Court Opinion

ID: 9518682
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:58:47.996976+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:29:47.907011
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. As the majority notes, in order to reverse a trial court's grant of a new trial, this Court must find that the trial court abused its discretion, that a flagrant injustice has been done to the appellant, or that the appellant has made a very strong case for relief from the order of a new trial. Oliver v. Morrison (1982), Ind.App., 431 N.E.2d 140, 148. However, the majority then rules that the trial court's finding of prejudice in paragraph 9 of its order was unnecessary to its determination. As the Oliver court noted, the standard a trial court is to apply in ruling on a motion to correct error alleging excessive or inadequate damages is whether the verdict was a product of prejudice, passion, or some improper motive. Id. at 144. Consequently, the majority's ruling is erroneous.
As discussed above, the trial court did, in fact, make a finding of prejudice; however, the court did not support the finding with any facts from the record. A trial court cannot properly vary the jury's award and enter judgment for a different amount unless it finds, as a matter of law, that the damages awarded were excessive or inadequate. Smith v. Syd's Inc. (1991), Ind. App., 570 N.E.2d 126, 129. Where the evidence on damages is variable or conflicting, and the jury's award is within the range of the evidence, entry of judgment modifying the jury's award is an invasion of the jury's province and consequently erroneous. Id.
Here, the jury's award of $50,000.00 in damages was within the range of the evidence; therefore, any disturbance of the award would constitute an invasion of the jury's province. Id. Two Supreme Court cases similar to the instant case are Burnett v. State (1984), Ind., 467 N.E.2d 664, and Henschen v. New York Cent. R. Co. (1945), 223 Ind. 398, 60 N.E.2d 788. The Burneit court upheld an award of $6,000.00 in damages to a widow in a wrongful death action against the State even though the amount barely covered the actual monetary loss. In Henschen, the court upheld an award of $1,000.00 in damages in an action for the wrongful death of a 34-year-old man in good health who had been steadily employed and left surviving *1264him a wife and four minor children. Because the instant award was within the range of the evidence, I would reverse the trial court's grant of a new trial and remand with instructions to reinstate the original jury verdict.