Court Opinion

ID: 9580066
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:01:33.676127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:00.555873
License: Public Domain

BISTLINE, Justice,
specially concurring.
While I fully concur in the majority opinion, I feel that it is helpful to look to the actual damage assessments of both the court and jury.
A review of the record establishes that the assessment of damages by the trial court and the jury were not so disparate as to suggest passion or prejudice. Those findings were:
*625THE VERDICT IN SANCHEZ v. GALEY
Calculations in the Memorandum Decision As Pound by Judge Rowett
-$100,000 Actual Medicals
-$ 30,000 Future Medicals
-$ 21,000 Wages Already Lost
-$ 25,000 To Buy Special Devices
-$ 50,000 Disfigurement and Loss of Enjoyment of Life
-$210,000 Lost Future Wages
-$ 10,500 Repatriation to Labor Force
-$300,000 Past Pain & Suffering
-$200,000 Future Pain & Suffering
$946,500 Total
The Evidence Presented to the Jury
-$153,000 Loss of Household Services ($3,000 per year for 51 year life expectancy)
-$770,000 Lost Future Wages (Includes $330,000 added when “wage earnings factor” applied, and is based upon 70% impairment assessment taken from VA Tables)
-$100,000 Actual Medicals
-$ 30,000 Future Medicals
-$ 21,000 Lost Wages
-$276,000 Past/Future Pain & Suff.(?)
$1,350,000 Total
The trial court awarded $500,000 for past and future pain and suffering. If the jury awarded 100% of proven special damages, their finding for pain and suffering would, at most, be $276,000 — a conservative sum in light of the trial court’s findings.
The trial court reached a damage assessment of $210,000 for lost future wages, which sum was based on the court ascribing a 50% impairment rating to Sanchez (there is no evidence in the record supporting such a rating) and multiplying $5,250 (50% of Sanchez’s $10,000 yearly earnings) by forty years future work expectancy. There was conflicting evidence presented regarding Sanchez’s ability to be repatriated into the work force, some of which makes it doubtful that Sanchez could ever be successfully repatriated, given his limited educational background and present inability to handle physical labor of any kind.
Evidence presented to the jury by Dr. Ben-Zion would support a finding of up to $770,000 for lost future wages. (This figure includes $330,000 added due to the “age earnings factor,” and is also, in part, based on a 70% impairment rating of Sanchez, taken from VA Medical Tables.)
Additionally, the trial court appears to have totally discounted evidence presented which would support a finding of $153,000 for loss of household services.
After comparing the damage calculations of the court and jury, I cannot conclude that the jury’s assessment in any way appears to have been made as a result of passion and prejudice. "It appears the differences are occasioned upon the weight to be given various competent calculation of damages. There is nothing to suggest this was either a run-away or unreasonable jury. Accordingly, I concur in the majority opinion.