was sustained and the trial proceeded against Montgomery Ward and Wehby.
The petition alleged the identity of the parties; that R.G. Marshall was an agent and employee of Montgomery Ward and the acts performed by him were in the course of his employment; that defendant Wehby was the store detective in the retail store for Montgomery Ward and the acts performed by her were in the course of her employment; that Wertz was employed by the George Innes Company as a floor walker and supervisor.
The petition then alleged that on September 29, 1948, the plaintiff was making a purchase of merchandise in the Montgomery Ward store with her husband; that they gave a check in the amount of the purchase price for some merchandise to an employee of defendant, together with identification and credit cards; that after waiting an unreasonable length of time she, with her husband, went to the office of the defendant and found an employee of defendant, who stated *486 that she had been unable to find anyone to approve the check; that the check and identification cards were returned to her husband and he destroyed the check and left the store; that she, with her husband, then went to the George Innes Company store; that while so engaged in shopping in that store Marshall and Wehby, agents and employees of Montgomery Ward, entered the George Innes Company store and consulted with Wertz and one of the defendants called the Wichita police department and requested a police officer to be sent to the store; that about four o'clock on the 29th of September, 1948, Montgomery Ward using its agents and employees, Marshall and Wehby, and George Innes Company through its agent and employee, Wertz, all of them acting in the course of their employment unlawfully, maliciously and willfully and without cause, caused the plaintiff to be taken into custody by an officer of the Wichita police department and to be transported against her will to the police station with the intent to injure her; that she was compelled by force to accompany the police officer, whereupon she was imprisoned and restrained of her liberty for a period of more than one hour, all without cause and without any right or authority and against her will, all at the direction of each and every one of the defendants, whereby she was humiliated and mortified and her character and credit discredited and such false imprisonment caused her credit and standing to be injured; she was prevented from attending to her necessary business during the time she was falsely imprisoned and her health was impaired so it was necessary that she be under the care of a doctor, all on account of this false imprisonment; that neither Montgomery Ward, George Innes Company, Marshall and Wehby nor Wertz filed any complaint or formal charge against her.
The petition then alleged because of these unlawful, willful and malicious acts she had suffered actual damages in the amount of $10,000 and punitive damages in the amount of $20,000.
She prayed for judgment for that amount.
The answer of Montgomery Ward, Goldie Wehby and R.G. Marshall was a general denial.
The petition of the husband was identical.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the wife in the amount of $10,000 actual and $10,000 punitive damages and for the husband $7,500 actual and $10,000 punitive damages. It answered special questions as follows:
The defendants, Montgomery Ward and Goldie Wehby, filed a motion for judgment and to set aside special findings and for a new trial as follows:
b. Erroneous ruling and instructions of the Court,
This motion was overruled and judgment was entered on the general verdicts.
Defendants appealed from all adverse judgments, orders and decisions and in particular from the final judgments and from the rulings of the trial court on the motions for judgment, for setting aside special findings and for a new trial.
The specifications of error were as follows:
At the conclusion of the plaintiffs' evidence the defendants demurred to it and this demurrer was overruled to all except defendant Marshall. It was sustained as to him.
Defendants' first argument is that the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the evidence. The argument in this connection is that since the sole testimony of the plaintiffs was that the defendant Wehby merely reported facts and information to the officer without requesting any police action, even though the police detained plaintiffs, and no action for false imprisonment lies against defendants.
We start the consideration of this argument under the rule that in consideration of a demurrer to evidence all the evidence introduced by the plaintiffs must be taken as true and all reasonable inferences and deductions must be drawn therefrom in favor of the *489 theory of the plaintiffs and if when so considered there is any substantial evidence to sustain the plaintiffs' case, the demurrer should be overruled. (See Clark v. Southwestern Greyhound Lines, 148 Kan. 155, 79 P.2d 906; Jones v. McCullough, 148 Kan. 561, 83 P.2d 669.) Furthermore, every fact which is fairly and logically to be inferred from the evidence must be drawn in favor of the plaintiffs. (See Greep v. Bruns, 160 Kan. 48, 159 P.2d 803.)
