Court Opinion

ID: 9565066
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:14:23.473728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:22.343412
License: Public Domain

HIGGINS, Justice.
The Court of Appeals ordered a new trial on all issues on the assigned ground that the trial court’s instructions permitted the jury to consider the retail value of the damaged merchandise in fixing the amount of damages the plaintiffs were entitled to recover. While the court in the charge recited to the jury the respective contentions and claims of the parties respecting the amount of damages resulting from the defendant’s acts of negligence and thereafter discussed the various claims of damages, the court gave the jury this mandate:
“In the event you have reached this issue and find by the greater weight of the evidence that the plaintiffs are entitled to recover of the defendant for damages to the plaintiffs’ merchandise, I instruct you that you will take into consideration the description of and the evidence of the damages to the merchandise which the witnesses have given you. You may consider for the purpose of illustrating the testimony of the witnesses the pictures that you-have seen of the merchandise and you will award to the plaintiffs, if you award anything on this issue, the amount which you find represents the difference in the reasonable market value of the merchandise before and after it was damaged. The reasonable market value of any article being the amount which, the owner wanting to sell but not having to, would accept for it and the amount which a buyer, who wanted the article but didn’t have to have it would pay for it in a free, fair trade in which there is no compulsion on either side. In this case, that amount may be anywhere from one cent to forty-nine thousand nine hundred and seven dollars and seven cents.
“Now, in a case of this type involving the stock of merchandise, you may, in arriving at the fair market :value of the items, take into consideration the replacement .cost *83of the items which would be the wholesale price of the goods. You may consider but are not bound by the retail prices of the damaged items because that price would include profits which may or may not be realized and therefore would be a speculative value. In considering the cost of the merchandise to the plaintiff, you may also consider reasonable delivery charges and unpacking expenses involved in the goods or merchandise reaching the stage at which they were at the time that this damage was done to it. In other words, you will try by your verdict to put the plaintiffs in the same position they were in prior to the damage to their merchandise insofar as money can do. so. If you reach this issue and decide the plaintiffs are entitled to recover anything as a result of the actionable negligence of the defendant, you will award them the amount you find will fully compensate them for their loss according to the rules I have given you with regard to damages in this kind of a case and you will base your verdict on the evidence in the case.”
According to the decided cases in North Carolina, “The measure of damages for injury to personal property is the difference between the market value immediately before the injury and the market value immediately after the injury ...” 3 Strong N. C. Index 2d, Damages, § 4, p. 171. Guaranty Co. v. Motor Express, 220 N.C. 721, 18 S.E. 2d 116. Where the injury is less than total destruction, the measure of damages is the difference between the market value of the article immediately before and immediately after the injury. Light Co. v. Paul, 261 N.C. 710, 136 S.E. 2d 103; Construction Co. v. R. R., 185 N.C. 43, 116 S.E. 3.
After comparison and review of the pleadings, the evidence, and the contentions of the parties, we are of the opinion the trial court stated to the jury the correct rule to govern their determination of the amount of damages. In the light of the pleadings, the evidence, the contentions of the parties, and the answers to the issues, we are of the opinion that the jury could not have misunderstood the instructions to the defendant’s prejudice.
The decision of. the Court of Appeals is reversed. The cause will be remanded to the Superior Court of Forsyth County with the direction that the original judgment entered therein be restored as the final judgment of the court.
*84Reversed.
Chief Justice Bobbitt not sitting.