Opinion ID: 1238457
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reasonable Certainty of Future Pain and Suffering.

Text: Defendants contend that in any event the evidence should show any future pain and suffering with reasonable certainty. And they asked the court to give Instruction No. A reading as follows: You are not permitted to award plaintiff speculative damages, by which term is meant compensation for prospective detriment which, although possible, is remote, conjectural or speculative. However, should you determine that the plaintiff is entitled to recover, you should compensate him for prospective detriment if it has been shown by a preponderance of the evidence that there is such a degree of probability of that detriment occurring as amounts to a reasonable certainty that it will result from the original injury. The court refused to give that instruction and an exception was allowed to the defendant. Instead of giving the asked instruction the court gave Instruction No. 28 in almost the identical language as Instruction No. A, except the last sentence. The instruction given reads as follows: You are not permitted to award plaintiff speculative damages, by which term is meant compensation for prospective detriment which although possible, is remote, conjectural or speculative. However, should you determine that the plaintiff is entitled to recover, you should compensate him for prospective detriment if it has been shown by a preponderance of the evidence that there is such a degree of probability of that detriment occurring as amounts to what it will result from the original injury. (Italics supplied.) It will be noticed that the last sentence does not read right. There is a hiatus where the term reasonable certainty appeared in the asked instruction and the instruction, as given, is not to be commended. We, as do counsel for appellants, construe the instruction as given to mean that the prospective detriment must be probable instead of appearing with reasonable certainty, although, of course, that must be taken in connection with the instruction that the jury were not permitted to give damages which are remote, conjectural or speculative. Defendants insist that the term reasonable certainty should have appeared in the instruction. They cite us to the annotations in 85 A.L.R. 985 and subsequent pages which deal, from page 1019 onward, with future pain and suffering. See also 81 A.L.R. 439 et seq. The term used in the instruction asked is prospective detriment, which is broader than pain and suffering, although inclusive thereof. So defendants cannot complain that the court used the same term. However, we shall assume that the rule applicable in such case is not any different than that in connection with future pain and suffering. It appears from the annotation that a great many courts require that future pain and suffering must appear with reasonable certainty, although equivalent terms will be sufficient. We dealt with the subject of future pain and suffering to a considerable extent in the case of Mahoney v. Pearce, 38 Wyo. 151, 159, 265 P. 446. In that case the court gave an instruction reading as follows: `If you find that plaintiff is entitled to recover against the defendant then you will allow him a sum of money that shall reasonably compensate him for the time he has lost by reason of such injuries, if any, and for mental and physical suffering endured by the plaintiff by reason of said injuries, if any, and for such mental and physical suffering as the plaintiff may endure in the future. If you shall find that he shall endure mental and physical suffering in the future, then you will fix said damages at such amount as if paid at this time would reasonably compensate him for the damages sustained.' Counsel for defendant say that the second shall used in the last sentence of the instruction indicates that this court is committed to the rule that future detriment or suffering must appear with reasonable certainty before the jury is permitted to allow any damages therefor. It appears, however, that the word shall above mentioned is merely a grammatical inaccuracy and is used for the word will. We held in that case that in view of the fact that the evidence showed that the plaintiff would, unquestionably, sustain future pain and suffering, the instruction given was not objectionable. We indicated in that case that courts would not reverse a case in which the word may or liable were used instead of reasonable certainty unless it appeared from the instruction as a whole that the jury were allowed to speculate as to future pain and suffering. We cited a great many cases. In the case at bar, the jury were instructed not to allow compensation for future detriment which is remote, conjectural or speculative. The evidence in the case at bar shows with reasonable certainty, we think, that the plaintiff will sustain future detriment as a result of the injury he sustained; that he will sustain future pain in his shoulders, knees and ankles at least for several years; that part of his pain will be alleviated or cured by a future operation, that plaintiff will not have the full use of one of his arms; that, by reason of his broken leg, he will limp the rest of his life; that the muscles of his arms, shoulder and leg have wasted away and will continue to be in that condition; that his nervous system has been, and, in all probability, will continue to be, shattered. We think accordingly that the instruction given fairly comes within the rule of Mahoney v. Pearce, supra, and cannot be held to be cause for reversible error.