Opinion ID: 1092168
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: was the jury properly instructed regarding damages?

Text: The only jury instruction pertaining to damages which was given in this case is as follows: In order to be recovered damages must be shown with reasonable certainty both as to their nature and as to their cause. A plaintiff is not deprived of his right to recover because he is unable to prove with absolute certainty the mathematical value of his injury. If the cause of injury is reasonably certain, he may reasonably estimate the damages. Although the lack of a perfect measure does not preclude recovery, he must not guess or speculate. The plaintiff must give you a reasonable basis on which to base your estimate. Appellant raises the objection that standing alone this instruction is an insufficient guide to the jury as to how to determine the amount of damages, if any it might award. However, the appellant himself offered no damage instructions to correct the alleged deficiencies assigned on this appeal. As a matter of fact, when objections to the jury instructions were being heard, counsel for appellant offered no objection to this instruction, but stated instead I think this is probably a reasonable instruction, Your Honor. This jury instruction did form the basis for part of appellant's motion for a new trial, however. It is undisputed that there was no evidence in the record as to the lost wages of Hodges or his diminished earning capacity, but there was evidence from both Dr. Mainous and Linda Hodges concerning the extent of the injury and the related suffering. Appellant cites Alabama Great Southern R.R. Co. v. Broach, 238 Miss. 618, 119 So.2d 923 (1960), Broadhead v. Gatlin, 243 Miss. 386, 137 So.2d 909 (1962), and State Highway Commission v. Engell, 251 Miss. 855, 171 So.2d 860 (1965), for the proposition that where the jury is instructed only by a statement such as that in the case at bar, the case should be reversed and remanded for a lack of a proper basis for the jury to measure damages. It should be noted that all three of the cases cited by the appellant involve injuries to real property, and not personal injury. Appellee claims the appellant is procedurally barred by Mississippi Supreme Court Rule 42 which states in part: ... No assignment of error based on the giving of an instruction to the jury will be considered on appeal unless specific objection was made in the trial court stating the particular ground or grounds of such objection. Rule 42 further provides that this Court may raise an objection to a jury instruction in order to prevent manifest injustice. We cannot say that manifest injustice resulted from the unobjected-to jury instruction in this case. The damages suffered by Hodges as a result of the numbness of his lip and part of his face are not susceptible of precise computation. Assigning a money value to compensate a person for the permanent loss of feeling in part of his face is not a matter to which any specific guidelines can be supplied to a jury. Even though there was no loss of wages evidence, there was considerable testimony as to the pain and suffering Hodges sustained from this injury. That testimony, coupled with appellant's apparent approval of the jury instruction prior to the verdict by virtue of his failure to object to it, is sufficient to determine that this assignment of error is without merit. We, therefore, affirm. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER and ROY NOBLE LEE, P.JJ., and BOWLING, HAWKINS, DAN M. LEE, PRATHER and ROBERTSON, JJ., concur.