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Morton Roofing12/19/2003
The defendants, Morton Roofing, Inc., etc., appeal a final judgment entered in favor of the plaintiff, Jody Prather, following a jury trial on her claim for personal injuries arising from an auto accident.
Following initial jury deliberations, the jury returned a verdict awarding Prather $43,177.65 in past medical expenses, $430,526 for future medical expenses, zero damages for past loss of wages, $963,590 for loss of earning capacity, zero damages for past non-economic (pain and suffering) damages and $250,000 for future non-economic (pain and suffering) damages, for a total of $1,687,293.65 in damages.
Before the jury was discharged, Prather objected to the verdict, asserting it was inconsistent. She contended that the jury was required to enter some amount for past pain and suffering since it awarded damages for future pain and suffering. The defendants agreed that the awards for non-economic damages were inconsistent and needed to be reconsidered. The trial court sent the jury back to reconsider and instructed the jury as follows:
There is an inconsistency in your verdict. You found that there was damages for future pain and suffering and disability, etcetera; but you didn't find any in the past. To find that she'll have it in the future but have none in the past is inconsistent, so I'm going to send you back in with the verdict and have you consider that a little more. And if you can reach a determination of any past pain and suffering, disability, etcetera, write that figure in and correct the totals, and then we'll be finished.
The jury inquired whether it had to keep future non-economic damages the same. The trial judge told them to reconsider the inconsistency of $250,000 for future and nothing in the past. The trial judge stated, "I don't think they can change the future at this point." The defendants objected to the instruction that the jury could not reconsider its answer to future non-economic damages.
The jury modified the award for past pain and suffering by drawing a line through the zero and writing in $25,000. The verdict form reflects that at some point the $250,000 award for future pain and suffering had been struck through and the figure $225,000 inserted, but it was then returned to $250,000.
The parties initially disagree as to the standard of review applicable to a trial court's decision on how a jury is to reconsider an inconsistent verdict. The defendants assert that the trial court's ruling is a pure question of law subject to de novo review.
Prather counters that abuse of discretion is the proper standard. She maintains that this issue is one involving supervision over the course of the trial and analogizes the issue of resubmission of the verdict to correct a legal error to the consideration by the trial court of a motion for new trial. See Allstate Ins. Co. v. Manasse, 707 So. 2d 1110 (Fla. 1998); Cloud v. Fallis, 110 So. 2d 669 (Fla. 1959). She argues that the trial court had a superior vantage point to judge the validity of the verdict in the context of the claims asserted and evidence presented. She further points out that under section 768.74(6), Florida Statutes, the legislature has vested in the trial court the discretionary authority to review damage awards in light of excessiveness or inadequacy. After careful consideration, we conclude that our review of this issue is de novo.
The parties conceded below that the verdict for non-economic damages was legally inconsistent and needed to be reconsidered. This concession implicates the general principle set out in Stevens Markets, Inc. v. Markantonatos, 189 So. 2d 624 (Fla. 1966). Until a verdict in a civil action is accepte
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