Court Opinion

ID: 9679123
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:41:21.655864+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:10.326012
License: Public Domain

OSBORNE, Judge
(dissenting).
The majority opinion here holds that a verdict which shows upon its face that the jury did not follow the instructions of the court in awarding damages for physical pain and mental suffering, loss of earning power, and loss of wages, while at the same time making an award for medical expenses and damage to the automobile is so patently defective upon its face as to require the party who wishes to complain of the defect to immediately move that the jury be sent *581back to its room in order to correct the verdict. This is contra to what we have said in Wall v. Van Meter, 311 Ky. 198, 223 S.W.2d 734, 20 A.L.R.2d 272; Smith v. Webber, Ky., 282 S.W.2d 346 and Smith v. Crenshaw, Ky., 344 S.W.2d 393. In Smith v. Crenshaw, supra, we wrote:
“The cases of Wall v. Van Meter, 311 Ky. 198, 223 S.W.2d 734, 20 A.L.R.2d 272, and Smith v. Webber, Ky., 282 S.W.2d 346, sometimes have been cited as bearing on the question of what steps must be taken to correct a defective verdict. In each of those cases the verdict awarded damages for medical expenses but nothing for pain and suffering. It was held that the plaintiff was not required to move that the jury be sent back to correct the verdict. However, as pointed out in the decision in the Wall case, the situation there was not really one of an irregular verdict. Actually it was a simple case of inadequacy of damages.”
When considering the majority opinion in this case, the rule now seems to be if the verdict is one where the special damages are itemized if the jury fails to award under any of itemized items then an immediate objection and request that the jury be sent back to its room must be made. However, if the verdict is a general one, even though it be obvious that the jury has awarded special damages under some of the items and failed to make an award under others, no motion to recommit the jury need be made and the error can be presented in motion and grounds for a new trial. To me this distinction is so obtuse as to be completely unrealistic. Opinions of this kind only serve to confuse and confound lawyers and judges who must try law suits on the trial level. It constitutes another booby trap for the lawyer in the trial of the case. If we are going to follow the rule that a motion should be made to recommit the jury where there is an inconsistency in the verdict it should be in all cases where there is an apparent inconsistency. The lawyer can then familiarize himself with the rule and be always forewarned of this possible pitfall in the trial of the case. It, in all probability, should be clearly stated in our rules of procedure so that all will be cognizant of it. Arbitrary rules of procedure which will completely cut off a litigant’s rights to recovery should not be conceived and born in the fine lines of judicial opinions where only a few will be afforded an opportunity to forewarn themselves.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.