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Stokes v. Stewart12/22/2000
cal evidence and then concluding that the award for those injuries was excessive, without taking into consideration the particular effect of the particular injuries on the particular plaintiff. This court further disapproved of the use of a scale of prior awards in cases with generically similar medical injuries to determine whether the particular trier of fact abused its discretion in the awards to the particular plaintiff under the facts and circumstances peculiar to the particular case. The initial inquiry is whether the award for the particular injuries and their effects under the particular circumstances on the particular injured person is a clear abuse of the "much discretion" of the trier of fact. Gaspard v. LeMaire, 245 La. 239, 158 So. 2d 149 (1963); Ballard v. National Indem. Co. of Omaha, Neb., 246 La. 963, 169 So. 2d 64 (1964); Lomenick v. Schoeffler, 250 La. 959, 200 So. 2d 127 (1967). Only after such a determination of an abuse of discretion is a resort to prior awards appropriate and then for the purpose of determining the highest or lowest point which is reasonably within that discretion. Coco v. Winston Industries, Inc., 341 So. 2d 332 (La. 1976); Bitoun v. Landry, 302 So. 2d 278 (La. 1974); Spillers v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 294 So. 2d 803 (La. 1974).
The standard for appellate review of general damage awards is difficult to express and is necessarily non-specific, and the requirement of an articulated basis for disturbing such awards gives little guidance as to what articulation suffices to justify modification of a generous or stingy award. Nevertheless, the theme that emerges from Gaspard v. LeMaire, 245 La. 239, 158 So. 2d 149 (1963) through Coco v. Winston Industries, Inc., 341 So. 2d 332 (La. 1976), and through Reck to the present case is that the discretion vested in the trier of fact is "great," and even vast, so that an appellate court should rarely disturb an award of general damages. Reasonable persons frequently disagree about the measure of general damages in a particular case. It is only when the award is, in either direction, beyond that which a reasonable trier of fact could assess for the effects of the particular injury to the particular plaintiff under the particular circumstances that the appellate court should increase or reduce the award. Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 623 So. 2d 1257, 1260-61 (La. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1114, 114 S.Ct. 1059, 127 L.Ed.2d 379 (1994).
Our review of the record does not show an abuse of discretion by the trial court in the compensatory damages awarded. The evidence demonstrates that Mr. Stokes sustained a minor injury that resolved in a matter of weeks. He also sustained a back sprain which, the medical testimony of Mr. Stokes' family doctor, Joseph L. Mass, M.D., indicated was resolved by September of 1995. Nevertheless, at trial, Mr. Stokes testified that he continued to have back pain with strenuous activity.
In addition to his physical pain and suffering, evidence in the record demonstrates that witnessing the death of another human being affected Mr. Stokes mentally and emotionally. Furthermore, according to Mr. Stokes, he experienced a great deal of stress and tension worrying about and trying to recover from his financial losses as a result of the accident.
Mrs. Stokes testified that her husband changed after the accident. According to Mrs. Stokes, he was no longer able to help around the house and she could see that he was in pain. The Stokes' son, Michael L. Stokes, also testified that his father was no longer the fun person he had been prior to the accident. Michael also testified that he could see that his father was under a great deal of tension because of the financial loss sus
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