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Beauvais v. Edell6/7/2000
EN BANC
Appellant plaintiff contends that the trial court should have granted her motion for new trial because the total amount awarded her by the jury for injuries arising out of an accident was the same as her medical expenses. Plaintiff relies on two cases from this court in which we held that verdicts for medical expenses were inadequate as a matter of law. We now recede from those cases and hold that where there is a dispute as to whether the injuries have resulted from the accident, the inadequacy of the award is left to the discretion of the trial court.
The primary injuries for which plaintiff sought compensation were a torn rotator cuff shoulder injury and a carpal tunnel wrist injury, both of which required surgery. At the time the accident occurred, and in the hospital to which plaintiff was taken after the accident, she had no complaints of pain in either her shoulder or her wrist. Her own orthopedist testified that her shoulder problem resulted from osteoarthritis, and her neurologist testified that if she had torn the rotator cuff in the accident it would have "hurt like hell." In regard to her carpal tunnel injury, there were a number of other possible causes, but probably the most significant evidence was that she had carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists, even though only one wrist was allegedly injured in the accident.
Plaintiff put on evidence that her medical expenses resulting from her injuries came to $68,501. Plaintiff submitted a general form of verdict which did not itemize damages, and the jury in that verdict awarded unspecified total damages of $68,501. Plaintiff filed a post-trial motion seeking an additur, or in the alternative a new trial on the grounds that the verdict was inadequate as a matter of law or contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. The trial court denied the motion, and she appeals.
Plaintiff relies primarily on two cases, Daigneault v. Gache, 624 So. 2d 818 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) and Mason v. District Bd. of Trustees of Broward Community College, 644 So. 2d 160 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). In Daigneault, we stated that:
jury verdict awarding to an injured person only the exact amount of the medical expenses incurred and nothing for pain and suffering is an inadequate verdict as a matter of law when there is uncontradicted evidence that the injured plaintiff suffered at least some pain from the injury. See e.g., Watson v. Builders Square, Inc., 563 So. 2d 721 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); Gonzalez v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 463 So. 2d 1229 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985); Skelly v. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 445 So. 2d 415 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Rodriguez v. Allgreen Corp., 242 So. 2d 741 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971); Pickel v. Rosen, 214 So. 2d 730 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968). Daigneault, 624 So. 2d at 819-20.
In the cases cited in Daigneault, it appears that it was undisputed that the injuries resulted from the accidents. In Daigneault, however, whether the injuries resulted from the accident was in dispute. This is a significant distinction which we may not have recognized in Daigneault. We followed Daigneault in Mason, in which there was also a dispute as to whether the plaintiff was injured in the accident.
In Allstate Ins. Co. v. Manasse, 681 So. 2d 779 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), this court held that a finding of permanent injury and an award of future medical expenses required an award for future pain and suffering as a matter of law, relying on Daigneault and Mason. Because of uncertainty in this area of the law we certified the issue as one of great public importance. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed with our conclusion and held that the verdict in Manasse was not inadequate as a matter of law, reiterating what it
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