Opinion ID: 1833794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: General Damage AwardManifest Error Review

Text: Broussard takes issue with the appellate court's determination that the jury's damage award of $123,275 for physical and mental pain and suffering, past and future, loss of enjoyment of life, and permanent disability was abusively low. Although it agrees that the trial judge improperly raised the jury's total damage award under a JNOV because reasonable minds could differ on the entitlement and calculation of those damages, it nonetheless contends that the appellate court erred when it found the jury's award for these elements of damage was undeniably low. At issue then is whether the appellate court correctly raised Joseph's general damage award from $123,275 (the jury's award) to $225,000 by finding the jury's award was manifestly erroneous. [15] Because of the exacting requirements for granting a JNOV, it is theoretically possible for a JNOV to have been improvidently granted, and yet the jury verdict may be manifestly erroneous. Drury v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc., 93-1414 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/22/94), 659 So.2d 738, writ denied, 95-1012 (La.6/23/95), 660 So.2d 437. Because of the different analysis inherent to each, we note that there are two different standards which were in operation on the appellate level when the reviewing court examined the damage award. First, the appellate court, applying the JNOV standard enunciated in Scott and its progeny, determined that the trial judge improperly granted a substantial increase in the total damage award because reasonable minds could have differed. However, once the appellate court made that determination, we find it properly applied the manifest error rule of Coco v. Winston Indus., Inc., 341 So.2d 332 (La.1976) and its prolific progeny, when it determined that the general damage award was abusively low. Broussard contended in its argument before the jury that Joseph's neck injury was at best a soft tissue injury, that he was a malingerer, and that he could return to work. It is evident, however, that the lower courts disagreed with Broussard's contentions in this regard. Three physicians, Dr. John Cobb and Dr. Clark Gunderson, treating orthopedic surgeons, and Dr. William Foster, a neurosurgeon who testified in this matter, found objective evidence that Joseph injured his neck when the sacks of rice fell on him at the Port and that this accident was the cause of his neck injuries. The only doctor not to find objective evidence to support Joseph's cervical problem was Dr. Jack Pennington, an orthopedist who examined Joseph once as an IME for Stevedores's compensation carrier. [16] Despite Dr. Pennington's opinion, Joseph presented objective medical findings in the form of myelograms and CT scans which showed the disc protrusions. Moreover, his treating physicians opined that more probably than not the accident at the Port was the cause of Joseph's cervical disc problems. In addition, Dr. Gunderson, the orthopedist who performed Joseph's cervical disc surgery, indicated that more cervical surgery was needed and opined that Joseph could not return to work. Finally, Dr. Foster unequivocally stated that the Port accident caused Joseph to suffer from thoracic outlet syndrome which he would either have to live with or have addressed surgically. [17] When this testimony is considered along with the unrefuted testimony that Joseph had worked successfully as a longshoreman for twenty years without physical problems, we find that the appellate court, after particularizing the facts of this injury to this plaintiff, properly found the jury's general damage award abusively low.