The evidence of plaintiffs was that they entered the Montgomery Ward Retail store and since they contemplated buying articles in different departments asked the clerk for a purchase slip, upon which articles purchased in different departments could be entered and settled for at the central desk by one payment. After twenty or thirty minutes the clerk told plaintiffs that no such slips were obtainable at that time; Mr. Hammargren then wrote a check for $13.42, the exact amount of the merchandise they wished to buy, and gave it to the clerk, together with credit cards issued to him from three hotels.
This check had the name of plaintiff with the address "Wichita, Kansas" printed on it and it was drawn on a bank in Cambridge, Minn. At the time of the incident described he had a low credit balance of $1,976.15 and a high credit balance of $3,608.21. The clerk took the check and credit cards saying the check would have to be approved and left the Hammargrens standing at the counter. After another twenty or thirty minutes had passed and the clerk did not return, upon inquiry Hammargren learned that the clerk had gone to the credit department on the fifth floor with the check and credit cards. Hammargren went to the credit department; found the sales clerk, to whom he had given his check. He asked for some explanation and was told that the telephone operator had the check and was attempting to locate a store executive who alone could approve or disapprove it. He thereupon asked for his identification cards and the check and when he received them he tore the check up and returned to his wife. They then left Montgomery Ward's, met a friend and all three went directly to the George Innes Store, a block and a half away.
Defendant Wehby had been employed as a store detective in Montgomery Ward's for several years. She was well known to the police officers and had on many occasions brought persons to the police station. Sometime after the Hammargrens had reached the George Innes store officer Walters of the police department was directed *490 by the radio operator-dispatcher to contact a Mr. Wertz at that store. When he arrived there he was told by someone to see Goldie Wehby, who was on the fourth floor. (Wehby, it will be remembered, was the store detective for Montgomery Ward's and had no connection with the Innes store.) Mrs. Wehby told the officer that the Hammargrens had been shopping at Ward's and Mr. Hammargren had written a check; that when he was informed the check would have to be examined and okayed before it could be cashed he had torn it up and left the store; that he had followed Mr. and Mrs. Hammargren from the Montgomery Ward store to the Innes store. She pointed out Mr. Hammargren and identified him to the officer as the person who had written the check.
The officer called the lieutenant at the police station, a man who had known Mrs. Wehby for a period of years and who knew she was the house detective at Ward's store. Walters told the lieutenant that Mrs. Wehby had identified the Hammargrens as the people she had followed from Ward's to the Innes store and repeated the story substantially as had been told to him by Mrs. Wehby. The officer then asked the lieutenant if he should bring the Hammargrens to the police station and the lieutenant said "Yes."
Walters, in uniform, with shield, badge and gun, approached the Hammargrens and asked Mr. Hammargren if his name was "Hammargren." Hammargren said it was. Walters then said "You come with me." "The lieutenant wants to talk to you." Hammargren wanted to know why and officer Walters said "Well evidently there has been some misunderstanding." Hammargren said "Do I have to go?" And the officer said "Yes you do." Mrs. Hammargren asked if she had to go, too, and officer Walters said "Yes." After some colloquy the third person with the Hammargrens was told he had to come along too. The officer took them to the public elevator and from the second floor to the ground floor and thence in a squad car, easily identified as a police car, to the police station.
Shortly after the officer had accosted the Hammargrens and told them they would have to go Mr. Hammargren said there would be a lawsuit. They arrived at the police station at about 4:35 and Mr. Hammargren was questioned by two detectives and at about 5:15 o'clock they were told they were free to go.
The police officer testified that when he received the call he went to the Innes store; that someone whom he did not know met him at the door and directed him to the fifth floor; at the fifth floor *491 Wehby was pointed out to him; that he had a conversation with her. He then testified:
"Q. That what? A. That there would be a law suit.
