Clements v. Lanley Heat Processing Equipment

• Citation: 548 So.2d 1345
• Parties: Roger Keith CLEMENTS v. LANLEY HEAT PROCESSING EQUIPMENT, et al. 87-909.
• Decision Date: 12 May 1989
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

Page 1345

548 So.2d 1345

Roger Keith CLEMENTS v. LANLEY HEAT PROCESSING EQUIPMENT, et al.

87-909.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

May 12, 1989.

Rehearing Denied July 14, 1989.

W. Lee Pittman of Pittman, Hooks, Marsh, Dutton & Hollis, Birmingham, for appellant.

James L. Clark and Lynn Baxley Ault of Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, Birmingham, for appellees.

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment based on a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff awarding "court costs only" against the defendants. We reverse and remand.

The issues are whether the jury verdict, awarding "court costs" only to the plaintiff, was inconsistent with the jury's finding in favor of the defendants and whether the plaintiff is entitled to a new trial.

Plaintiff, Roger Keith Clements, filed suit under Code 1975, § 25-5-11, for damages based on personal injuries sustained at work. Plaintiff named as defendants: Lanley Heat Processing Equipment, Gallagher-Bassett Services, Inc.; National Can Corporation (plaintiff's employer); Ed Hornbuckle, Frank Mummert, Louis Michael Bridges, and Marvin Walker (supervisory employees and officers of plaintiff's employer).

Plaintiff claimed at trial that defendants had negligently failed to provide a reasonably safe work environment, and he sought damages for pain and suffering and $8,682.36 in medical expenses. Defendants alleged contributory negligence, but did not dispute the amount of medical expenses.

The trial court charged the jury that if the jury found that Clements "was guilty of negligence, and his own negligence either caused or contributed to cause his injuries and damages, then that is an absolute defense to [his] claim"; that if Clements "was guilty of contributory negligence, then it is a complete defense"; and that if the jury was reasonably satisfied that "the defendants have sustained the burden of proof on contributory negligence, that is a case of mutual fault and again, the plaintiff would not be entitled to recover."

The trial court further instructed the jury in regard to its verdict:

"If you find in favor of the plaintiff, Roger Keith Clements and against all of the defendants, all you have to do is X out the bottom half of this first page and fill in the amount of the damages to be awarded--it is that simple--in words and figures....

"Now, on the other hand, this would permit you to find in favor of the plaintiff and against less than all of the defendants or in favor of less than all of the defendants. That device simply works this way. And I'm not going to go through it one by one, but if you find in favor of the plaintiff and against two of the defendants, just simply circle their names striking out the others, and circle the remaining defendants down here and you will have a complete account of the transaction. Do you understand that? Sure. All right.

"On the other hand, if it is the decision of the jury that you are to render a decision in favor of all the defendants, the verdict that expresses that result is the second page which says, 'We the jury find in favor of all the defendants.' And again they are all named there."

The jury returned the following verdict:

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

After the jury verdict was returned, the trial court polled the jury and found that the jury had unanimously found in favor of Clements and against defendants Hornbuckle, Mummert, Bridges, and Walker and had assessed Clements's damages at the sum of "court costs only" and that the jury found in favor of defendants Lanley Heat Processing Equipment, Gallagher--Bassett Services, Inc., Coy Head, and David Tharpe. In the case action summary, the trial court entered the following finding and order "The court polled the jury and determined that the above and foregoing verdicts were unanimous. The court further finds and determines that 'court costs' are not a proper element of damages and that the jury was not instructed on court costs being an element of damages. Accordingly, the court finds that the legal effect of the jury verdict is a decision in favor of all the defendants. Therefore, judgment ... is hereby entered in favor of all defendants with court costs taxed to the plaintiff."

The plaintiff based his motion for new trial on three grounds: (1) that the verdict failed to give substantial compensation for substantial injuries suffered by the plaintiff; (2) that the damages awarded were not sufficient to compensate for proven expenses without any damages for pain and suffering; and (3) that "[t]he verdict is so opposed to the clear and convincing weight of the evidence presented as to damages that it clearly fails to do substantial justice and suggests that the verdict was the result of passion, prejudice, or improper motive." The trial court denied plaintiff's motion for a new trial.

