Opinion ID: 1983749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jury Instructions Reduction In Damages

Text: The Superior Court compounded the error of not giving a contributory negligence instruction. Without a predicate finding of each decedent's negligence, the jury was, nevertheless, instructed that the damages it awarded would be reduced by the percentage of causation it attributed to each decedent's cigarette smoking: In this case it is contended by the parties as to Mr. North, Mr. Piorko and Mr. Pusey that their lung cancers have been caused by cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure or one or the other. Damages for harm are to be apportioned among two or more causes where there are distinct harms or there is a reasonable basis for determining the contribution of each cause to the harm. If you find that both cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure proximately caused the lung cancers in Mr. North, Mr. Piorko, or Mr. Pusey, or all of them, then you must apportion the damages for that lung cancer or cancers. To do this, you must first determine an amount that would fully compensate that plaintiff for his injury. Then you must determine what percentage of that injury was caused by asbestos exposure and what percentage was caused by cigarette smoking. The plaintiff will not be compensated for the percentage you find to be caused by smoking. Delaware's modified comparative negligence statute requires a jury to apportion damages between the parties in terms of percentages of negligence. Culver v. Bennett, 588 A.2d at 1098. Consequently, the apportionment of damages between multiple defendants, or the plaintiffs and the defendants, is a separate consideration to be examined by the jury only after negligence and proximate causation have been established. Id. The damages the jury awarded to a plaintiff should not have been reduced without a predicate finding that a decedent's contributory negligence was a 50% or less proximate cause of the lung cancer. Id.