Opinion ID: 59493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Captain D's Motion for a New Trial

Text: Defendant protests that the jury's verdict on liability was contrary to the great weight of the evidence and thus a new trial is warranted. Our review of the district court's denial of a motion for a new trial is more deferential than our review of a motion for judgment as a matter of law. We will reverse the trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial only when there is a clear showing of an abuse of discretion. See Hiltgen, 47 F.3d at 703; Dawsey v. Olin Corp., 782 F.2d 1254, 1261 (5th Cir. 1986). To show an abuse of discretion in this respect, the defendant must show an absolute absence of evidence to support the jury's verdict. Whitehead, 163 F.3d at 269; Hiltgen, 47 F.3d at 703; Dawsey, 782 F.2d at 1262. Because we have already concluded that the jury's verdict was supported by the evidence in reviewing the district court's denial of judgment as a matter of law, we necessarily find that there was no abuse of discretion in its denying the motion for a new trial on liability.
After a full trial on liability and damages, the jury returned a verdict for Foradori and awarded him $10 million for past, present, and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and the loss of enjoyment in life; $1,581,884.41 for reasonable and necessary medical expenses already incurred; $8 million for the present value of the reasonable and necessary medical expenses likely to be incurred in the future; and $1,300,000 for the present value of loss of future earnings or earning capacity resulting from his disability. Alternatively to its motion for a judgment as a matter of law, Defendant moved for a new trial or remittitur. The district court denied the motion as to all awards. Defendant attacks as excessive the $10 million award for pain, suffering and loss of quality of life. [16]
The Supreme Court in Gasperini, 518 U.S. at 419, 434, 116 S.Ct. 2211, held that, in an action based on state law but tried in federal court by reason of diversity of citizenship, a district court must apply a new trial or remittitur standard according to the state's law controlling jury awards for excessiveness or inadequacy, [17] and appellate control of the district court's ruling is limited to review for abuse of discretion. Within the federal system, practical reasons combine with Seventh Amendment constraints to lodge in the district court, not the court of appeals, primary responsibility for application of [the state's new trial or remittitur standard]. Trial judges have the `unique opportunity to consider the evidence in the living courtroom context,' while appellate judges see only the `cold paper record.' Id. at 438, 116 S.Ct. 2211 (internal citation omitted). In light of Erie's doctrine, the federal appeals court must be guided by the damage-control standard state law supplies, but as the Second Circuit itself has said: `If we reverse, it must be because of an abuse of discretion . . . The very nature of the problem counsels restraint. . . We must give the benefit of every doubt to the judgment of the trial judge.' Id. at 438-39, 116 S.Ct. 2211 (citing Dagnello v. Long Island R. Co., 289 F.2d 797, 806 (2d Cir.1961)) (footnote omitted). The Mississippi statutory standard for granting a new trial or remittitur provides: The supreme court or any other court of record in a case in which money damages were awarded may overrule a motion for new trial or affirm on direct or cross appeal, upon condition of an additur or remittitur, if the court finds that the damages are excessive or inadequate for the reason that the jury or trier of the facts was influenced by bias, prejudice, or passion, or that the damages awarded were contrary to the overwhelming weight of credible evidence. If such additur or remittitur be not accepted then the court may direct a new trial on damages only. If the additur or remittitur is accepted and the other party perfects a direct appeal, then the party accepting the additur or remittitur shall have the right to cross appeal for the purpose of reversing the action of the court in regard to the additur or remittitur. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-55 (emphasis added) Therefore, in accordance with Gasperini, we must review the district court's decision in applying the foregoing Mississippi new trial/remittitur standard to the evidence in this case to determine whether the district court abused its discretion. In doing so, we may not substitute our own application of Mississippi's new trial/remittitur rule for the district court's, and we may not generate or apply our own appellate review rules in lieu of simply performing a review for abuse of discretion. [18]
