Court Opinion

ID: 9734956
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:54:22.081244+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:52.943226
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE McMORROW, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I concur in the opinion of my colleagues in all but one respect: I do not agree with the majority that it is proper to order a remittitur of the jury’s award of damages to Keva Richardson for present cash value of future medical expenses or the jury’s award to Ann McGregor for pain and suffering. In determining the total verdict awarded to Richardson, the jury considered extensive evidence relating to six separate components of damages. As noted by the majority, Richardson "suffered devastating, disabling injuries.” The appellate court majority’s unpublished opinion describes her condition: "After the collision, doctors determined that the communication connection between Richardson’s brain and the rest of her body had become severed and she was rendered a quadriplegic. Richardson was soon placed in traction with tongs affixed to her skull by driving screws into the side of her head. She was also placed in a rotorest bed with 25 pounds weights attached to her body for traction. Eventually, Richardson underwent surgery to stabilize her spine so it could support the weight of her head which hung like a rag doll’s head. In that operation, bone from her hips was grafted to her cervical spine with the use of metal plates and screws. The surgery did not repair the injury to Richardson’s spinal cord, nor does medical technology yet exist to rectify the injury.” Other evidence related Richardson’s need for assistance every six hours to empty her bladder by catheterization and daily assistance to empty her bowel, over which she permanently lacks control. She has lost the use of her legs, fingers, and the fine muscles of her hand. Her chest and abdomen are paralyzed. She is subject to risk of serious infections and other conditions and, according to the evidence, having a child would be life-threatening. The appellate court opinion further stated that Richardson "may expect to be hospitalized on a regular basis for the balance of her life.” The jury awarded $11 million to compensate Richardson for her future medical needs. To this sum the majority applies a remittitur of $1 million, based on the majority’s observation that the jury’s award for this element of damages exceeded by $1.5 million the testimony of economist Charles Linke regarding the "upper bound” of the present cash value of Richardson’s future medical needs. Linke explained that he calculated a "lower bound present value ($7.4 million) and an upper bound present value ($9.5 million).” His figures were derived from different assumptions regarding the relationship of the rate of interest to the rate of growth. In explaining his economic assumptions and methods, Linke also noted that there were different accounting methods that could be used to calculate Richardson’s future medical needs. The one he employed yielded a more conservative figure for medical care than that used by the General Accounting Office, which, according to Linke, would yield the conclusion that "the present value of Keva Richardson’s care needs would be approximately 12.1 million dollars.” In assuming that the $9.5 million "upper bound” figure represents the maximum amount that is sustained by the evidence with respect to Richardson’s future medical expenses, the majority opinion fails to acknowledge that the information upon which Linke based his calculation of present cash value of future medical expenses represented Richardson’s minimum care needs for the rest of her life. Dr. Yarkony, upon whose testimony Linke’s economic analysis was based, detailed the specific types of medical expenses that Richardson would be expected to need in the coming years. Dr. Yarkony testified, "[T]his is the basic minimum care not covering any hospital admissions for emergencies, complications, and the like.” He further testified that in his opinion Richardson would continue to require hospitalizations in the future caused by complications related to her spinal cord injury, including infections, pressure sores, pneumonia, and blood clots. Notwithstanding the above testimony of Linke and Dr. Yarkony, the majority determines that the jury improperly affixed damages for future medical costs in an amount exceeding the experts’ estimates by $1.5 million. The majority concedes that the jury could properly compensate Richardson for medical costs not otherwise included in the experts’ calculations. The majority permits one third of the excess award to stand, and concludes that $500,000, rather than $1.5 million, represents the appropriate additional sum the jury could award in excess of Linke’s upper bound estimate of $9.5 million. In so holding, the majority usurps the jury’s function and substitutes its own judgment regarding what is reasonable and fairly supported by the expert economic and medical evidence with respect to the present value of Richardson’s future medical costs. The majority’s application of remittitur in the case at bar thereby operates as an arbitrary limitation on the jury’s ability to assess the evidence. See, e.g., Lee