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Mobile Infirmary Mudical Center v. Hodgen10/31/2003
ld have awarded compensatory damages in the amount of $_____.
"2. Check One:
"( ) We find that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover punitive damages.
"( ) We find that the plaintiff is entitled to recover punitive damages in the amount of $____________.
"Verdict for the Defendant
"( ) We find the issues in favor of the defendant.
"3If the plaintiff previously has been made whole for harm or damage for which the defendant otherwise would have been liable, such as through a pro tanto settlement or a tender not part of an offer of compromise, thereby making an award of compensatory damages inappropriate, this option should be omitted from the form."
(Emphasis on suggested addition to form.)
If this complete set of options is presented to a jury, accompanied by appropriate explanatory instructions, entry in the compensatory-damages blank of "$0," rather than a finding of nominal damages, presumably will preclude the plaintiff from recovering any punitive damages. Should a verdict be returned indicating "$0" compensatory damages but awarding punitive damages, the trial judge should have the option of rejecting the two verdicts as inconsistent and returning the jury for further deliberations based upon additional instructions explaining the inconsistency and possible consistent options. If that course of action were not to be taken before the jury was discharged and released, the trial judge presumably would be obliged to grant a new trial, either on its own motion or upon motion of the aggrieved party.
Given the particular procedural posture of this case, as it relates to defense counsel's agreement with the trial judge's expressed opinion that the award of "$0" compensatory damages, but $2,250,000 punitive damages was, although, "an odd verdict," nonetheless "a good verdict" and defense counsel's statement that "I think they [i.e., the jury] can do it," and Mobile Infirmary's election not to seek, and even to decline the trial judge's offer of, a new trial, I would simply affirm.
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