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Grandstaff v. Hawks5/31/2000
ault for the collision remains unallocated because the jury allocated only 98% of the collective fault for the collision to Messrs. Hawks and Forrest. It could also be argued, however, that the jury allocated all the fault for the collision to Messrs. Hawks and Forrest.
We must now determine whether State Farm has been prejudiced by the trial court's instructing the jury to include Ms. Grandstaff in the allocation of the fault for the collision. As we see it, State Farm could only have been prejudiced if, had Ms. Grandstaff not been included in the allocation of fault, more fault would have been allocated to Mr. Hawks and less fault to Mr. Forrest. We find no evidentiary basis in this record to support concluding that the jury would have allocated more fault to Mr. Hawks had Ms. Grandstaff not been in the equation.
We have a duty to uphold a jury's verdict whenever possible. See Henshaw v. Continental Crescent Lines, Inc., 499 S.W.2d 81, 86 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1973); Templeton v. Quarles, 52 Tenn. App. 419, 432, 374 S.W.2d 654, 660 (1963). In doing so, we must give effect to the jury's intention, Arcata Graphics Co. v. Heidelberg Harris, Inc., 874 S.W.2d 15, 27 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993), as long as that intention is permissible under the law and ascertainable from the phraseology of the verdict. See Briscoe v. Allison, 200 Tenn. 115, 125-26, 290 S.W.2d 864, 868 (1956); Crafton v. Edwards, 58 Tenn. App. 606, 613, 435 S.W.2d 486, 490 (1968). Accordingly, we should not set aside a jury's verdict because of an erroneous instruction unless it affirmatively appears that the erroneous instruction actually misled the jury. See Carney v. Coca-Cola Bottling Works of Tullahoma, 856 S.W.2d 147, 150 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993); Helms v. Weaver, 770 S.W.2d 552, 553 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1989).
We do not believe that the jury was misled in this case. Based on our review of the evidence, we have concluded that the jury decided that both Mr. Hawks and Mr. Forrest were at fault for the collision and that the evidence did not permit them to find that one driver was more at fault than the other. Accordingly, they found both drivers to be equally at fault. It matter's little that this equality was expressed in percentage terms as 49% to 49% rather than 50% to 50%. Had it not been instructed to include Ms. Grandstaff in its consideration of fault, the jury would have expressed its finding that the drivers were equally at fault by allocating 50% of the fault to Mr. Hawks and 50% of the fault to Mr. Forrest. Accordingly, we conclude that State Farm was not ultimately prejudiced by the trial court's decision to include Ms. Grandstaff in the allocation of fault that should have been between Messrs. Hawks and Forrest.
In reaching this conclusion, we are mindful that neither trial courts nor appellate courts are permitted to reallocate fault once it has been allocated by the jury. We are not reallocating the 2% of fault allocated to Ms. Grandstaff. Rather, we are interpreting a jury verdict in order to uphold it and to give effect to the jury's apparent intention. As we interpret the verdict, the jury concluded that Messrs. Hawks and Forrest were equally at fault for the collision and that Ms. Grandstaff was 2% at fault for her injuries. Accordingly, both Mr. Hawks and Mr. Forrest were liable for 50% of Ms. Grandstaff's net damages. That is the same result the trial court reached in its May 15, 1997 order.
III.
The Remittitur of Ms. Grandstaff's Damages
Ms. Grandstaff asserts on this appeal that the trial court erred by granting a remittitur reducing her damages from $138,218.37 as found by the jury to $75,000. She argues that the jury's assessment of her damages was ful
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