Opinion ID: 1689914
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: remand for quantum review

Text: The trial court awarded $2,960,168.60 and made it reducible by the 50 per cent fault attributed to Lasyone. Because the appellate court reversed the trial court on liability, it never addressed the damage award. Although this Court, like the court of appeal, has appellate jurisdiction of both law and fact, and may perform an independent review and render judgment on the question of damages, see LA. CONST. art. V, § 5(C) and Thomas v. Missoui Pacific R.R. Co., 466 So.2d 1280 (La.1985), we prefer that the court of appeal perform the first appellate review of the damage award. [15] Several considerations prompt our conclusion that the court of appeal is the appropriate body to do this. First, the appellate court has the primary responsibility for reviewing the trial court's factual determinations. Second, the proper allocation of functions between the lower appellate courts and the Supreme Court is best served by consigning the first appellate review of damages to the court of appeal and preserving to this Court discretionary review upon the litigants' petition for certiorari. See Canter v. Koehring Co., 283 So.2d 716, 724 (La.1973) (the preservation of the proper allocation of functions between trial and appellate courts is one reason the appellate courts adhere to the manifest error standard of review).