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Stanley v. Star Community Taxi3/7/2003
REVERSING AND REMANDING
On May 3, 1996, appellants Patricia Stanley and George Thomas, both of New Orleans, were injured as they left Churchill Downs in a taxi cab driven by Johnny Smith and owned by appellee, Star Community Taxi Service (hereinafter Star Taxi). The Star Taxi vehicle struck the rear of a cab in front of it in stop-and-go traffic. Appellants were injured in the collision.
Appellants filed suit against Star Taxi and Johnny Smith on April 27, 1998. When no response was filed, appellants filed a motion for default judgment. On July 17, 1998, the Jefferson Circuit Court granted appellants a default judgment against Star Taxi and Johnny Smith on the issue of liability, and for costs expended. The trial court held a hearing without a jury to determine damages. Appellants were present and testified as to the injuries they sustained. Appellee was not represented at the hearing. At the close of the hearing, the court awarded appellants the amount requested for their reasonable and necessary medical expenses and $25,000 each for pain and suffering. The court rendered a judgment consistent with its findings on March 31, 1999.
On June 17, 1999, appellee filed a motion to set aside the default judgment. Following a hearing on the motion, the trial court affirmed the default judgment as to liability, and set aside the damages portion of the default judgment. Appellants filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the judgment pursuant to CR 59.05. The trial court denied appellants' motion. Appellants appealed from this order, but this Court dismissed the appeal as being interlocutory.
The trial court thereafter held a jury trial on the issue of damages. The jury found that appellee was liable for all the medical expenses appellants incurred. However, the jury awarded appellants nothing for pain and suffering. The court entered a judgment consistent with the jury's verdict, awarding appellant Stanley $3,359 for her medical expenses and appellant Thomas $3,218 for his medical expenses. Appellants thereafter filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the basis that awarding them their entire medical expenses but nothing for pain and suffering was at odds with the court's prior evaluation of damages and was an inconsistent and impermissible verdict. The court denied the motion. Appellants appeal from the court's orders.
Star Taxi filed a motion to alter, amend, or vacate the judgment. Star Taxi claimed that the court should have entered a judgment whereby appellee would pay nothing due to the set off under the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act of $10,000 of the award by basic reparation benefits that would be payable to appellants by their own insurance carrier. The trial court denied the motion. Appellee cross-appeals from the order denying the motion to alter, amend, or vacate.
Appellants first argue that the trial court erred in setting aside the default judgment as to damages. CR 55.02 authorizes a court" or good cause shown" to set aside a default judgment in accordance with CR 60.02. CR 60.02 states that on motion a court may, upon such terms as are just, relieve a party or his legal representative from a final judgment upon the following grounds:
(a) mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect; (b) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial under Rule 59.02; (c) perjury or falsified evidence; (d) fraud affecting the proceedings, other than perjury or falsified evidence; (e) the judgment is void, or has been satisfied, released, or discharged, or a prior judgment upon which it is based has been reversed or otherwise v
Page 1 2 3 Kentucky Personal Injury Attorneys
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