*492 "Q. Talking to you? A. No, to Mr. Hammargren.
One detective who had been with the department twenty years testified that Wehby was a store detective at Ward's and on occasion had brought people into the police station.
Another police officer testified that on the date in question he had a conversation with officer Walters about Wehby and some people she had pointed out as being suspicious characters. There was an objection on the part of defendants and after some colloquy the witness was permitted to state that Wehby's name was mentioned and that after the conversation he instructed Walters to bring the defendants in.
Defendants argue that all the above evidence proved was that Wehby saw some suspicious circumstances connected with the Hammargrens and reported it to the police. They refer to Instruction No. 10 1/2 which the court gave in this case. It is as follows:
Defendants argue that had the court applied the above rule of law to the facts when considering the demurrer, the demurrer to the evidence would have been sustained.
Actually the evidence is not entitled to quite the construction placed upon it by the defendants. We must in considering this argument draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.
Any cause of action may be proved by circumstantial evidence as well as by direct. Here we have the incident in the Ward store, the check being given, the long wait, later the check demanded back, torn up, thrown on the floor and the Hammargrens leaving, a few minutes later the Hammargrens at the Innes store, a block and a half away, the call to an officer, defendant Wehby at the Innes store, the police officer being directed to her, she pointing out the Hammargrens, (the jury and trial court were entitled to infer that she told him the Hammargrens' name, since he would have had no other means of knowing, and she must have gotten the name off the check or the credit cards, since she would have had no other way of knowing *493 it,) then her statement to the officer about what happened at the Ward store, which under the rules of considering a demurrer to the evidence we must consider as not true because it is not the story of what happened, if we are to believe Hammargren's testimony, as we must on a demurrer to the evidence. She told the officer he left when told the check would have to be examined and okayed before it could be cashed. We have already stated his story, which was an entirely different version of the affair.
The jury would be entitled to presume from the testimony of the officers and the Hammargrens that Wehby caused the radio call to be made that brought officer Walters there; that she had followed the Hammargrens to the Innes store, pointed out the Hammargrens to the officer and told him officer Walters called the lieutenant at the station and when he told the story and mentioned Wehby's name the officer proceeded to arrest the Hammargrens. Once we take all these facts as true, which we must do on considering a demurrer to the evidence, then a reasonable inference to be drawn from all of them is that Wehby caused this arrest.
We will examine the question of whether the circumstances at the Ward store were such as to compel a conclusion that Wehby acted in good faith or as a reasonable, cautious and prudent person would act or that the circumstances were suspicious. In the first place, the check was given for the exact amount of this purchase. It is a reasonable inference that everyone in business, especially a store detective, would know a bad check artist ordinarily uses the device of purchasing a small amount of merchandise and giving a check for more than the purchase price and thus pocketing the change. In the second place, Hammargren used a check form that would attract attention. It is a reasonable inference this is something ordinarily a bad check artist would avoid. In the third place, he used a distinctive name. It is a reasonable inference that bad check artists use a name that lends itself readily to anonymity. In the fourth place, he gave the girl credit cards, two of them on Wichita hotels with his name on them. A minute's telephone call to one of these hotels would have shown if he was a phony. In the fifth place, he tore the check into four pieces and threw them on the floor, thus leaving a ready means of identification, just before he left. In the sixth place, in considering a demurrer to the evidence we must presume he and his wife had a natural and explainable reason for asking for the return of the check and leaving. These *494 facts we must take as true and from them draw all reasonable presumptions in favor of plaintiffs.
Defendant argues they compel an inference that an ordinary, reasonable, cautious and prudent person would consider them suspicious. We cannot so hold. Granting for the sake of argument that Wehby was entitled to weigh these circumstances as an ordinary, reasonable person, still it is a question for the jury whether these circumstances were suspicious and whether she did act as an ordinary reasonable person.
