Court Opinion

ID: 9683003
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:20:36.7719+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:43.674048
License: Public Domain

LAMBERT, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority opinion depends entirely on the view that Mr. Troxell’s claim for lost wages was erroneously submitted to the jury. As the lost wages claim was submitted along with other claims which are conceded to have been properly submitted, the majority reasons, nevertheless, that the jury might have found a breach of duty to pay lost wages as its basis for the bad faith and punitive damages award. From this it concludes that the case must be retried without any claim for lost wages, and with only the claims for bad faith and unfair claims settlement practices.
In my view the majority has applied an improper standard of review to Mr. Troxell’s claim for lost wages. The majority denigrates the absence of objective documentary evidence, but overlooks that Mr. Troxell’s oral testimony was sufficient to permit the jury to believe by a preponderance of the evidence that the personal injuries justified the verdict for lost wages. Reliance by the majority on State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co. v. Outlaw, Ky.App., 575 S.W.2d 489 (1978), is misplaced as it was a medical expenses case in which ample documentary evidence would have been available from health care providers.
The importance of the medical bill was recognized by the legislature. There is a statutory presumption that any medical bill submitted is reasonable. KRS 304.39-020(5)(a).
Id. at 493. When the person claiming lost wages is poor, uneducated, and a shade-tree mechanic, such computer-generated documents such as would be forthcoming from a health care provider are simply not available, but the absence of such documents should not foreclose the claim.
The case which should control here is Lewis v. Bledsoe Surface Mining Co., Ky., 798 S.W.2d 459 (1990), a wrongful discharge case in which the issue was whether the wrongfully discharged employee had used reasonable diligence in attempting to secure other employment. There was no documentary evidence that the employee had sought other employment, but he testified that after his discharge he sought employment at coal companies, sawmills, and as a truck driver. The former employer characterized the evidence as “a vague list of eight or nine employers, but [he] could testify as to no times, dates or reasons for not being hired.” With the issue so joined, we said:
While appellant’s evidence may have been lacking in precision, upon all of such testimony, he and other witnesses were sharply cross-examined and confronted with the contention that he had no desire to obtain other employment and was perfectly willing to await the result of his lawsuit. We are of the opinion that such evidence created a classic jury question, the resolution of which is a matter reserved exclusively to the trier of fact.
Id. at 461. In concluding comments and relying on Kentucky & Indiana Terminal R. Co. v. Cantrell, 298 Ky., 743, 184 S.W.2d 111 (1944), and Cochran v. Doming, Ky., 247 S.W.2d 228 (1952), we discussed the standard of review of a judgment upon a jury verdict as follows:
All evidence which favors the prevailing party must be taken as true and the reviewing court is not at liberty to determine credibility or the weight which should be *87given to the evidence, these being functions reserved to the trier of fact.
Lewis, 798 S.W.2d at 461.
In my view the majority has re-weighed the evidence presented and concluded that it disagrees with the jury. On this basis, the jury verdict and judgment entered thereon have been set aside, contrary to the unmistakable requirements of NCAA v. Hornung, Ky., 754 S.W.2d 855 (1988), and cases cited therein. The majority in this case has made the same mistake it identified and corrected with respect to DUI cases in Blades v. Commonwealth, 957 S.W.2d 246 (1997), as follows:
Moreover, we are of the opinion that Pence [Pence v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 825 S.W.2d 282 (1991)] is flawed because it erroneously requires a greater degree of certainty in DUI cases than is required in other areas of the law. It is well-settled that a jury may make reasonable inferences from the evidence. Commonwealth v. DeHaven, Ky., 929 S.W.2d 187 (1996); Carpenter v. Commonwealth, Ky., 771 S.W.2d 822 (1989); Barker v. Commonwealth, 304 Ky. 13, 199 S.W.2d 713 (1947), Mattingly v. Commonwealth, 240 Ky. 625, 42 S.W.2d 874 (1931). We fail to logically perceive a rational differentiation between the inferences that may be drawn in DUI cases of this nature and other more serious crimes. Clearly, if inferences from circumstantial evidence are sufficient to convict in felony crimes, Commonwealth v. Preece, Ky., 844 S.W.2d 385, 388 (1992), a fortiori circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom are sufficient for a jury conviction of a misdemeanor offense, as is present in this case. Thus, we overrule Pence to the extent that it requires a heightened level of evidence in order to be submitted to the jury.
At 249-250. No “greater degree of certainty” should be required of a claimant who seeks to prove lost wages than is required in other areas of the law. If “circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom are sufficient for a jury conviction of a misdemeanor [or felony] offense,” then such evidence should be sufficient to sustain a jury verdict for lost wages.
For the reasons stated herein, I would reverse the Court of Appeals and reinstate the final judgment of the circuit court.
STUMBO and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ., join this dissenting opinion.