At trial Foradori and his examining physician, Dr. Howard Katz, an expert in physical medicine and spinal cord injuries, testified describing the effects of Foradori's injury in respect to his pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of quality and enjoyment of life. According to their undisputed testimony, Foradori is essentially paralyzed from the neck down. He can feel his neck and the top of his shoulders, and he has some sensation coming down his lateral upper arms about halfway down. Below that, Foradori has no sensation whatsoever. Using his upper arm, he can bend his elbow but cannot straighten it; he must rely on gravity to do so. His shoulder is similar; he is able to generate slight movements up, forward, or backward and must rely on gravity for the rest. Foradori can use these shoulder movements to operate his electric wheelchair, but he has no control over his hands or wrists. He is unable to sit up on his own and cannot remain upright unless strapped in a chair. Foradori is unable to feed himself, despite his attempts to use specially designed devices; to eat he relies on others to take a fork or a spoon and dip it in food and put it in [his] mouth. Similarly, he is unable to wash or dress himself. Despite the paralysis of Foradori's arms and legs, he suffers from spasms, commonly associated with spinal cord injury, in those extremities. To control these spasms, he required the surgical insertion of a Baclofen pump. This procedure involved inserting a tube into a catheter into the spinal column into the epidural space as well as placing a pump under the skin. The pump must be refilled every three months and replaced every five years. Foradori's bodily functions are deeply compromised and require extensive external manipulation. He suffers from a neurogenic bladder, meaning he has no bladder control. This condition leads to bladder spasms which can combine to create either uncontrolled urination or improper and unhealthy increases in bladder pressure. To manage this condition, Foradori requires a catheter, but because Foradori, like most spinal cord injury sufferers, cannot rely on a condom catheter to stay on his penis, he must use an indwelling catheter. Foradori describes the device as something inserted into my private, going all the way to my bladder, then they have to blow up a balloon to keep it in and urine passes through the catheter to a bag. To function, this must remain attached to Foradori at all times, channeling the urine out of view to a black bag behind the leg rest of Foradori's wheelchair. Dr. Katz describes Foradori's indwelling catheter, as the worst possible choice for management of a spinal cord injury bladder because 100 percent of the people who have an indwelling catheter develop bacteria, chronic bacteria and infection in their bladder. As a result, Foradori can expect to have problems with recurrent urinary tract infections. Indwelling catheters also cause increased risk of bladder stones, kidney stones, . . . vesico-ureal reflux where [urine] goes back toward the kidney, hydronephritis or water on the kidney, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, renal [failure] and death. Defecation for Foradori is even more uncomfortable. Foradori suffers from neurogenic bowel, which means he has no control over his bowel and must endure partial bowel obstruction. Before Foradori moved to a nursing home, his father had to perform digital stimulation [of the bowels] two times a week. This consisted of his father perform[ing] digital stimulation, leav[ing] him in bed, wait[ing] until he's through being incontinent, and then clean[ing] him up, just chang[ing] the sheets and everything. Foradori's experience at the nursing home shows little improvement; three nights a week I have to have something inserted into my bottom in order to make me go to the bathroom. . . I have to wait three or four hours in order to go to the bathroom and wait for somebody to come clean me up and turn me over. From this bowel stimulation, Foradori runs a high risk of developing both internal and external hemorrhoids and fissures in his rectum, and he runs increased risk of colon polyps and gall bladder disease. At the time of trial, Foradori experienced a lot of incontinence of stool at school. Understandably, this sensitive area is of particular concern to Foradori, who, when first presented to Dr. Katz, was very unhappy with the fact that he couldn't control his bowel or bladder. Foradori also suffers from neurogenic sexual dysfunction, so he has no function in his sexual organs. In his own words: I can't feel. I can't control anything. I can't get an erection on my own. Foradori has been unable to achieve or maintain an erection even with the use of Viagra. Before moving into a nursing home, Foradori depended on his family for his care routine. This required Foradori's father, who worked two jobs, to administer Foradori's bowel routine, shower him, dress him, and feed him daily. The wear of this responsibility on Foradori's father led Foradori to move to a nursing home, where he follows a limited routine every day: I get a bath on Tuesday and Thursdays; otherwise I wake up in the morning, take my medicine, they come in there around nine, 9:30, wash