Court Opinion

ID: 9553142
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:22:56.306145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:48.294238
License: Public Domain

BROWN, Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot agree with the majority’s disposition of this case. The majority determined that Smith v. Blair, Wyo., 521 P.2d 581 (1974), controlled the disposition of the present case. In Smith, this court said:
“We recently had occasion to say, in DeWitty v. Decker, Wyo., 383 P.2d 734, 736, as a general rule, the failure of a jury to award general damages, in the face of an award for substantial medical and hospital expenses, results at least in an improper or irregular verdict. * * * ” (Emphasis added.)
In Smith v. Blair, supra, the substantial medical and hospital expenses were $2,015.15. In the case before us the medical expense, with respect to appellant William Burns Smith, was $45. By no stretch of the imagination can it be said that $45 is a substantial medical expense. The majority solves the substantial medical expense requirement of DeWitty and Smith by ignoring it. If $45 is a substantial medical expense, then only a tiny step is required to determine that $.98, the cost of a tin of Bayer aspirin, is likewise a substantial medical expense. The majority has effectively eliminated the requirement that substantial medical expense need be shown.
Frequently a court will develop or adopt a sensible and rational rule; later that same court, perhaps with new members, will whittle away at the rule, eventually distorting it beyond recognition. The distortion of the DeWitty rule is nearly complete.
The jury was adequately instructed on compensation for pain and suffering, and counsel adequately argued these items of damages to the jury. We cannot assume that the jury disregarded the court’s instructions on pain and suffering or was confused about that item of damage. Considering the trifling medical expense with respect to William Burns Smith, it is not illogical to assume the jury just did not believe his pain and suffering was compen-sable. This case suggests that the jury is required to award compensation for pain and suffering even if it does not believe a plaintiff or believes he has “hyped” his damages.
I would affirm the trial court.