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Davolt v. Highland2/28/2003
The circuit court is, thus, entitled to fashion relief in the best interests of the parties, subject to review only on the basis of its arbitrariness. The statute does not require but authorizes an evidentiary hearing at the request of either party or sua sponte and does not give any guidance on how such future payments are to be structured. Id.
Except for all past damages, which must be paid in a lump sum at the time of the judgment, section 538.220.1, and attorneys' contingent fees to be paid at the time of judgment, section 538.220.4, in the absence of a court-approved agreement between the parties, the statute grants the trial court broad discretion in establishing a plan for periodic payment of future damages. Id. While section 538.220.2 directs that, "if the total award of damages in the action exceeds one hundred thousand dollars," the trial court "shall" include in its judgment the requirement that future damages be paid in periodic or installment payments, the statute explicitly allows the court to order that future damages be paid "in whole or in part." (Emphasis added.) Thus, once the threshold of $100,000 in damages has been met, the trial court has the discretion to determine what portion of the future damages award must be paid in periodic or installment payments. Here, the court determined that all but $100,000 of the jury's future damages award would be subject to periodic payments. Of course we recognize that $100,000 is also the statutory threshold amount. However, there is nothing in the record before us to indicate the trial court misapplied the law rather than just exercising its discretion to make "whole or part" of the future damages award subject to future periodic payments according to the statute. We decline to speculate.
Under section 538.220.2, the amount to be paid in periodic or installment payments is discretionary. We perceive no abuse of discretion in the trial court's determination that all but $100,000 of the jury's future damages award would be subject to periodic payments. Accordingly, Point IV is denied.Conclusion For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
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