Opinion ID: 1757194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Verdict for the Plaintiff

Text: 1. Check One: () We find that the plaintiff is entitled to compensatory damages in the amount of $__________. (Here fix an amount other than zero). [3] () We find that the plaintiff is entitled to recover nominal damages only. 2. Check One: () We find that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover punitive damages. () We find that the plaintiff is entitled to recover punitive damages in the amount of $____________. Verdict for the Defendant () We find the issues in favor of the defendant. After analyzing the prior opinions of this Court discussed above, we conclude that for this Court to penalize the plaintiff Green for her failure to require either a verdict for compensatory damages or a verdict for nominal damages as a prerequisite to an award of punitive damages would be an unfair departure from the recent trend of the precedents. The plaintiffs' trial strategy of not stressing the evidence of their monetary injury and mental anguish and seeking only punitive damages was fairly based on the existence of the trust fund created by Life of Georgia and on the holding of First Bank of Boaz and its progeny. While we will not apply the new rule of law announced today to the judgment in favor of the plaintiff Green, and thus will not reverse and render a judgment for the defendants, we are unwilling to search this trial record, as this Court has done in some previous cases, for some indicium of nominal damage. We therefore reverse the judgment for Green and remand her case for a new trial in which the rule expressed in this opinion will be applied. If evidence of the trust fund established to compensate the plaintiffs for any future tax liability arising from the invalid cafeteria plans is admitted in the new trial, the trial court must clearly instruct the jury on the issue of nominal damages. However, if on retrial the jury finds that the plaintiffs suffered mental anguish and awards them compensatory damages for that injury, there would be no need for an award of nominal damages. Consistent with the treatment afforded the plaintiff Green today, this new rule should not be applied so as to require reversal and the rendering of a judgment for the defendant in any case tried before today.