Opinion ID: 2522805
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Challenge to the Amount of the Jury's Verdict

Text: Agostini contends that the jury's award of $1,426,261 in compensatory damages was excessive and that the district court should have ordered a remittitur or a new trial. We are unpersuaded, as a jury's damages award may not be set aside unless `the award is so high as to shock the judicial conscience and constitute a denial of justice,' O'Neill v. Krzeminski, 839 F.2d 9, 13 (2d Cir.1988) (quoting Zarcone v. Perry, 572 F.2d 52, 56 (2d Cir.1978)). The record in the present case included evidence that Manganiello, age 38 at the time of his arrestand age 42 by the time he was acquittedhad, among other things, been discharged from his job at the Parkchester, been discharged from his part-time job as a state park policeman, and been stripped by the City of his special patrol officer certifications; and he was past the age at which he could reenter the police academy to re-earn such certifications. Further, in the wake of his arrest, Manganiello, who had had no prior history of psychiatric problems, became agoraphobic and subject to frequent panic attacks, dizziness, and nausea. Dr. Rehana Latif, the psychiatrist who treated Manganiello during the seven years between his arrest and the trial in the present case, diagnosed Manganiello with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression, and she testified that the severe stress caused him to have a chemical imbalance. Dr. Latif testified that the chemical imbalance ha[d] permanently disabled him and his prognosis is poor to fair. (Tr. 679, 680-85.) She further testified that Manganiello is unable to pursue any work because his cognitive functioning, emotions, concentration, understanding and energy levels are too impaired. (Tr. 679, 680, 684.) Manganiello II, 2008 WL 5159776, at ; see also id. (Dr. Latif testified that Manganiello suffered from moderate to severe panic attacks, which caused him to be unable to function in any capacity or to work. (Tr. 675-77.)). Manganiello's expert economist[] calculated Manganiello's pecuniary losses conservatively. Manganiello II, 2008 WL 5159776, at . The economist (a) calculated that Manganiello's lost past earnings amounted to $377,000; and (b) assuming that Manganiello would have retired at age 61.5, and discounting future lost earnings to present value, calculated Manganiello's lost future earnings to be $829,000. Id. The court noted that defendants had not presented any evidence to rebut the testimony of either the psychiatrist or the economist. The court noted that Manganiello was also entitled to recover the $110,000 in attorneys' fees that he paid for his criminal defense, which he would not have had to pay but for the malicious prosecution. Id. Thus, the court found that the record supported an award of more than $1,310,000 in pecuniary losses, and that that sum, as well as the remainder of the jury's award, approximately $116,600, for the wrongful incarceration and humiliation, was in line with the awards in the cases cited by Agostini. See, e.g., Gentile v. County of Suffolk, 926 F.2d 142, 153 (2d Cir. 1991) (affirming award of $150,000 for pain and suffering, several days of false imprisonment, psychological trauma, loss of job opportunities and attorneys' fees). See also Papa v. City of New York, 194 A.D.2d 527, 532, 598 N.Y.S.2d 558 (N.Y.App.Div.1993) (lost earnings calculated to be over $3 million in malicious prosecution case). Manganiello II, 2008 WL 5159776, at . Given the evidence, we see no error in the district court's conclusion that the jury's verdict was not so large as to shock the judicial conscience.