Opinion ID: 2185005
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The claim of excessive damages.

Text: The jury awarded $30,000 to Mr. Murawski for personal injuries; and the defendant railroad contends that such sum is excessive. Since the trial court has filed a memorandum opinion on this issue, a review ab initio is unnecessary. This court will review the evidence on this aspect of the appeal only to the extent necessary to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion in approving the jury award. [2] In this case the trial court's memorandum points out the facts which support this award. The trial court noted the following evidence: While an award of $30,000 for the personal injuries of the plaintiff may be high, the court believes that they are not excessive and there is no indication that they are the result of passion or prejudice by the jury. The plaintiff, age 26, as a result of this accident, received a fracture to the jaw in two places, loss of three teeth, multiple lacerations and abrasions to the face and body, fractures of the left humerus and left ulna and damage to the radial nerve. The radial nerve that was damaged was in the fracture site of the left humerus and an open reduction was performed and a metal plate was placed at this fracture site thus taking the nerve away from the point of the fracture. This resulted in a temporary paralysis of the left arm with loss of sensory and motor activity and Dr. Dietsch, the orthopedic surgeon, testified that there will be some permanent loss of sensory function near the thumb of the left hand and there will be some weakness in the left arm as a result of these injuries. The plaintiff was away from his employment at Consolidated Papers, Inc., as a result of the injuries, from October 10, 1967 to March 4, 1968 and the jury award for damages included a wage loss of $2,669. . . . Defendant railroad concedes that all personal injury cases must be different, but submits that the instant case is very similar to the case of Davis v. Geib (1966), 32 Wis. 2d 14, 145 N. W. 2d 192. In Davis, the plaintiff sustained personal injuries as serious and comparable to those sustained by the plaintiff Murawski in the instant case. Defendant railroad contends that Davis held that an award of $25,000 to such a man was excessive and that $15,000 was a reasonable sum for pain and suffering and disability. The final contention is that if the award was excessive in Davis, it clearly would have to be excessive in the present case. We do not agree with the conclusion reached because, in the Davis Case, this court did not hold, as appellant claims, that the damages of $25,000 were excessive but specifically concluded that there was no abuse of discretion by the trial court in reducing the sum awarded. Even if Davis were not distinguishable on the above basis, it would still not be persuasive authority for a reduction of damages in this case. This is so because as we noted in Springen v. Ager Plumbing & Heating, Inc. (1963), 19 Wis. 2d 487, 493, 120 N. W. 2d 692, comparison of verdicts on appeal with verdicts previously approved or disapproved by this court is of little persuasive value due to the huge number of variables involved in any given damage award. We agree with the conclusion reached by the trial judge that the damages awarded to Mr. Murawski, who was twenty-six years of age at the time of the accident, were not excessive. By the Court. Judgment affirmed.