Opinion ID: 546191
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adequacy of Damages Awards

Text: 18 Hiatt claims that the district court's awards of $100,000 for her noneconomic loss, $361,325 for loss of support, and $419,456 for diminution in the value of stock in Hiatt Trucking Company are inadequate as a matter of law. In reviewing damage awards, we afford considerable deference to the district court; we will reverse the award only if we find it to be clearly erroneous. See Meader v. United States, 881 F.2d 1056, 1060 (11th Cir.1989); Davis, 807 F.2d at 913. This means that we should not reverse a district court's damages award simply because we may conclude that we would have computed damages differently in the first instance. Meader, 881 F.2d at 1060. Rather, we may reverse only if after reviewing all the evidence we are  'left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.'  Id. (quoting United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 542, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948)). 19 We first address Hiatt's complaint that the $100,000 award for her noneconomic damages is inadequate. Damages of this sort are compensable under section 768.21(2) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act, which provides: The surviving spouse may also recover for loss of the decedent's companionship and protection and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Fla.Stat. Sec. 768.21(2) (1986). 20 At trial, Mrs. Hiatt argued that she deserved $500,000, but the district court found that amount to be excessive. The court stated that it took into account that the Hiatts were married for 34 years, but also recognized evidence that Dale Hiatt had been unfaithful and that at one point the couple was separated for a period of six months. The district court also took into account that Mrs. Hiatt stated that she contemplated divorce throughout all of her married life. 21 After reviewing the evidence, we are satisfied that the district court's award to Mrs. Hiatt was not clearly erroneous. Florida law recognizes that evidence of marital discord is probative of the extent of survivor's noneconomic loss as a result of the wrongful death. See Adkins v. Seaboard Coast Line R.R. Co., 351 So.2d 1088, 1092 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1977). The record indicates that the Hiatts' marriage, while never formally terminated, was far from ideal. Mrs. Hiatt testified that she suspected her husband of infidelity on several occasions, Record, Vol. 19 at 456-459, and that the couple informally separated for a period of time. Id. at 460. Mrs. Hiatt admitted, in short, that her marriage had troubles. Id. at 463. See also Record, Vol. 18 at 201-03 (testimony of Eugene Gamelin). The district court did not clearly err in awarding Mrs. Hiatt $100,000 for her noneconomic loss. 22 The same is true for the district court's award for Mrs. Hiatt's loss of support in the amount of $361,325. This award was made pursuant to section 768.21(1) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act, which provides that [e]ach survivor may recover the value of lost support and services from the date of the decedent's injury to his death, with interest, and future loss of support and services from the date of death and reduced to present value. Fla.Stat. Sec. 768.21(1) (1986). The court based the amount of this award on findings that Dale Hiatt's base earning capacity, computed by averaging his incomes from the three years prior to his death, was approximately $74,770; that his earning capacity would have continued until he reached age 65; that his earning capacity would have grown at a rate of 12 1/2% per year; and that his rate of personal consumption would have been 50%. 23 Hiatt argues that the district court's findings that Dale would have worked only until age 65 and that his personal consumption rate was 50% were clearly erroneous. We are not persuaded. The district court based its finding that Hiatt would have worked only until age 65 on evidence of his increasing interest in recreational activities and on an expert economist's testimony based on work-life expectancy tables. The district court also heard evidence that Mr. Hiatt enjoyed a somewhat luxurious lifestyle such that it would be reasonable to expect his personal consumption rate to be well above average. We find sufficient support in the record for all of these findings. The record contains evidence that Mr. Hiatt enjoyed many comforts in his free time and that he probably would have become more involved in recreational interests and less involved in work activities as he reached retirement age. See Record, Vol. 20 at 578-580 (regarding work-life expectancy tables); Vol. 18 at 197-200, Vol. 19 at 421-23, 447-52, and Vol. 20 at 653-54 (regarding Hiatt's lifestyle and rate of personal consumption). 24 Finally, we turn to the district court's award of damages for diminution in value of stock in Hiatt Trucking Company from 1981 to 1985, and its refusal to award damages for future diminution of stock value. As to future loss, the district court found that within several years after Hiatt's death, Hiatt Trucking returned to a stable and profitable state. Thus, the court reasoned, Hiatt failed to prove damages for future loss. For the decline in the company's stock from 1981 to 1985, the district court awarded the estate $419,456. This award was authorized by section 768.21(6)(a) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act, which provides that the estate's personal representative may recover the loss of prospective net estate accumulations. Fla.Stat. Sec. 768.21(6)(a) (1986). 25 Hiatt vigorously challenges the factual findings upon which the district court based this award. While the district court found that Dale Hiatt's death caused a 5% decline in the growth rate of Hiatt Trucking Company stock, Hiatt argues that due to her husband's death the company experienced a 20% decline in stock value. Hiatt relies heavily on the fact that in 1980, the year prior to Dale Hiatt's death, the company's shareholder's equity grew in excess of 20 percent. She argues that but for her husband's death the company would have continued to profit at that rate. The district court was not convinced; it concluded that 1980 was an aberrational year for Hiatt Trucking, and that the profit figures for that year could not be used as a basis for predicting how the company would have fared if Dale Hiatt had not been killed. Hiatt, No. 82-6446, slip op. at 27-28. 26 The district court acknowledged that the company's profitability declined after Dale Hiatt's death. However, it concluded that Dale's death was only one of many contributing factors. Other factors found to be operative were economic conditions in the construction industry, the company's problems with unionization, and the company's loss of several key employees. Hiatt, No. 82-6446, slip op. at 28-32. Hiatt argues that these other factors cited by the district court were either inconsequential or were themselves caused by Dale's death. 27 Hiatt particularly emphasizes that a factor that contributed significantly to the company's decline was the departure of Eugene Gamelin, the company's general manager who also served as president for the two years after Dale's death. Gamelin left Hiatt Trucking in 1983 and started his own business, which competed with Hiatt Trucking. Shirley Hiatt argues that Gamelin's departure hurt Hiatt Trucking and that Gamelin would not have left if Dale had not been killed. The district court did not find evidence on that point to be credible. Rather, the court concluded that the Hiatt family had always expected that Gamelin would leave the company and start his own business and that Dale Hiatt's death in 1981 simply made Gamelin's departure soon thereafter a certainty. Id. at 31-32. 28 After reviewing the record, we are satisfied that the district court's findings on diminution were not clearly erroneous. We recognize, as Hiatt points out, that there is also evidence in this record that supports her theory that her husband's death was the sole cause of the company's decline and that Gamelin would not have left if Dale Hiatt had not died. But that evidence is not so pervasive that we are  'left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed'  by the district court. Meader, 881 F.2d at 1060 (quoting Gypsum, 333 U.S. at 395, 68 S.Ct. at 542). It cannot be gainsaid that it is not the role of an appellate court to reweigh the evidence and make factual findings after the district court has done so. Our function at this point is to review the record and the findings to determine whether the district court's conclusions are clearly erroneous. We find that they are not in this instance, and thus we affirm the district court's award to Hiatt of $419,456 for diminution in the value of Hiatt Trucking Company's stock from 1981 through 1985, and its finding that the estate sustained no loss in future stock value. 29