Opinion ID: 1925015
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reasonableness of Amount of Damages Fixed by Trial Court in Granting Option.

Text: One of the reasons advanced by plaintiff, as to why the amount of $6,000 fixed by the trial court as reasonable damages constituted an abuse of discretion, is that the trial court's memorandum opinion indicates that in fixing this amount that court was only considering the item of permanent injury, and thus such items as pain and suffering to date of trial and medical expenses incurred were ignored. While one sentence of the memorandum opinion taken out of context supports this contention, the reading of the opinion as a whole makes it clear that the trial court fixed $6,000 as the reasonable amount of plaintiff's damages for personal injuries, and that it was not confined solely to the permanent injury aspect. Where this court finds no abuse of discretion in a trial court's determining that the damages awarded by a jury are excessive, it is only in an unusual case that we will disturb the amount which the trial court has fixed as reasonable for the purpose of granting the plaintiff an option to accept judgment in that amount in lieu of a new trial on damages. It cannot be held that a certain amount alone represents reasonable damages for a particular injury, or injuries, and that anything below or above that is unreasonable. In other words, reasonable damages fall anywhere between an unreasonable low and an unreasonable high. In determining whether a trial court has abused its discretion, in fixing a certain sum as a reasonable amount of damages for the purpose of devising an option to comply with the rule of the Powers Case, [1] we apply the test of whether, if the trial court had been sitting as sole trier of the facts and had fixed damages in such amount, we would disturb such finding. Applying that test to the $6,000 figure arrived at by the trial court in this case, we would not disturb such finding. Therefore, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's determination that such sum is a reasonable amount to award as damages for plaintiff's injuries. However, we deem it advisable to point out that $6,000 approaches the bottom of the range of reasonable damages which could be awarded plaintiff. If we had been sitting in the trial court's position we would have determined reasonable damages at a higher figure than $6,000. We pointed out in the Powers Case that the new rule therein enunciated was to replace the prior-existing rule of basing the option figure, in the option to be granted plaintiff, at the least amount for which a verdict might be rendered by an unprejudiced jury properly instructed. The reason advanced for this change was that it would reduce the number of instances in which the plaintiff would refuse to elect to exercise the option. Thus it would tend to reduce new trials. When, as in the instant case, a trial court, in framing the option, fixes the amount of reasonable damages near the bottom of the range of what is reasonable, the objective of this court in adopting the Powers Case rule is likely to be defeated. By the Court. The order appealed from is affirmed. WILKIE, J. (dissenting). I agree with the majority in its affirmance of the lower court's determination that the jury verdict was excessive. I do not agree with the majority in its affirmance of the lower court's option afforded to the plaintiff under the Powers rule. In my opinion the amount of the option ($6,660) is not a reasonable sum considering all of the evidence for an award to the plaintiff for his damages. It is below the range of reasonably debatable amounts for a jury award under the facts of the case, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. I would raise the amount of the option, holding first that the trial court abused his discretion in setting the amount of the option, and second that $10,660 as the total amount of the award, subject to the apportionment of plaintiff's negligence, would be reasonable. I realize that since the Powers rule was adopted our court has not raised the amount of an option as determined by the lower court. We have reinstated the jury verdict in several cases, [1] but I would not do so here since the jury award is excessive. If the purpose of the Powers rule is to be furthered, i.e., elimination of unnecessary retrials, [2] I see no reason why this court should not, in an unusual but proper case such as this, raise the amount of the option to a reasonable figure where the amount set by the lower court is not within the range of reasonably debatable amounts and is, therefore, unreasonable.