Opinion ID: 2342641
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Actual Damages The Jury's Lost Earnings Award

Text: Norwich argues next that the trial court erred in failing to vacate the jury's award of $300,000 in lost earning capacity, and that the expert testimony offered to support the award was based on speculation and was therefore irrelevant and should not have been admitted. When reviewing a jury's award of damages, this Court must affirm the award unless it appears to be clearly erroneous when the supporting evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party and any modifying evidence is disregarded. Meadowbrook Condo. Ass'n v. South Burlington Realty Corp., 152 Vt. 16, 26, 565 A.2d 238, 244 (1989). Specifically, when a party appeals a court's refusal to set aside a verdict and grant a new trial on the grounds that the jury's verdict is not supported by the evidence, [w]e need only determine `whether the jury could reasonably have found its verdict for damages on the evidence before it.' Lorrain v. Ryan, 160 Vt. 202, 209, 628 A.2d 543, 548 (1993) (quoting Brunelle v. Coffey, 128 Vt. 367, 370, 264 A.2d 782, 784 (1970)). Viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the evidence before the jury concerning lost earnings consisted of the following. Plaintiff graduated from high school and spent five years as an enlisted officer in the Navy. He consistently received high ratings by his superior officers, and he improved his aptitude examination rating during his time in the Navy. In 1990, his application for admission into the civil engineering program at Norwich was accepted, and he was granted a full four-year ROTC scholarship. Although plaintiff remained at Norwich only long enough to take one examination in the fall of 1990, he performed satisfactorily. As a result of hazing, plaintiff withdrew from Norwich and thereafter worked a series of relatively low-paying jobs, culminating with his employment as a postal worker at the time of trial. He testified that the wished ultimately to complete college but, due to work and family pressures existing since his departure from Norwich, he had not been able to resume college studies other than to take one night course at a community college. At the time of trial, plaintiff's pursuit of a college education had been delayed more than six years as a result of his experiences at Norwich. In calculating plaintiff's lost earnings, his expert economist analyzed the difference in earnings over a lifetime between a high school graduate and a college graduate. Using U.S. Census Bureau data, and discounting the figures for present value, he determined that if plaintiff were a college graduate he would earn between $600,000 and $932,593 more over the course of his working life than he would as a high school graduate. The jury awarded plaintiff $300,000. The difficulty of precise computation of the losses plaintiff has and will continue to incur as a result of his premature departure from Norwich is not a ground to reverse a lost earnings award. See Imported Car Ctr., Inc. v. Billings, 163 Vt. 76, 82, 653 A.2d 765, 770 (1994) (upholding award of damages where plaintiff continued to incur expenses throughout trial and exact amount of damages could not be ascertained). Nor do we reverse such an award where a plaintiff has not yet acquired an earning capacity. See Melford v. S.V. Rossi Constr. Co., 131 Vt. 219, 223-24, 303 A.2d 146, 148 (1973) (holding that a person is not deprived of right to recover damages for loss of earning capacity in future, by fact that at time of injury he is not engaged in any particular employment). There was ample evidence before the jury to support its award of lost earning capacity. Based upon the evidence presented at trial, the jury could have considered and weighed such issues as whether and when plaintiff would return to college, the impact of the six years that had elapsed since his departure from Norwich, as well as his likelihood of successful completion if he returned to college. Applying its assessment of these and other variables to the testimony of the expert, the jury could reasonably have found that plaintiff lost or would lose approximately one-third of a college-educated working life as a result of his withdrawal from Norwich and subsequent inability to resume a college education; the jury's award of $300,000 for past and future lost earning capacity  less than one-third of the total amount the expert testified plaintiff would lose over his working lifetime  is reasonably supported by the evidence.