In Lemmon v. King, 95 Kan. 524, 148 Pac. 750, the plaintiff had been arrested without a warrant. He recovered judgment and on appeal we said:
This opinion is reported in Ann. Cas. 1917 E p. 401. At page 406 there is a statement fortified by an imposing list of authorities that
We have already demonstrated that considering the record under the rules applying to a consideration of a demurrer to the evidence, there was substantial evidence here to warrant submission to the jury of whether Wehby caused and instigated this arrest. The rule is stated in Hoock v. Kresge Co., et al., 222 S.W.2d 568. There the court held that one seeking to recover for false arrest must prove that he was unlawfully caused to be arrested by defendants, and, though it is not necessary that the arrest was directly ordered, it must appear that persons sought to be charged either instigated it, assisted in arrest, or by some means directed, countenanced, or encouraged it.
The above is but a variation of the rule that a cause of action may be established by circumstantial evidence. Actually there is but slight difference between these parties as to the applicable law. The only difference is as to the presumptions and inferences to be drawn from the facts.
*495 Defendants argue that we should weigh the evidence and reach a conclusion other than that reached by the trial court and the jury. No one point in our law is any better established than that we cannot do that, on the consideration of a demurrer to the evidence. They ask us to examine the ultimate facts and draw an inference from these facts other than that drawn by the trial court and the jury. We cannot do that where the inference drawn by the jury was a reasonable one. Here we have already demonstrated the inferences drawn by the jury and contended for by the plaintiffs were reasonable. Counsel for defendants stated in their reply brief:
There is substantial evidence from which the jury was warranted in believing that Wehby did make an untrue statement to Walters as to what happened in the Ward store. We are bound to reach such a conclusion when we consider this evidence under the rules for the consideration of demurrers to the evidence.
Defendants next argue that Montgomery Ward was not liable for any acts of defendant Wehby which were not expressly authorized or implied from authority given her. They argue that her own conduct could not supply proof of the scope of her authority. To maintain this argument they cite and rely on Lewis v. Montgomery Ward &amp; Co., 144 Kan. 656, 62 P.2d 875, where we held:
In the case of Mercer v. Fred Harvey, Corporation, 116 Kan. 365, 226 Pac. 761, in dealing with a similar question we said:
It was stipulated at the trial Wehby was at the time of the events related a store detective for Montgomery Ward &amp; Company and that she was working on that particular day. There was evidence from which a presumption that she was at the store and followed Hammargren down the street was a reasonable one. Certainly a reasonable inference to be drawn from the fact that she told the officer the story and pointed the Hammargrens out to the officer was that she was a house detective and was working. There was evidence as already noted in this opinion that the police had known her for a period of years, and that she had on numerous occasions brought persons to the police station. Such an agent has far greater authority than the ordinary employee.
In this connection defendants complain of a paragraph in Instruction No. 10 as follows:
There was substantial evidence upon which to base this instruction. Here again we must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiff. The rule is stated in 22 Am. Jur. 380, Sec. 37 as follows:
In Chesapeake &amp; Potomac Telephone Co. v. Lewis (USCA DC) 99 F.2d 424 (1938) the court held that if defendant or defendant's agent actually took part in the arrest or imprisonment of plaintiff or procured or instigated acts of officers of the law, the defendant is liable in an action for false imprisonment. Uncontradicted testimony showed that the officers who arrested plaintiff did not know him by sight and arranged with defendant's employee Whip, who *497 did know him, to go with them in order to identify him. The jury might infer that the officers would not have started without Whip. Although Whip remained in a car while the officers entered a building and made the arrest, they promptly brought plaintiff to the car and the jury might infer the identification which Whip then made was an essential factor in plaintiff's ensuing imprisonment.
See, also, 22 Am. Jur. 384, Sec. 44, where it is held:
There was substantial evidence from which the jury could infer that the acts of Wehby in pursuing the Hammargens from Montgomery Ward's store to the Innes store and there making a misstatement of the occurrence in the Ward store were authorized and within the scope of employment as a house detective.
