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Daniels v. East Alabama Paving Inc.6/4/1999
ged. A trial court may not conditionally reduce a jury verdict merely because it believes the verdict overcompensates the plaintiff; nor may the trial court substitute its judgment for that of the jury. We also reaffirm those cases which hold that, in considering the adequacy or excessiveness of a verdict, there can be no ironclad rule, and each case must be determined by its own facts." 493 So. 2d at 1378-79 (emphasis added) (citations omitted).
We recently, in Kmart Corp. v. Kyles, 723 So. 2d 572 (Ala. 1998), modified the review procedure established in Hammond, to add an additional basis upon which a jury verdict may be flawed. We held in Kmart that damages awarded for mental anguish were subject to strict scrutiny if the plaintiff had not suffered any physical injury and offered little or no direct evidence concerning the degree of mental suffering he or she had experienced. That principle established in Kmart does not apply in this case, because the Danielses each suffered physical injuries and experienced varying degrees of pain and suffering. Moreover, each plaintiff presented extensive direct evidence regarding the degree of mental anguish he or she had experienced, either through his or her own testimony or through the testimony of physicians and others who had knowledge of their suffering and anguish.
Under normal circumstances, when a court determines that a particular verdict is excessive, the court necessarily concludes that the verdict resulted from some bias, prejudice, passion, corruption, or improper motive on the part of the jury. The court is then faced with ordering a remittitur, and the question becomes "How much?" There is no yardstick for measuring the proper reduction. In this situation, the court often turns to a comparison of jury verdicts in similar cases for some guidance.
In the absence of a flawed verdict, however, a comparison of jury verdicts in similar cases is not the standard for determining whether a jury verdict should be reduced. The trial court must first determine that the verdict was flawed. As this Court stated in Pitt v. Century II, Inc., supra, 631 So. 2d at 239, "a review of a jury verdict for compensatory damages on the ground of excessiveness must focus on the plaintiff (as victim) and ask what the evidence supports in terms of damages suffered by the plaintiff." In the absence of a flawed verdict, "there is no statutory authority to invade the province of the jury in awarding compensatory damages." Id. at 240.
This Court has long held that " here is no fixed standard for ascertainment of compensatory damages recoverable ... for physical pain and mental suffering" and that "the amount of such award is left to the sound discretion of the jury, subject only to correction by the court for clear abuse or passionate exercise of that discretion." Alabama Power Co. v. Mosley, 294 Ala. 394, 401, 318 So. 2d 260, 266 (1975). This Court has consistently held that a trial court cannot interfere with a jury verdict merely because it believes the jury gave too little or too much. Williston v. Ard, 611 So. 2d 274 (Ala. 1992); Olympia Spa v. Johnson, 547 So. 2d 80 (Ala. 1989); and Vest v. Gay, 275 Ala. 286, 154 So. 2d 297 (Ala. 1963).
C. Review of the Evidence
The trial court specifically emphasized that the verdicts were not the result of passion, prejudice, bias, or other improper motive. Nonetheless, the trial court determined that some of the verdicts were not warranted by the evidence. Specifically, the trial court noted that the amounts awarded vastly exceeded the monetary amount of actual damage, that the majority of the awards represented damages for pain and suffering and/or mental anguish, and that t
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