Court Opinion

ID: 9786077
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 23:46:33.58247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:38.521385
License: Public Domain

LEHMAN, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
[¶39] I respectfully dissent. My apprehension in this case evolves from the purported confusion of the jury regarding the amount of damages awarded to appellant. The majority correctly points out that both parties agreed to the procedure used by the court and, beyond that, I acknowledge that appellee did not raise it as an issue. It was raised, however, in a different context by plaintiff and is of such fundamental import that I must give comment.
[¶40] The jury, after determining the comparative fault of the parties, first returned with a verdict of $150,000. Those damages were written in by the jury in a blank under the paragraph which read:
Without considering the percentage of fault attributed as above, what total amount of damages do you find was sustained by Plaintiff Jessica Garnick (Note, the Judge will make appropriate deductions for fault attributable to the plaintiff, Jessica Garnick, if any)
[¶41] When compared to instructions courts provide to jurors involving complex legal theories, that language seems relatively straight forward. The jury asked no questions during its deliberations, and, when initially polled, the jurors acknowledged that the $150,000 was in fact its verdict. What followed, however, was further inquiry about the jurors' intent, with the ultimate explanation by the court that if the jury wanted the plaintiff to get $150,000, it would have to award her $300,000. The only reason this issue was presented to the court at all was the jury came back with a $250,000 verdict rather than the $300,000, and the plaintiff thought that proved confusion on the part of the jury.
[¶42] My problem, of course, is that the jury first determined the total amount of damages it felt plaintiff had suffered. That is what the law requires; that is what the jurors were instructed to find. The jurors performed their difficult task, and the only remaining duty of the court was to apply the law of contributory negligence based upon the percentage of fault determined by the jury. What appears to have occurred, however, is that the increased damage amount from $150,000 to $250,000 was determined by the jury, not based upon what the actual damages it felt occurred to the plaintiff, but what amount the jurors wanted the plaintiff to receive. |
*1051[T43] In fact the colloquy from the court as it was reinstructing the jury regarding damages included language about what the jury wanted the plaintiff to have. Quoting from a portion of the discussion:
THE COURT: Yes, because if that's not what you wanted her to have-if you wanted her to have $150,000, then you need to change that figure to $300,000. That's the simple solution. But you do what you believe is the appropriate thing to do.
[T44] The question is not what the jury, the court, or counsel want the plaintiff to receive. The question is not how to avoid application of comparative fault statutes. The question is what damages were incurred by the plaintiff. The above instruction given by the court is not in accordance with law. The error of law committed is, I believe, so fundamental and clearly resulted in a different verdict, that it cannot be ignored. I would reverse for a new trial in which a jury would be allowed to determine onee again the percentage of fault attributed to the parties and, without influence, the total amount of damages it felt was actually suffered by plaintiff.