me up, put my clothes on for me. They have a lift, they use a pad that goes under my shoulders and under my legs to get me to a lift and they have to crank the lift up until it gets me up high enough to get me over my chair. And then they have to carry me over to my chair, put the lift around my tires, and push me back in my chair to let me down to make sure I'm all the way in, and strap me in. After I'm in the chair I basically just ride around all day, come back to my room, eat lunch, watch TV, ride around some more until it's suppertime; eat supper. Since his injury, Foradori has suffered from continuing pain most of the time, and much of this, such as pain in his head and shoulders as well as perceived pain in his feet, is lifetime pain. For the six months following his injury, Foradori's neck hurt constantly and severely enough to remain very bad despite steady morphine doses. To date this neck pain continues periodically and Foradori suffers from muscle spasms that are sometimes so bad it hurts my back, my shoulders, [and] my neck. Further, Foradori continues to have persistent pain in his shoulders caused by bilateral subluxation of shoulders with early arthritis of both shoulders. This apparently arose because his accident created a one-inch gap between Foradori's shoulder bones and shoulders. Foradori also suffers from disreflective headaches, triggered by medical conditions in parts of his body where he lacks sensation. He describes these headaches as like somebody's driving spikes into my skull to let me know something's wrong. Dr. Katz's observation of these headaches reflect that they occur three to five times per week [and] last about an hour each. . . . During these headaches, Foradori feels nausea, light-headedness, and light sensitivity in his eyes. Additionally, Foradori's present condition places him at such an extremely high risk for osteoperosis that if he lives, he is going to have osteoperosis. In many patients, this condition has caused long bone fractures that could lead Foradori to accidentally break his thigh during something as simple as being transferred from his bed to his chair. Most cruelly, Foradori, despite not having actual feeling in his feet, senses a burning pain in his feet as a result of brain activity termed God's little joke by Dr. Katz. Despite medication, this pain is and will be constant. Finally, Foradori's fall caused him to break a tooth, which causes him mouth and jaw pain. Foradori's quadriplegia has also led to other medical conditions. For example he suffers from pressure sores, also known as bed sores, so severe that he has required numerous surgeries to repair the skin above his tail bone, on his hip, and on his left leg. Foradori's emotional reaction to the accident has been as severe and lasting as his physical pain. Immediately after the accident, Foradori: felt like somebody had just flushed my life down the drain. I didn't  I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know what to expect. I wanted to die, because I didn't know how I was going to deal with it . . . . It hurt because. . . I knew that I wasn't going to walk again. I knew that I wasn't ever going to be able to do the things that I did, and it hurt. I couldn't deal with it. This emotional pain persists: I try not to think about it, but there's a lot of things I can't do that bothers me. I can't ride four wheelers, I'll never play football or play basketball again. I'll never have sex again. Just never be able to go hunting, never be able to go fishing. And, you know, I see other people walking around . . . watch people do the stuff that I know I'll never be able to do, and it bothers me because I'll never be able to do it again. Of course, Foradori's condition continues to impact his everyday life and affects his enjoyment of company: I can't stand to eat in front of people because it bothers me. I feel like people are watching me. I feel like people are, you know  I get the feeling that people are not laughing at me, but people  I feel like people automatically think I'm handicapped or I'm slow or I'm different than anybody else just because I can't walk, because I can't do the same thing that they do, and it hurts . . . . I deal with it, but I can't adjust myself to it. I always feel like somebody's looking at me; somebody's staring at me; somebody's judging me just because I'm like this, and not the same way they are. Finally, Dr. Katz's testimony established that since Foradori's accident likely shortened his life span by a decade, Foradori could expect to live to the age of 68, and this estimate of the likely duration of his pain, suffering, mental and emotional anguish, and loss of quality and enjoyment of life was undisputed. Dr. Katz testified that, in light of his injury and if provided proper care, Foradori is projected to live until 2053. So, since Foradori suffered his accident in 2000, he will be subject to the conditions discussed above for 53 years out of his 68-year total life expectancy.
