Opinion ID: 510320
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Resubmitting the Damage Awards

Text: 66 The fourth issue on appeal, raised by Runyan, is whether the trial court erred in resubmitting the question of damages to the jury. After the jury returned its verdict, the trial court noted that some of the damage awards appeared to be inconsistent with his instructions. In particular, although the jury was instructed by the court on joint and several liability, see, e.g., 324 R. 16,970, and despite the fact that the verdict forms themselves required the jury to find identical damages for all of the defendants who were held liable on certain claims, see, e.g., 33 R. 6745, the jury nonetheless returned different verdict amounts against defendants for claims on which they were jointly and severally liable. See, e.g., 33 R. 6745; 33 R. 6751; 33 R. 6756; 33 R. 6762; 33 R. 6768; 33 R. 6774. 67 For example, with respect to USI's claim for breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the creation and operation of HE, the jury assessed damages of $2500 against Leonard Rice and $5000 against Bond. At the same time, however, the jury also assessed damages of $30,000, $5000 and $2500 respectively against Runyan, Bond and Leonard Rice for the HE-related claim of conspiracy to breach a fiduciary duty. See 33 R. 6781-82; 33 R. 6786-87; 33 R. 6798-99. Since Runyan, Bond and Leonard Rice were jointly and severally liable for the HE-related fiduciary duty claims--regardless whether for breach or for conspiracy to breach--the jury's verdict seemed clearly to have been the result of confusion concerning joint and several liability. As a consequence, the court reinstructed the jury on joint and several liability, 329 R. 91-95, and submitted the following supplemental special verdict to them: 68 What amount do you find by clear and convincing evidence constitutes the total damages suffered by Health Industries as a result of the conspiracy to breach fiduciary duties that you have found in connection with each of the following, considered separately? 69 Financial Enterprises of America, Inc. 70 Health Equipment, Inc. 71 Colorado Development Company. 72 329 R. 99; 33 R. 6776. After a brief deliberation, the jury returned with its answer to the supplemental special verdict. The jury assessed the total damages caused by the conspiracies to breach fiduciary duties at $614,000 with respect to FEA, $45,000 with respect to HE, and $11,000 for CDC. 73 On appeal, Runyan argues that the special verdict was complete and unambiguous on [its] face. 24 Appellant Runyan's Brief, at 3. Therefore, Runyan contends, the trial court should have accepted the jury's verdict, and the court's decision to resubmit some of the damages issues to the jury was an abuse of discretion. 74 We do not agree. Even a cursory examination of the special verdict forms conclusively demonstrates that the jury failed to properly apportion damages among defendants who were jointly and severally liable for the various fiduciary duty claims. Moreover, as a result of the jury's confusion, its award of damages was inconsistent with the court's instructions. Under such circumstances, we believe that the trial court had the authority to request the jury to correct its verdict. University Computing Co. v. Lykes-Youngstown Corp., 504 F.2d 518, 547 (5th Cir.1974). 25 Consequently, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it resubmitted the fiduciary duty damage awards to the jury.