Barker v. Crum Trucking Co., Inc.
| Decision Date | 16 January 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 51375,No. 1,51375,1 |
| Citation | 224 S.E.2d 53,137 Ga.App. 435 |
| Parties | Charles BARKER v. CRUM TRUCKING COMPANY, INC |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Kunes & Kunes, G. Gerald Kunes, Tifton, for appellant.
Reinhardt, Whitley & Sims, Glenn Whitley, Tifton, for appellee.
This appeal flows from a damage suit arising out of an automobile collision occurring on Interstate Highway I-75 in Tift County, Georgia. The evidence established that the tractor-trailer of defendant Crum Trucking Company ran into the rear of the vehicle in which the plaintiff Barker was a passenger, causing personal injury to Barker. A jury found the defendant negligent and liable for a monetary verdict of $1,000 in favor of Barker. Barker brings this appeal alleging a grossly inadequate verdict. Held:
1. Plaintiff Barker offered evidence that he suffered injuries which resulted in medical and hospital expenses of $450.94, and lost wages of $6,310.72, making a total damage shown by the evidence of $6,761.66. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Barker for $1,000.
The evidence further reflected that Barker was never hospitalized and that hel only suffered a lump on the forehead and a bruised right knee as an immediate consequence of the accident. At the time of the accident, he was examined by a doctor but only took aspirin for a headache. He subsequently was treated as an outpatient upon return to his home in the State of Washington, at this time complaining of stiff muscles in his right shoulder and neck. He alleged he was unable to work at all for four months and at a reduced rate for two additional months. Barker also admitted that he had not lost any work during the year preceding the trial. He stated he experienced continuing pain in the shoulder and neck but was able to work.
Such facts did not demand a finding that Barker was precluded from being gainfully employed for six our of the eight months following the accident. The jury could have believed that Barker was out of work because of the lack of demand for labor of the type in which he had been engaged previously (logging) or as a matter of choice or convenience. The damages returned by the jury were not disproportionate to the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Barker, nor inconsistent with a finding that Barker's injuries were minimal. It cannot be said, as a matter of law, that the verdict was so inadequate or so small as to justify an inference of gross mistake or undue bias. Johnson v. Cook, 123 Ga.App. 302(1), 180 S.E.2d 591.
2. Barker also enumerates as error the refusal of the trial court to admit into evidence the 1958 Standard...
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...could determine some degree of permanent impairment, notwithstanding the lack of definite medical evidence. Barker v. Crum Trucking Co., 137 Ga.App. 435, 224 S.E.2d 53 (1976); see especially, Jones v. Hutchins, 101 Ga.App. 141, 113 S.E.2d 475 (1960). The use of the mortality tables was perm......
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... ... [Cits.]" McLendon Elec. Co. v. McDonough Constr. Co., 145 Ga.App. 137, 142(3), 243 ... Barker v. Crum Trucking Co., 137 Ga.App. 435, 436(2), 224 S.E.2d ... ...
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...verdict for damages. Suffice it to say, we believe the error to have worked prejudice in this case . . ." Barker v. Crum Trucking Co., 137 Ga.App. 435, 436, 224 S.E.2d 53, 54 (1976). The award of punitive damages must therefore be 2. Cross-appellant asserts that the trial court erred in dir......
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