The trial court correctly charged that, for a plaintiff to recover under a negligence theory, there are four essential elements that must be proven to the jury's reasonable satisfaction: duty, breach (initial legal liability), causation, and damages. Jones v. Newton, 454 So.2d 1345 (Ala.1984). Therefore, for the jury to find for the plaintiff, all four elements must have been resolved in plaintiff's favor, for the absence of any one element would require a verdict for the defendants. The trial court concluded that because the jury awarded "court costs only," which are not an element of damages on which the jury received instructions, there was a failure to find each essential element of negligence and, therefore, that the verdict was a verdict for the defendants. However, the record shows that each juror found in favor of the plaintiff and against defendants Hornbuckle, Mummert, Bridges, and Walker. Therefore, the plaintiff did not fail to prove all of the elements of negligence to the jury's reasonable satisfaction.

We hold that the plaintiff is entitled to a new trial, on the authority of Stinson v. Acme Propane Gas Co., 391 So.2d 659 (Ala.1980).

The jury's finding for the plaintiff necessarily embraced all of the elements of the negligence claim, including the element of injury and resultant damages. To so find, and then award "court costs only" and no compensatory damages, is inconsistent on its face, as a matter of law. The trial court should have afforded the plaintiff a new trial on the basis of the inconsistency of the award of no damages when that award is juxtaposed with the jury's finding of the defendants' liability. Its refusal to do so was reversible error. Stinson, supra; see also Ward v. Diebold, Inc., 486 So.2d 1261 (Ala.1986), and Monteleone v. Trail Pontiac, Inc., 395 So.2d 1003 (Ala.Civ.App.1980), cert. denied, 395 So.2d 1005 (Ala.1981).

The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

MADDOX, ALMON, ADAMS, STEAGALL, and KENNEDY, JJ., concur.

HORNSBY, C.J., and JONES and HOUSTON, JJ., concur in the judgment of reversal, but dissent from the grant of an unconditional new trial.

HORNSBY, Chief Justice (concurring in the judgment of reversal, but dissenting from the grant of an unconditional new trial).

I write to express my view that the practice of additur, rejected by the federal courts and described in the literature, but rarely if ever observed in practice in Alabama, should be an available tool in modern practice.

In calling for the recognition of additur, I must quickly point out that I strongly defend the role of the jury in our system of justice.

"We begin by recognizing that the right to a trial by jury is a fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right, Art. I § 11, Const. of 1901, and, therefore, that a jury verdict may not be set aside unless the verdict is flawed, thereby losing its constitutional protection. ...

"The cases have consistently held that in deciding whether a jury verdict is excessive because it is the result of passion, bias, corruption, or other improper motive, a trial judge may not substitute his judgment for that of the jury. B & M Homes, Inc. v. Hogan, 376 So.2d 667 (Ala.1979); Vest v. Gay, 275 Ala. 286, 154 So.2d 297 (1963). ...."

Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374, 1378 (Ala.1986).

In Dimick v. Schiedt, 293 U.S. 474, 55 S.Ct. 296, 79 L.Ed. 603 (1935), the United States Supreme Court reluctantly recognized the validity of remittitur practice and rejected additur. Legal scholars have subsequently tried to articulate a reasonable explanation of why remittitur does not violate the right to trial by jury and additur does.

"In neither case has the amount fixed by the court been found as the verdict of a jury. The deception in the attempted differentiation arises because this fact is obvious in the case of an additur, but in the case of a remittitur may be obscured in a haze of abstract mathematics which has nothing to do with a true solution of what the jury actually decided."

Carlin, Remittiturs and Additurs, 49 W.Va.L.Q. 1, 29 (1942).

"The injury to the defendant in the case of a remittitur is neither greater nor less than the injury to plaintiff by the additur. Furthermore, the distinction developed in the majority opinion may be met upon its own technical basis. Realistically considered, the jury's selection of a certain quantum of damages as compensation for the injury sustained is a decision that all other amounts, both greater and less, are in its opinion incorrect. The jury has expressed its opinion, therefore, upon all amounts from zero to the sum claimed, not merely from zero to the amount found. Thus interpreted, the increased damages finally approved by the court have actually been passed upon by the jury, and are a part of its verdict. In the one case, the court indicates the portion of the verdict it deems excessive; in the other, it indicates the portion of the jury's decision it deems inadequate. Admitting, then, the propriety of the one practice, we must likewise sustain the other."

Note, Constitutional...