Court Opinion

ID: 9628986
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:35:24.448526+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:13.960223
License: Public Domain

Donworth, J.
(dissenting in part) — While I concur in affirming the judgment on the issue of liability, I am unable to agree with the portion of the majority opinion in which the court declines to review the amount of the jury’s verdict.
It is held that the court in this case cannot find that the damages awarded were so excessive as unmistakably to indicate that the amount must have been the result of passion or prejudice.
Assuming arguendo that there is nothing in the record indicating that the jury was influenced by passion or prejudice, our function as an appellate court, does not stop there.
In Anderson v. Dalton, 40 Wn. (2d) 894, 246 P. (2d) 853 (an En Banc decision) we reviewed our previous cases involving this problem and pointed out that there were two lines of cases dealing with the matter of excessive damages: A. Those cases in which damages have been regarded as excessive but not necessarily involving passion or prejudice (Scobba v. Seattle, 31 Wn. (2d) 685, 198 P. (2d) 805— cited by the majority in this case — being referred to as an example), and B. Those cases in which damages have been regarded as excessive and as having been given under the influence of passion or prejudice.
In that case, we summarized the pertinent decisions with this statement:
“In more than three-score cases, we have affirmed or ourselves made conditional reductions amounting to fifty per cent of the verdict. We have not, in our consideration of the present case, analyzed those cases to determine whether they fall in Class A (excessive verdicts without reference to passion or prejudice) or Class B (excessive verdicts which indicate passion or prejudice on the part of the juries).
*337“In eleven cases, we have required or upheld the requirement that more than fifty per cent of the verdict be remitted. In our opinions in nine of these, we made no reference to passion or prejudice, and they probably belong in Class A. [Citing cases.]
“In only two cases involving reductions of more than fifty per cent in verdicts have we said that there was passion or prejudice. [Citingcases.]”
More recently in Kramer v. Portland-Seattle Auto Freight, 43 Wn. (2d) 386, 261 P. (2d) 692, we set forth the matters to be considered by an appellate court in reviewing the alleged excessiveness of a verdict for damages for wrongful death where there is no showing of passion or prejudice as follows:
“On the one hand, the following must be considered: Each cause depends, to a large extent, upon its own facts and circumstances. The verdict must be compensatory of a pecuniary loss. Walters v. Spokane International R. Co., 58 Wash. 293, 108 Pac. 593 (1910). It can be substantial (Atkeson v. Jackson Estate, 72 Wash. 233, 130 Pac. 102 (1913); St. Germain v. Potlatch Lbr. Co., 76 Wash. 102, 135 Pac. 804 (1913); Skeels v. Davidson, 18 Wn. (2d) 358, 139 P. (2d) 301, 149 A.L.R. 225 (1943)) but not out of proportion to actual damages. Halverson v. Seattle Electric Co., 35 Wash. 600, 77 Pac. 1058 (1904). The amount of the damage is within the discretion of the jury, under proper instructions. The jury is given considerable latitude in making such determination as to it seems just. Aronson v. Everett, 136 Wash. 312, 239 Pac. 1011 (1925); Ticknor v. Seattle-Renton Stage Line, 139 Wash. 354, 247 Pac. 1 (1926). The subject matter being difficult of proof, it cannot be fixed with mathematical certainty by the proof. Once the determination is made, an appellate court will give great weight to, and is reluctant to interfere with, the jury’s verdict. Kellerher v. Porter, 29 Wn. (2d) 650,189 P. (2d) 223 (1948).
“On the other hand, the balancing factor is the conscience of the appellate court, when there is an affirmative showing that passion and prejudice played no part in the jury’s determination. Is the amount flagrantly outrageous and extravagant? Is it unjustified in the light of the evidence? Does it disclose circumstances foreign to proper jury deliberations? If it is and does, then it can be said to shock the sense of justice and sound judgment, and the verdict of the jury is excessive.”
*338Applying these principles to the present case, I cannot find from the testimony relating to the boy’s injuries anything to justify an award of five thousand dollars.
This testimony is quoted in the majority opinion and was given by the boy’s parents and a physician who examined him seven months after the accident at the request of appellant.
■ In substance, it showed that the boy immediately after the accident in April, 1952, was taken to a hospital and was discharged on the same day. He was in bed at home for a week and .returned to school the third week. His face was swollen, he had two black eyes, and his nose was also swollen. He had minor cuts on his face and his lip was cut. His knee bothered him, and he. complained of headaches. He was restless in his sleep and started wetting his bed. His arm ached. He felt sleepy while at school.
The contusions and practically all the other items described above disappeared after five or six weeks. At the time of the trial (nearly a year after the accident), he still had two principal results of the accident: (a) occasional headaches, and (b) one leg that bothered him when walking or running a great deal.
The physician found no objective symptoms from his examination. He said: “As far as I could tell, he seemed to be quite a normal boy.” He was unable to express an opinion as to whether the headaches would continue in the future without having a good deal more data.
Considering the nature and extent of these injuries (which I cannot believe from the evidence are permanent), I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the amount of the verdict is flagrantly extravagant and that it shocks the sense of justice and sound judgment.
I would remand the case to the trial court with instructions to give respondent the option of consenting to the entry of a judgment against appellants for the sum of $2,500, or, in the alternative, appellants would be granted a new trial limited to the issue of damages only.
April 30, 1954. Petition for rehearing denied.