Defendants next argue that proof Wehby was a house detective for Montgomery Ward &amp; Company on the day in question did not prove her authority to bind Montgomery Ward for an arrest alleged to have been caused by her off her employer's premises and in another mercantile establishment where neither property or crime against her employer was involved. There was substantial evidence from which the jury might infer that Wehby was on duty as a house detective at the time in question.
There is a discussion of this question in 35 A.L.R. 679. The rule stated in L.S. Ayres &amp; Co. v. Harmon, 56 Ind. App. 436, 104 N.E. 315 (1914) is approved there. A comment on this case states:
In the above case the Indiana Court of Appeals said that the act of the detective when directing the attention of the policeman to a person whom she believed had committed the crime in question, *498 even though said person was not actually on the premises of appellant, L.S. Ayres &amp; Company, and the arrest of appellee by the officer pursuant to said information, though not on the premises of said appellant, is well within the rule making appellants liable.
Here again we remark we are compelled to examine this evidence under the rules for the consideration of demurrers to the evidence. There was substantial evidence from which the jury was warranted in drawing the inference that Wehby was acting within the scope of her authority when she followed the Hammargrens to the Innes store and caused their arrest.
Defendants next argue there was no evidence of malice and the court erred in permitting the issue to be considered by the jury. This was instruction No. 9. It stated, in part:
Defendants argue there was no evidence in the case to warrant any such instruction. Defendants quote from Donley v. Amerada Petroleum Corp., 152 Kan. 518, 106 P.2d 652, where we quoted with approval a rule stated in 17 C.J. 984, § 281, as follows:
There is nothing wrong with that rule. The evidence justifying such an instruction has been stated a number of times already in this opinion. If the jury believed Hammargren's story of what happened *499 and why he left the Ward store and officer Walters' evidence of what Wehby told him, this constituted substantial evidence from which the jury was warranted in finding that her acts there were wrongful, intentional, and with full knowledge of their character, and without just cause or excuse.
Defendants next argue that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a page from Standard and Poors record what purported to be a comparative balance sheet of Montgomery Ward's. A broker was first put on the stand and he was asked the question:
There was an objection to this on the ground that it was hearsay and had no relationship to the case. After some further examination of the witness out of the presence of the jury and colloquy between court and counsel witness was permitted to put in evidence a page in the book.
Plaintiffs argue that they offered an expert witness as to the worth of Montgomery Ward's and that the page was offered at the request of counsel for defendants. Plaintiffs rely in the main on this point on the rule that where counsel for one party causes or invites a particular ruling, that party cannot later argue that such ruling was erroneous. An examination of this record convinces us that counsel for defendants insisted at all times that this page was hearsay. It was incompetent and should not have been admitted. (See Lewis v. Coleman, 194 Wash. 674, 79 P.2d 633; also Young's Market Co. v. Laue, 60 Ariz. 512, 141 P.2d 522.) We do not in view of all the surrounding facts and circumstances regard its admission as so prejudicial as to require a reversal.
Defendants next argue it was error to receive this page since it was evidence of the net worth of only one of the defendants jointly liable. It was competent to introduce evidence of the wealth of the parties on the question of punitive damages. This evidence was as to the wealth of one of them only. They were jointly liable. (See Washington Gas Light Co. v. Lansden, 172 U.S. 534, 43 L. Ed. 543, 19 S.Ct. Rep. 296.) Under such circumstances it was error to introduce this as to one of defendants. There was no evidence as to the wealth of Wehby. There was no instruction as to how this was to be considered. Plaintiffs make the point that this objection was not made at the trial. Perhaps this is true. In view of the conclusion we will discuss presently as to the disposition to be made of the *500 appeal, we do not regard these errors so prejudicial as to require a reversal.
Defendants next argue it was error for the trial court to transmit through the bailiff an oral instruction while the jury was deliberating. That came about this way  the jury after it started to deliberate asked the bailiff for the exhibits. Evidently some members of the jury thought some checks, which had been offered in evidence, and an objection to which had been sustained, had actually been received. The jury asked for those checks. The trial court told the bailiff those checks had not been admitted and the bailiff so advised the jury. We discern no error in that.