The district court's order giving its reasons for denying Captain D's motion for new trial or remittitur begins by correctly stating the issue under the Mississippi new trial/remittitur standard: Was the jury's verdict against the overwhelming weight of the evidence? In connection with its excessiveness challenge, Captain D's did not argue that the jury had been influenced by bias, prejudice or passion; thus, the only question was whether the awards were excessive because they were contrary to the overwhelming weight of credible evidence. See Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-55. The district court explained that it had required the jury to specify the exact amount awarded for each major element of damages to enable it to closely scrutinize whether the awards corresponded to the evidence at trial. The court concluded that the jury's awards were, in fact, not contrary to but consistent with the evidence supporting each item, including those challenged for excessiveness. The district court found that the jury award of $10 million for past, present, and future pain, suffering, including loss of enjoyment of life, which was a fraction of the $45 million requested by plaintiff's counsel in his closing argument, was not against the weight of the evidence. The court stated: It seems clear that Foradori has had to endure an extraordinary amount of suffering in his young life, even by the standards of quadriplegics. Once an active and athletic individual, Foradori now has only minimal and spastic use of his upper extremities. He is unable to perform basic tasks of self-care, and he relies upon assistance to get out of bed, urinate, and defecate. Cruelly, Foradori also suffers physical pain in addition to his disability, for which he must take Neurontin, a powerful analgesic. Foradori does not enjoy the level of family support enjoyed by many quadriplegics. Foradori's father works two jobs, and while he initially made efforts to perform those jobs and still care for his son, the physical and mental demands of such became too great. As a result, Foradori was forced to move to a nursing home, which is clearly a great emotional burden for a young man. While the jury's award in this case would eventually permit Foradori to buy a handicapped-accessible home and obtain some measure of independence and dignity, he does not presently enjoy such comforts. In light of the foregoing, the court does not view the jury's award of $ 10 million for past, present and future pain and suffering, including loss of enjoyment of life, to be excessive.
With the foregoing legal principles in mind, we have carefully studied and reviewed the record, the written and oral arguments of counsel, and the reasons assigned by the district court. We are unable to say that the district court, who saw and heard the witnesses and who also studied and ruled on numerous motions and objections dealing with the evidence, abused its discretion in deciding to deny Captain D's new trial/remittitur motion because the jury's awards were not contrary to the overwhelming weight of credible evidence. In performing the limited function of a federal appellate court, we perceive no instance in which the district court failed to perform faithfully its role to determine whether the jury's verdict is within the confines set by state law. In this case the district court properly instructed the jury on Mississippi law and applied the proper state-law standard in considering whether the verdict returned was excessive. Giving the benefit of every doubt to the judgment of the trial judge as we must, see Gasperini, 518 U.S. at 438-39, 116 S.Ct. 2211 (quoting Dagnello, 289 F.2d at 806), we cannot find any abuse of discretion in the district court's reasoning or decision. For his past, present and future pain, suffering, mental and emotional anguish, and loss of enjoyment and quality of life, the jury awarded Foradori, who was 15 years old when he was injured and still has a quadriplegia-reduced life expectancy of 68 years, $10 million. We cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in deciding that this award was not contrary to the overwhelming weight of credible evidence that was introduced.
Captain D's contends that the jury's verdict of $10 million for Foradori's past, present, and future physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life was excessive and that a remittitur should be ordered. A remittitur is an order awarding a new trial, or a damages amount lower than that awarded by the jury, and requiring the plaintiff to choose between those alternatives. [19] Thus, before a court may order a remittitur, it must first determine that a new trial is warranted. Except in those cases in which it is apparent as a matter of law that certain identifiable sums included in the verdict should not have been there, the court may not reduce the amount of damages without giving the plaintiff the choice of a new trial, for to do so would deprive the parties of their constitutional right to a jury. [20] Our cases set forth several articulations of the standard that must be met before we will grant a new trial and consider coupling it with the alternative of a remittitur order, and Captain D's has failed to satisfy any of them. Abuse of Discretion Standard. The decision to grant or deny a motion for a new trial is generally within the sound discretion of the trial court, and reversible only for an abuse of that