Opinion ID: 1764638
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The $80,000 Award for Mrs. Leah McGuire.

Text: Mrs. McGuire incurred medical expenses of twenty-six hundred dollars seventy-four cents ($2,600.74) and lost earnings of twelve thousand one hundred forty-four dollars sixty-four cents ($12,144.64). She is a registered nurse, sixty-five (65) years of age, and earned fourteen hundred dollars ($1,400) per month as Supervisor of Nursing Services at a McComb nursing home. She sustained fractures to three vertebra  C-12, L-1 and L-2; burns on her neck, arms, ears and scalp; permanent scarring on her legs and back; and permanent injury to the sciatic nerve. She also suffered excruciating pain at the time of the accident and following the accident and, according to Dr. Julian Janes, would continue to experience multiple back pains in the future. This Court in Kinnard v. Martin, 223 So.2d 300 (Miss. 1969) affirmed a one hundred thousand dollar ($100,000) verdict for personal injuries, and the Court said: Each suit for personal injury must be decided on the facts shown in that particular case. The amount of physical injury, mental and physical pain, present and future, temporary and permanent disability, medical expenses, loss of wages and wage-earning capacity, sex, age and health of the injured plaintiff, are all variables to be considered by the jury in determining the amount of damages to be awarded. [Citations omitted]. [223 So.2d at 303]. On this evidence, we cannot say that the verdict of the jury was so excessive as to evince bias, passion and prejudice on the part of the jury, and we affirm the judgment for Mrs. McGuire.