Defendants next argue that counsel for plaintiff was guilty of such misconduct as to require a new trial. The first instance of such misconduct, as stated by counsel for defendants, has to do with those checks. Counsel for plaintiff said in his opening statement that Hammargren had cashed many checks similar to the check in this case in the vicinity of Wichita and he never had any trouble. He had a bunch of these checks in his hand and during the examination of Hammargren they were offered. Defendants' objection to them was sustained for the moment. Later he offered them again and the objection was finally sustained. The announced purpose of counsel in offering those checks was for whatever weight they might have in showing that there was nothing suspicious in Hammargren offering the check at Ward's. Counsel for defendants contend it was so well settled that these checks were not admissible for any purpose, that for counsel to offer them was misconduct. We cannot attach so much weight to this offer. To do so would tend to subject counsel to the charge of misconduct every time evidence was offered and the offer refused. Counsel for defendants make a point of the fact that counsel offered these checks on three different occasions. The first time they were offered the trial court sustained defendants' objection for the moment. On account of this sort of ruling counsel naturally offered the checks again.
Defendants also argue counsel for defendants was guilty of misconduct in presenting the evidence of a telephone conversation between the two policemen. The police lieutenant was on the stand. He was asked whether officer Walters had called him from the Innes store on the date in question. When he answered in the affirmative, he was asked whom the conversation was about. Counsel for defendants *501 objected to this and the objection was overruled. The answer was "Goldie Wehby." He then was permitted to testify that after the conversation he instructed Walters to bring the Hammargrens in. We see no misconduct here. There was no testimony as to the conversation. Officer Walters had already testified to this conversation without objection on the part of defendants. The telephone call was said to have been made immediately after Wehby had talked to Walters and identified the Hammargrens and had told the officer her story of what happened at the Ward store. The reasonable presumption is that the call to the police station was the result of the talk between Wehby and Walters.
Defendants next argue that counsel for plaintiffs was guilty of misconduct in his argument to the jury. This argument is based on an extract from the final argument as follows:
Counsel for defendants state in their brief in this court:
The trouble about that argument is defendants did not submit any evidence in the trial court, neither did they make any argument to the jury. They make for the first time in this court the argument they could have made there. There was substantial evidence from which the jury was warranted in finding all the above facts in favor of plaintiffs and against the contentions of defendants. The fact that Wehby told a story other than the truth about what Mr. Hammargren *502 did at the Ward store is some evidence that she concealed what actually happened from the police.
Defendants next argue that the verdicts for compensatory damages were so excessive as to be explainable only by passion and prejudice. The jury returned a verdict for Mrs. Hammargren for $10,000 actual and $10,000 punitive damages. In Mr. Hammargren's case it gave him $7,500 actual and $10,000 punitive damages. The actual damages she pleaded were "her credit and standing in the community was injured, she was prevented from attending to her necessary business and affairs during the time she was falsely imprisoned, and her health was impaired to such an extent that it was necessary that she be confined and under the care of a doctor." Mr. Hammargren pleaded about the same damages. She testified:
A doctor testified:
This is all the testimony there was as to actual damages suffered by Mrs. Hammargren. It will be noted the Hammargrens were never actually locked up. They were at the station a little less than an hour. On the question of actual damages Mr. Hammargren testified that for three months after the events described he felt that possibly the knowledge of what had happened had preceded him when he met people in business and that they looked on him as not a reputable character and that his earnings for that three months' period were the lowest since he had been with the company.
