Court Opinion

ID: 9703694
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:05:12.025273+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:44.909500
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Musmanno:
Maxwell McGluskey, six years of age, was struck by an automobile with such force that he went “sailing” through the air some 15 feet. Eyewitnesses to the accident testified to the violence of the impact: “Well, the car hit him and he was — went up in the air and he flew out.” ... “I mean when he hit it was like —you know how you hit a brick against the wall. It just sounded like that.” . . . “He flew up in the air, hit on the left hand side of the car, flew up in the air, hit come down. I heard the screech of brakes.” ... “I heard this thud and I saw my boy sailing.” ... “I picked the boy off the rail and he looked like as though he was dead.”
He was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the hospital. He continued to receive medical care after he left the hospital. Dr. Yale David Koskoff testified that the boy sustained a cerebral contusion, *220also called a cerebral concussion. Ever since the accident Maxwell has been assailed by night terrors. His mother testified: “Q. Describe that experience at night. A. He gets up at night. Q. About what time of the night? A. Well, he just hits the bed, I would say. He goes to bed between 8:30 and 9 o’clock. About a quarter to 10 he gets up hollering, sits up in bed or either walks around. We just have to take a damp cloth to him and all. It takes sometimes 10 minutes, 15 minutes to pull him out of it. . . . Q. Now, from the time that he came home in August of 1954 to the present day have you observed whether there is any improvement in his condition about these night terrors? A. No. They are getting worse. First they would be maybe one a month. It seems to get worse now as time goes on. He is losing weight over it. I know it. Even with the tonic he takes it doesn’t seem to help. Q. He is still under the care of Dr. Eoskoff? A. Yes, sir.”
It appears that the boy will need medical and neurological attention for some years. Dr. Eoskoff testified: “Q. About how long woiild you say it would be before you could honestly professionally say that the boy has no further need for any medical or neurological examination or follow-up? A. I think ideally this child should be under the supervision of a person in the psychological field, not necessarily a psychiatrist but a person trained in psychology. I say easily through his adolescence, to see how he handles his adolescence period as a result of what is now going on with him. Q. Why is that, Doctor? A. First of all, it gives us a follow-up of another several years. And the stresses of adolescence could give him more problems as a result of his present behavioral difficulties. I would like to see this kid go through his adolescence before I would be sure just what is going to happen with him emotionally.”
*221The jury awarded Mm $10,000. The Trial Judge reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial on the ground that the verdict was excessive. In Stark v. Lehigh Foundries Co., 388 Pa. 1, 23, this Court said: “The verdict must be clearly and immoderately excessive to justify the granting of a new trial. The amount must not only be greater than that which the Court would have awarded, but so excessive as to offend the conscience and judgment of the Court . . . The imperative test of excessiveness of the verdict is whether it shocks the sense of justice of the Court.”
My sense of justice is not shocked by a verdict of $10,000 for a boy, now only nine years of age, who suffers night terrors and has a brain involvement which may develop into serious complications, not excluding epilepsy. In fact, I am shocked that tliis Court is shocked by a verdict which, I believe, under the circumstances, is actually modest.
I am also shocked at the inconsistency of this Court and by that expression I do not mean the contrasting of today’s position with some enunciated principle of years ago. I refer to a decision handed down during this very session of Court, which contradicts what is being done here today. In the case of Elza v. Chovan, 396 Pa. 112, the Trial Court ordered a new trial because the verdict was inadequate. This Court reversed the Trial Court and thus rejected the idea of a new trial. Today the Majority Opinion affirms the Trial Court wMch declared that the verdict was excessive and orders a new trial. Why should the Court be shocked when the Trial Judge orders a new trial because the verdict is excessive and not be shocked when the Trial Judge orders a new trial because the verdict is inadequate? What is the standard to apply in considering the amounts of verdicts. Does too much of an award shock more easily than too little?
*222Wliere is the consistency?
Where is the logic?
Where is the justice?
I dissent.