discretion. Shows v. Jamison Bedding, Inc., 671 F.2d 927, 930 (5th Cir.1982). When the trial judge has refused to disturb a jury verdict, all the factors that govern our review of his decision favor affirmance. Deference to the trial judge, who has had an opportunity to observe the witnesses and to consider the evidence in the context of a living trial rather than upon a cold record, operates in harmony with deference to the jury's determination of the weight of the evidence and the constitutional allocation to the jury of questions of fact. Id. (citing Massey v. Gulf Oil Corp., 508 F.2d 92, 94-95 (5th Cir.1975)); see also Salinas v. O'Neill, 286 F.3d 827, 830 (5th Cir.2002); Eiland v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 58 F.3d 176, 183 (5th Cir.1995) (The decision to grant or deny a motion for new trial or remittitur rests in the sound discretion of the trial judge; that exercise of discretion can be set aside only upon a clear showing of abuse); Brunnemann v. Terra Int'l, Inc., 975 F.2d 175, 178 (5th Cir.1992) (concluding that the district court abused its discretion in denying defendant's motion for remittitur); Hernandez v. M/V Rajaan, 841 F.2d 582, 587 (5th Cir.1988) (This court will not overturn a damage award unless the trier of fact abused its discretion). Strongest of Showings Standard. This court has firmly established in previous cases that it will not reverse a jury verdict for excessiveness except on the strongest of showings. Lebron v. United States, 279 F.3d 321, 325 (5th Cir.2002); Enter. Ref. Co. v. Sector Ref. Inc., 781 F.2d 1116, 1118 (5th Cir.1986); Dixon v. Int'l Harvester Co., 754 F.2d 573, 590 (5th Cir.1985); Caldarera v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 705 F.2d 778, 784 (5th Cir.1983); Shows, 671 F.2d at 934; Bridges v. Groendyke Transp., Inc., 553 F.2d 877, 880 (5th Cir. 1977). The size of the award a plaintiff is entitled to is generally a question of fact, and the reviewing court should be exceedingly hesitant to overturn the decision of the jury  the primary fact finder  and the trial judge who concurred with its verdict. Shows, 671 F.2d at 934 (citing Bridges, 553 F.2d at 880). Thus, we have upheld the denial of a new trial on the question of damages even when we have disagreed with the award, see id. (citing Bridges, 553 F.2d at 881 & n. 2), and we will reverse an award as excessive only when it clearly exceeds that amount that any reasonable man could feel the claimant is entitled to. Id. (citing Bridges, 553 F.2d at 880; Bailey v. S. Pac. Transp. Co., 613 F.2d 1385, 1390 (5th Cir.1980)) (emphasis original); see also Ramirez v. Allright Parking El Paso, Inc., 970 F.2d 1372, 1378 (5th Cir. 1992); Enter. Ref. Co., 781 F.2d at 1118. Shock the Judicial Conscience Standard, et al. The jury's award is not to be disturbed unless it is entirely disproportionate to the injury sustained. Caldarera, 705 F.2d at 784; see also Industrias Magromer Cueros y Pieles S.A. v. La. Bayou Furs Inc., 293 F.3d 912, 924 (5th Cir.2002) (citing Caldarera, 705 F.2d at 784). We have expressed the extent of distortion that warrants intervention by requiring such awards to be so large as to `shock the judicial conscience,' `so gross or inordinately large as to be contrary to right reason,' so exaggerated as to indicate `bias, passion, prejudice, corruption, or other improper motive,' or as `clearly exceed[ing] that amount that any reasonable man could feel the claimant is entitled to.' Caldarera, 705 F.2d at 784 (quoting Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Floyd, 249 F.2d 396, 399 (5th Cir.1958); Allen v. Seacoast Prods., Inc., 623 F.2d 355, 364 (5th Cir.1980); Bridges, 553 F.2d at 880); see also Williams v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 875 F.2d 501, 506 (5th Cir.1989) (quoting Caldarera, 705 F.2d at 784). Captain D's does not even attempt to satisfy any of the foregoing standards for our ordering a new trial with a remittitur in the alternative. Instead, Captain D's argues that it is entitled to an appellate court reduction of the jury's verdict under our maximum recovery rule simply because the jury's verdict exceeds the recovery allowed in two allegedly similar cases from jurisdictions other than Mississippi, viz., two decisions based respectively on Louisiana law and American maritime law: Duncan v. Kansas City S. Ry. Co., 773 So.2d 670 (La.2000) and Sosa v. M/V Lago Izabal, 736 F.2d 1028 (5th Cir.1984). Captain D's cannot invoke the maximum recovery rule in this case, however, because it concedes that there are no reported cases from Mississippi addressing the recovery for pain and suffering for injuries like those sustained by Foradori[.] As one of our panels observed in Vogler v. Blackmore, 352 F.3d 150, 158 (5th Cir.2003), when [o]ur review of the caselaw reveals that there is no factually similar case in the relevant jurisdiction[,] the maximum recovery rule is not implicated. [21] Thus, because Captain D's has not satisfied any of the standards for the granting of a new trial or shown that it is in position to invoke the maximum recovery rule, it would be a gross aberration in law and justice to set aside Foradori's jury verdict based on a comparison with two reported decisions of foreign jurisdictions. [22] For these reasons, we conclude that Captain D's has not satisfied the strict standards that must be met before we will reverse the jury verdict on the ground that it was excessive. [23]