*503 A judgment should be reversed on account of the verdict being excessive where it appears so large as to indicate passion and prejudice on the part of the jury. Whether such is the case is always a difficult question. Sometimes courts hold in such a case that the fault may be cured by ordering a remittitur of a portion of the judgment. Four false arrest cases where the amount of the verdict was challenged by the defendant have been cited by defendant here. The largest verdict in any one of these four was for $5,000. The plaintiff in that case was not taken to jail but was stopped and searched on the street. (Lewis v. Montgomery Ward &amp; Co., 144 Kan. 656, 62 P.2d 875.) We ordered a remittitur of that verdict to $3,000. In these appeals should we conclude the verdict was too large, the error in the record could be cured by ordering a remittitur since we have concluded that the error of the trial court in the admission of evidence was not prejudicial.
In Lewis v. Montgomery Ward &amp; Co., supra, there was no error requiring a new trial. In dealing with the argument of the defendant that the verdict was excessive we pointed out that the defendant had not objected to an instruction as to the elements proper for the jury to consider in computing actual damages, that is, past and present mental suffering, nervous shock and such damages as appeared to be the reasonable, natural and proper result of such condition and fair and just in view of the injuries sustained without regard to the character of the parties, the needs of the plaintiff or the ability of the defendant to pay. We reviewed the authorities and pointed out there was no fixed rule for computing such damages. Each case must be considered in the light of its own surrounding facts and circumstances. We approved a rule stated in Hardwick v. Railways Co., 114 Kan. 843, 220 Pac. 1043, as follows:
In these cases there were no physical injuries. The testimony of both Mr. and Mrs. Hammargren as to the injury suffered by each in the way of nervous shock and damage to credit was hardly sufficient to warrant the jury in finding the one sustained actual damages *504 in the amount of $7,500 and the other in the amount of $10,000. Each was awarded $10,000 punitive damages. As already noted, the question of whether a verdict and judgment is so large as to indicate passion and prejudice on the part of the jury or is such as may be cured by a remittitur must depend on the facts in each particular case. She had worked in this store, so it is reasonable to assume the shame and humiliation of being escorted through the store was somewhat greater than as to him.
Under all the surrounding facts and circumstances, we have concluded that Mrs. Hammargren's verdict as to actual damages was too large by $6,500 and should be reduced to $3,500 and that his verdict for actual damages was too large by $4,500 and should be reduced to $3,000. As to punitive damages, each of the plaintiffs was awarded $10,000. In assessing punitive damages the nature, extent and enormity of the wrong, the intent of the party committing it and generally all the surrounding facts and circumstances may be considered. (See Will v. Hughes, 172 Kan. 45, 238 P.2d 478.) We have already set out the pertinent facts and circumstances in this opinion. On account of the fact that the defendants introduced no evidence there is no dispute here as to the ultimate facts. The only dispute actually is the reasonable presumptions that may be drawn from these facts. We have concluded that considering all the above factors the verdicts and judgments for punitive damages were too large by $8,000 as to Mr. Hammargren and by $8,500 for Mrs. Hammargren; that his judgment for punitive damages should be $2,000 and hers should be $1,500.
These two cases were consolidated in the district court. Two separate verdicts and judgments were rendered, however. The order of this court is that Mrs. Hammargren is given the option of accepting $5,000 for both items, within ten days of the filing of this opinion, by filing an acceptance of that amount with our clerk, and Mr. Hammargren is given an option of accepting $5,000 for both items within ten days from the date of the filing of this opinion by filing an acceptance of that amount with our clerk. If the parties exercise that option as directed the judgment so reduced is affirmed. Failing to exercise that option a new trial on the issues generally is ordered.
THIELE, J., concurs in the result.
WERTZ, J., not participating.
*505 WEDELL, J., (concurring):
My view may be stated briefly. It is there was slight evidence warranting exemplary damages and meager evidence of substantial actual damages; that the damages awarded, however, were not necessarily due to passion and prejudice of the jury but quite probably the result of a failure to assess damages properly on the basis of the evidence contained in this particular record.
Moreover, in complete frankness I desire to say that in the light of this record and the definite opinion of members of this court with respect to the excessiveness of the verdict I can see no useful purpose in directing a new trial which would probably result in another appeal. I, therefore, concur in the decision which permits appellees to accept the remittitur if they desire to do so.