v. Chicago Transit Authority, 152 Ill. 2d 432, 470 (1992); Barry v. Owens-Coming Fiberglas Corp., 282 Ill. App. 3d 199, 207 (1996); Riley v. Koneru, 228 Ill. App. 3d 883 (1992); Chambers v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, 155 Ill. App. 3d 458 (1987); Shaheed v. Chicago Transit Authority, 137 Ill. App. 3d 352 (1985); Guerrero v. City of Chicago, 117 Ill. App. 3d 348 (1983). In Riley, 228 Ill. App. 3d at 887-88, the appellate court summarized the applicable law of remittitur: "Damages are a question of fact to be decided by the jury, and courts are reluctant to interfere with the jury’s exercise of discretion in this area. [Citations.] A reviewing court will not disturb a jury’s award of damages unless it is obviously the result of passion or prejudice. [Citation.] Furthermore, an award is not excessive unless it falls outside the necessary limits of fair and reasonable compensation or it shocks the judicial conscience. [Citation.] A jury’s award will not be subject to remittitur where it falls within the flexible range of conclusions which can be reasonably supported by the facts. [Citation.]” In Barry v. Owens-Coming Fiberglas Corp., the court rejected defendant’s argument that a wrongful death award of $6,850,000 and a total verdict in excess of $12 million was grossly excessive and should have been reversed or subject to remittitur. The court stated, "Reviewing courts rarely disturb jury awards. For good reason. *** [Jurors] use their combined wisdom and experience to reach fair and reasonable judgments. We are neither trained nor equipped to second-guess those judgments about the pain and suffering and familial losses incurred by other human beings.” Barry, 282 Ill. App. 3d at 207. Nothing in the record or the itemized jury verdict indicates that the jury departed from its customary duty to weigh the evidence and assess damages that would fairly compensate Richardson for her permanent and disabling injuries. The jury’s award for future medical expenses, which arguably exceeded certain testimony, does not warrant the conclusion that the jury’s determination was a departure from the flexible range of damages that was reasonably supported by the facts. There is no indication that the jury’s award was the product of passion or prejudice. In fact, with respect to a different component of damages, i.e., Richardson’s past and future lost earnings, the jury awarded a sum that was $1,265 million less than the higher of the testimonial estimates presented for that item of damages. If experts’ estimates of a person’s future income losses or medical expenses were an exact science capable of mathematical precision, there would be no need to have a jury make the final determination of proven damages. In the case at bar the jury heard all of the evidence, including the basis for the expert testimony. It appears uncontested that the evidence of Richardson’s future medical expenses did not include every anticipated item, such as special equipment and repeated hospitalizations that are likely to occur in the future because of the serious conditions Richardson suffers as a result of her quadriplegia. The testimonial estimate of the present cash value of Richardson’s future medical needs is only that — an estimate. This estimate was elicited as a minimum projection of Richardson’s medical needs in the years to come. In light of these considerations, I would affirm the appellate court’s holding that the variance between the jury’s award for future medical needs and the experts’ projection is "certainly not so great a variance that we must reject the verdict of people whom we have instructed to use their own observation and experience in the affairs of life during their deliberations.” Similarly, I depart from the majority’s holding that Ann McGregor’s damages award of $100,000 for pain and suffering was excessive. The majority orders a remittitur of $50,000 as a "more appropriate figure for pain and suffering.” 175 Ill. 2d at 115. The majority appears to base its conclusion on the relatively minor injury McGregor sustained, noting that she suffered a laceration on her forehead that healed with only minimal scarring. Although the majority views the award of $100,000 as overly generous for a facial laceration that did not result in permanent disfigurement, the majority substitutes its own subjective judgment for the jury’s evaluation of the evidence. The record indicates that McGregor’s lacerated forehead took six months to heal. The record further indicates that she suffered ongoing trauma, including recurrent nightmares resulting from the rear-end collision that left the other occupant of the car a quadriplegic. The jury, as finder of fact, had the superior ability to assess the evidence, including McGregor’s testimony relating to her traumatic and painful experience. I am aware of no sound reason to nullify the function of the jury and arbitrarily reduce McGregor’s award for pain and suffering to $50,000. Therefore, I cannot concur in the reasoning or result of the majority with respect to the reduction by remittitur of both plaintiffs’ verdicts. For the reasons stated, I concur in part and dissent in part from the judgment of the majority. JUSTICE FREEMAN joins in this partial concurrence and partial dissent.