Dandrea v. Centofante, A--97
| Decision Date | 19 April 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. A--97,A--97 |
| Citation | 80 A.2d 647,13 N.J.Super. 445 |
| Parties | DANDREA v. CENTOFANTE et al. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
Dominick F. Pachella, Hackensack, argued the cause for appellants (J. Chester Massinger, Paterson, attorney.)
John E. Selser, Hackensack, argued the cause for respondent (Selser & Shenier, Hackensack, attorneys.)
Before Judges McGEEHAN, JAYNE, and WM. J. BRENNAN, Jr.
The opinion of the court was delivered
The plaintiff-respondent in conformity with the verdict of the jury has a judgment against the appellants in the sum of $15,000 awarded to her for the bodily injuries, consequential losses sustained, and expenses incurred by her as a result of an automobile collision which occurred shortly after 12 o'clock on the morning of November 21, 1949, at the intersection of Knickerbocker Road and Hudson Avenue in the City of Englewood, Bergen County.
The application of the defendants for a new trial was denied by the trial judge, and the only question introduced for consideration by the present appeal pertains to the alleged excessiveness of the damages awarded to the respondent by the jury. Her pecuniary losses and expenses amounting in the aggregate to $1,750 are not in controversy, although there is some proof that the total losses of earnings and expenses amounted to $2,027.
The admeasurement of compensatory damages in actions for the injurious consequences of personal torts is not gauged by any established graduated scale. In our procedure the appraisal is entrusted to the sound discretion of the jury. Thus it has long been the practice of our courts to refrain from interfering with a verdict on the mere ground of excessive damages unless the award is manifestly unsupported by the evidence and obviously unjust. Vreeland v. Berry, 21 N.J.Law 183, 187 (Sup.Ct.1847); Salvato v. N.J. Asphalt & Paving Co., 135 N.J.Law 185, 189, 50 A.2d 635 (E. & A.1947).
And then, too, 'In these days of the high cost of living and consequent decrease in the purchasing power of the dollar, one cannot well overlook or ignore the effect of such economic conditions when called upon to determine, as the jury did here, the amount of damages that would fairly and reasonably compensate one for his pain and suffering and disability proximately caused by another's negligence.' Nusser v. United Parcel Service of N.Y., Inc., 3 N.J.Super. 64, 69, 65 A.2d 549, 552 (App.Div.1949). Certainly an inordinately exorbitant allowance of damages cannot be permitted to stand.
The injuries suffered by the plaintiff were relatively severe. She received a concussion of the brain of...
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