Opinion ID: 2155857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: permanent impairment instruction

Text: [¶ 8] Hargrove requested a permanent impairment instruction which stated:  Permanent impairment. A sum which will compensate plaintiff reasonably for any permanent impairment which you find to be proximately caused by the defendant's negligence. Permanent impairment is an injury which will impair some member or system of the plaintiff's body for the rest of his life. [2] The court indicated that it would give a permanent impairment instruction, but the court described damages for permanent impairment as: [A] sum which will compensate him for pain and suffering, mental anguish for any permanent impairment suffered by Tom Hargrove which you find to be proximately caused by either of the defendants or both of the defendant[s'] negligence. Permanent impairment is an injury which you find impairs some member or system of the plaintiff Tom Hargrove's body for the rest of his life. The court went on to instruct the jury that Hargrove had a life expectancy of 51.8 years, and that if, in making an award for pain and suffering and mental anguish, they found permanent impairment, they could use the life expectancy table and adjust the years upward or downward depending on Hargrove's health and working habits. The court then stated: I again caution you; you should apply that life expectancy table in determining damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish past and future only if you first find that he suffered permanent impairment as a result of this accident. That's a little bit confusing. What you have to do first of all is to be aware of the fact that you must find  if you find for the plaintiff because he's proven that by a preponderance of the evidence, you must make an award for the concept on pain and suffering and medical [3] anguish, but if there is a permanent impairment, then you can consider life expectancy. You wouldn't consider life expectancy with respect to the others unless you were satisfied that it applied. There isn't any evidence that would allow you to do that. It's only with respect to permanent impairment that that element of damages would come in. If you were to find the permanent impairment to have been proven by a preponderance of the evidence, then you may make an award for it within the scope of the general instructions for pain, suffering, pain and suffering and medical anguish. After the instructions were completed, Hargrove's attorney objected, stating, I would object to permanent impairment as being characterized as a subspecies of pain and suffering. Because a proper objection was presented, the court's instruction is reviewed for misstatements of law and prejudice. See Harris v. PT Petro Corp., 650 A.2d 1346, 1349 (Me.1994). [¶ 9] An award for permanent impairment provides damages to compensate for permanent loss, loss of use, restriction of motion or impairment of some bodily system or member. It addresses losses separate from pain, suffering, mental anguish or medical expenses. Although a condition which constitutes a permanent impairment may result in both medical expenses and pain, suffering and mental anguish, it is also possible to have a permanent impairment without either future pain, suffering and mental anguish or future medical expenses. Thus, permanent impairment, where properly generated, is an element of damages for the jury to consider separately from any other element of damage. See, e.g., Roberts v. Tardif, 417 A.2d 444, 452-53 (Me.1980) (where evidence supported instructions permitting plaintiff's recovery of damages for her permanent impairment as well as future loss of earnings). [¶ 10] The court erred in giving a jury instruction which mixed the concepts of permanent impairment and pain, suffering and mental anguish and treated permanent impairment as an element of pain, suffering and mental anguish. Hargrove's proposed instruction was a correct statement of the law generated by the evidence. Further, the court's error cannot be considered harmless, M.R. Civ. P. 61, as the jury may have awarded additional damages for permanent impairment had they been properly instructed.