Opinion ID: 1168300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: inadequacy of the verdict

Text: In a de novo review of the record, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's order granting additur, holding the jury verdict was not so inadequate as to indicate passion or prejudice. The trial court's authority for an award of additur is legislatively prescribed: If the trial court shall, upon a motion for new trial, find the damages awarded by a jury to be so excessive or inadequate as unmistakably to indicate that the amount thereof must have been the result of passion or prejudice, the trial court may order a new trial or may enter an order providing for a new trial unless the party adversely affected shall consent to a reduction or increase of such verdict ... RCW 4.76.030. Upon review by an appellate court of an award of additur, the Legislature has additionally provided that there shall be a presumption that the amount of damages awarded by the verdict of the jury was correct and such amount shall prevail, unless the court of appeals or the supreme court shall find from the record that the damages awarded in such verdict by the jury were so excessive or so inadequate as unmistakably to indicate that the amount of the verdict must have been the result of passion or prejudice. RCW 4.76.030. [5] It is apparent from this provision the determinative factor in awarding additur is not merely the existence of jury passion or prejudice. For, if that were the case, the existence of juror misconduct and bias, as discussed above, would leave the trial court free to fashion its remedy according to its own sense of justice regardless of whether that misconduct affected the verdict. Such a practice would ignore our reverence for the verdict of the jury. Under the statutory scheme, to justify an award of additur, as distinguished from an award of a new trial under CR 59, the verdict on its face must be so inadequate as to unmistakably indicate the amount was the result of passion or prejudice. In an instance where the jury verdict is within the range of credible evidence, the trial court has no discretion to find passion or prejudice affected the verdict for the purpose of ordering additur. James v. Robeck, 79 Wn.2d 864, 490 P.2d 878 (1971); Hendrickson v. Konopaski, supra . In considering the extent of Robinson's injuries, the jury's award is within the range of credible evidence. The expert medical testimony of Dr. McDermott, if believed, established that Robinson's current symptoms and many of her medical bills were not related to the accident at issue. Thus, it cannot be said the jury's verdict is so inadequate as unmistakably to indicate that the amount of the verdict must have been the result of ... prejudice. Therefore, the Court of Appeals did not err in reversing the trial court's order of additur.