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Martinez v. Friede2/20/2004
ering despite Petitioner's evidence of such damages. Under similar circumstances, a number of appellate courts in other jurisdictions have taken the following position:
verdict which awards compensation to the plaintiff for the exact amount, or approximately the exact amount, of his or her medical expenses and other special damages but which fails to award compensation for pain and suffering is improper or irregular where the plaintiff's pain and suffering was proved, undisputed, or where pain and suffering could be assumed to have resulted from the nature of the injuries involved.
Annotation, Validity of Verdict Awarding Medical Expenses to Personal Injury Plaintiff, but Failing to Award Damages for Pain and Suffering, 55 A.L.R.4th 186, ยง 3, at 198 (1987) (listing cases). While that rule may arguably apply in this state, see Jones v. Pollock, 72 N.M. 315, 318, 383 P.2d 271, 274 (1963), it is not necessary for us to decide that issue in this case. Nevertheless, the fact that the jury disregarded evidence of Petitioner's pain and suffering in its verdict does support the trial court's conclusion regarding possible juror confusion.
While we have found no caselaw on this point, we see no reason to preclude a district court from acting under Rule 1-060(B)(6) to set aside a judgment and grant a new trial on the basis of juror confusion. Petitioner argues that there was a strong likelihood that the jury read Jury Instruction No. 23 as precluding all damages for pain and suffering, when the instruction was intended only to convey that the jury could not award her future pain and suffering damages. Jury Instruction No. 23 informed the jury that if it found Respondent liable, it must compensate the plaintiffs for various types of damages if proven. Even though the jury could legally award Petitioner damages for pain and suffering that she had experienced prior to trial, the jury was explicitly instructed that it could only award damages for future pain and suffering to Antonette Martinez. While Jury Instruction No. 23 may have been grammatically and legally correct, the language of the instruction nonetheless created the potential for confusion. The instruction does not explicitly state that Petitioner could actually receive damages for past pain and suffering. A reasonable juror might have concluded only damages for future pain and suffering could be awarded and only to Antonette Martinez, and thus no damages for pain and suffering could be awarded to Petitioner.
Nonetheless, Respondent agues that any ambiguity that may have existed was cured when the trial court instructed the jury before its second deliberation that the award of $30,000 must be divided among the plaintiffs. If we presume that the jury understood and complied with the trial court's instructions, see Vigil v. Miners Colfax Med. Ctr., 117 N.M. 665, 670, 875 P.2d 1096, 1101 (Ct. App. 1994), then according to Respondent there was no evidence of jury confusion. The jury specifically wrote "$30,000 pain and suffering" next to Antonette Martinez's name on the special verdict form while writing "0" before and after Petitioner's name. Under Respondent's argument, this shows that the jury considered giving pain and suffering damages to Petitioner and decided against such an award, which arguably is within the province of the jury.
We agree that unless there is evidence to the contrary, it is presumed that the jury understood the court's instructions. See Britton v. Boulden, 87 N.M. 474, 475, 535 P.2d 1325, 1326 (1975). In this case, though, there is strong evidence that the jury failed to understand Jury Instruction No. 23. It is clear that the jury was confused in its initial award of $30,000. The
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