Opinion ID: 345512
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: adequacy of the remittitur

Text: 34 On cross-appeal the defendants contend that the district court erred in not requiring a larger remittitur by the plaintiff. They argue that favorable comments made by the district judge about the plaintiff's witness, Dr. Breffeilh, persuaded the jury to give more weight to his testimony than to Dr. McPherson's. 4 This argument must fail for three reasons: untimeliness, lack of prejudice, and irrelevance. 35 First, the defendants did not object to either comment in the trial court nor did they ask the district judge to clarify his remarks. In addition, in filing their post-trial motions the defendants failed to present this claim of error to the district judge for his consideration. As to issues not presented to the trial judge, the rule in this Circuit is clear: 36 In the absence of exceptional circumstances where a miscarriage of justice would result, a condition not present here, questions that were not presented to or passed on by the trial court will not be considered on appeal. 37 D. H. Overmyer Co. v. Loflin, 5 Cir. 1971, 440 F.2d 1213, 1215, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 851, 92 S.Ct. 87, 30 L.Ed.2d 90. See also Dennis v. Central Gulf Steamship Corp., 5 Cir. 1972, 453 F.2d 137, 141, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 286, 34 L.Ed.2d 218. No miscarriage of justice will result from our refusal to entertain the defendants claim on appeal. 38 In any event, we hold that there is no merit to the contention that the remittitur was inadequate. The remarks were not prejudicial to the defendants; indeed, the second comment was favorable to their position. Further, the defendants' argument that the remarks caused the jury to place too much weight on Dr. Breffeilh's testimony is irrelevant to the issue of how large the remittitur should be. As required by Bonura, the district court determined the size of the remittitur by calculating the maximum award the jury could have made on the record. That maximum amount has no relationship to how much weight the jury actually gave Dr. Breffeilh's testimony. What weight the jurors could have given such testimony is the critical issue, and the judge properly evaluated the evidence on damages by giving decisive weight to the more pessimistic prognosis. We therefore reject the defendants' contention that the remittitur was inadequate. 39 AFFIRMED.