Opinion ID: 198473
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Orth's Award of $250,000

Text: 51 Unfortunately for plaintiffs, the same cannot be said of the $250,000 award to Orth. As a bystander to Smith's injury, Orth has no physical injuries of his own. While this does not preclude Orth from recovering for his emotional pain and suffering and for his lost enjoyment of life, it does preclude him from recovering for a category of injury--past and future physical pain and suffering--that makes up a substantial portion of Smith's award. 52 Additionally, the evidence of Orth's emotional pain and suffering was considerably less than the evidence of Smith's emotional pain and suffering. Since Orth has not seen a psychologist, psychiatrist or therapist for his emotional distress, there was no expert testimony on this issue whatsoever. Orth testified to his horror in watching as Smith was struck by the cooler and lost consciousness. Orth testified that he performed CPR on Smith and thought, at various times, that she was either dead or paralyzed. Orth testified to all of the medical visits on which he accompanied Smith and testified to his constant worry over her condition. He testified that he was emotionally tired, mentally tired, [with] periods of fear. In addition to Orth's testimony, Arlene Fromer (and Patrick Fromer, through a stipulation) testified that the accident really impacted James and that Orth was constantly worried about Smith's condition. This evidence amply demonstrates that Orth witnessed a distressing event and is now often a tired and worried individual, but hardly approaches the emotional pain and suffering required to sustain such a substantial award. 53 Regarding Orth's loss of enjoyment of life, including loss of consortium, the evidence is nearly as limited. Orth testified that Smith performed two to three hours of housekeeping work per day before the accident, but could only manage 45 minutes to an hour of such work after the accident. Orth testified that he was forced to do all of the cooking each night, but that they hired someone to help with the other housework. Orth testified that he no longer has a personal life because he works 18-20 hours per day to compensate for the amount of work that Smith can no longer perform. Orth testified that he and Smith have a strained relationship in that we don't touch, we don't talk, we don't have a physical relationship anymore. Orth testified that, before the accident, they had considered starting a family. The Fromers testified that Orth had to take over many of the household responsibilities that Smith was once able to do. The Fromers also testified that Smith and Orth stopped socializing with them after the accident. This evidence of Orth's loss of enjoyment of life and loss of consortium simply does not rise to a level commensurate with the amount of damages awarded. 54 In short, we find the jury's $250,000 award to Orth for past and future emotional pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium to be grossly excessive, inordinate, shocking to the conscience of the court, [and] so high that it would be a denial of justice to permit it to stand. Correa, 69 F.3d at 1197 (quoting Segal, 746 F.2d at 80-81) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because the jury's verdict in this regard exceeds any rational appraisal or estimate of the damages that could be based on the evidence before the jury, Milone, 847 F.2d at 36, we find that the district court abused its discretion in denying Kmart's motion for a remittitur of Orth's award. Accordingly, we remand this case with instructions to vacate the $250,000 award to Orth for his damages excluding medical expenses and order a new trial on this issue, unless Orth agrees to remit all of that award in excess of $100,000. After carefully reviewing the evidence of Orth's damages that was presented at trial and examining the various types of injuries and damage awards of the cases cited supra at pp. ---- and ----, we conclude that $100,000 represents the upper limit of a rational appraisal of Orth's damages. 5