Court Opinion

ID: 9699860
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:54:09.535821+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:58.895283
License: Public Domain

Roberds, J.,
dissenting in part.
I do not think the chart of claimed damages should have been mounted and spread before the jury when the opening statement of plaintiff was being made. The chart is some four by five feet, on heavy cardboard, with large black letters and figures on a white background. It enumerates the damages, past, present and future, under various headings, such as, for instance, “PAIN, SUFFERING, AND MENTAL ANGUISH $5.00 PER DAY, 28 MONTHS OR 840 DAYS AT $5.00 PER DAY —$4,200.00.” That was an estimate for past damages. It contains another heading similar to this for future pain, suffering and mental anguish, estimated for “ * * * 38 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS, OR 13,920 DAYS AT $5.00 PER DAY — $69,600.00.” There are other glaring headlines, such as “PAST DAMAGES” and “FUTURE DAMAGES,” giving the time which has been and will be covered and the elements of the damage. Now, this was at the very beginning of the trial of the case. No testimony had been offered of the enumerated damages. Indeed, none would have been competent at any time as to some of them, for instance, the daily damage for pain, suffering and mental anguish. Estimating that damage was a matter for the jury. No witness would have been permitted to give his estimate of that damage. Of course, *434at that stage, no evidence had been given as to who prepared this chart. For all the jury knew, or may have thought, it had been prepared by some doctor, or under direction of one skilled in medicine. No opportunity had been given for cross-examination or to test the accuracy of these estimates. Of course, the purpose of it was to influence and make as profound impression as possible on the minds of the jurors at the very beginning of the trial. This chart maneuver is becoming frequent in the trial of damage suits in Mississippi, and, judging by the size of the verdicts, is having its effect. It is an evidence of diligence on the part of counsel for plaintiffs, but, in my view, is not a method which should be approved by this Court, whose sole duty is to hold the scales of justice evenly balanced insofar as humanly possible. In any event, if such chart is to be used at this stage of the trial, the estimates and figures thereon should be confined to elements and factors which, at least, are susceptible of proof. What has been said has no reference to the use of such a chart in the argument to the jury after the testimony is in, provided the elements and amounts are supported by the evidence. However, as stated, estimates of money damage for daily suffering, past, present or future, would not have been competent for any witness to give at any stage of the trial. That was a matter for the jury.
Clisby v. Railroad, 78 Miss. 937, 29 So. 913, is not authority for use of this chart in the manner here used. That was a suit to recover the value of cotton destroyed through alleged negligence of the defendant railroad in the use of a defective locomotive emitting sparks which alighted and burned the cotton. A diagram of the locomotive was introduced. That is an entirely different case from the case at bar. In the first place, this diagram was made of the physical locomotive, depicting its different parts, having a direct bearing upon whether it did or did not emit the sparks, and, in the second place, *435it was used in the argument of the case to the jury after the testimony was all in, tested by cross-examination as to its accuracy. In the case at bar no evidence had been introduced, no opportunity for cross-examination had been afforded, and, as to a number of important items appearing on the chart, no testimony was competent.
In my view the amount of the verdict herein should be reduced to $50,000.00. It is clear the jury did not take into consideration the negligence of plaintiff. That he was grossly negligent permits of no doubt in my opinion. He is shown to have been an intelligent young man. He lived in Lowndes County, which is crisscrossed with high powered electric lines. It would appear childish to assume he did not know of such electric lines. He said he did know of the 7,200 volt line. He saw the low voltage lines running from the transformer to the pump and residence. His defense seems to be he thought the 7,200 volt line was insulated. Of course, a line carrying that amount of electricity cannot be insulated. But if he thought when on the ground the 7,200 volt line was insulated, he certainly did not think so when he climbed the steel derrick to within 18 inches to two feet of the high powered line. It was right at him. No one in that position, who looked at the wire, could have thought it insulated. He was some 25 feet above the ground upon a metal derrick, within not over 24 inches of this high powered line. He proceeded to attach metal braces to the metal derrick, all being apt conductors of electricity. He does not know just how he came into contact with the high powered line — whether he was sufficiently close to it for the electricity to jump from the wire to his body or whether his arm touched that wire. In any event it really seems difficult to perceive how one could be guilty of grosser negligence than was the plaintiff in this case. The entire record, it seems to me, shows the jury awarded a judgment in dollars and cents for the full damage, *436whereas under onr contributory negligence statute the damage resulting from tbe gross negligence of plaintiff should have been deducted therefrom.
McGehee, G. J., joins in this dissent.