Department of Corrections v. Hill
Decision Date | 06 May 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 85-1488,85-1488 |
Citation | 490 So.2d 118,11 Fla. L. Weekly 1070 |
Parties | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1070 The DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS of the State of Florida, Appellant, v. Jesse HILL, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
William A. Meadows, Jr. and Charles F. Mills, South Miami, for appellant.
Lisk & Ormond and Gregg Ormond, Haggard & Kirkland, Coral Gables, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BARKDULL and NESBITT, JJ.
The Department of Corrections (D.O.C.) appeals from a jury verdict awarding the plaintiff (Hill) $750,000.00. D.O.C. contends that the trial court erred by giving the jury a misleading instruction and verdict forms. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
Following a trial on the issues of liability and damages, the jury returned a verdict in the above stated amount finding that D.O.C. had falsely imprisoned Hill and was 75% comparatively negligent. Hill was found 25% comparatively negligent. An instruction at the end of the verdict form read:
In determining the total amount of damages, do not make any reduction because of negligence, if any of plaintiff Jesse Hill. If you have found Jesse Hill negligent in any degree, the court in entering judgment will reduce Jesse Hill's total amount of damages (100%) by the percentage of negligence which you found is chargeable to Jesse Hill.
This same instruction was read aloud by the court to the jury prior to their deliberations.
Following the publication of the verdict, the court entered a judgment for the total amount of damages, $750,000.00. D.O.C. requested that the judgment be reduced by Hill's percentage of comparative negligence. The court denied this request, reasoning that comparative negligence is not a defense to false imprisonment.
D.O.C. contends that the instruction given by the court and written at the end of the verdict forms misled the jury to the prejudice of D.O.C. We agree that the result of these instructions was prejudicial to D.O.C., see, ITT-Nesbitt, Inc. v. Valle's Steak House, Inc., 395 So.2d 217 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981) ( ); American National Bank v. Norris, 368 So.2d 897 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979) (same); Lafleur v. Castlewood International Corp., 294 So.2d 21 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974) (same); see also Staff v. Soreno Hotel Co., 60 So.2d 28 (Fla.1952) ( ); and these instructions tended to confuse rather than enlighten the jury on the issue of damages. Veliz v. American Hospital, Inc., 414 So.2d 226, 228 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982) ( ).
The lower court was correct in ruling that Hill's comparative negligence is not a defense to false imprisonment, see Mazzilli v. Doud, 485 So.2d 477 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986) ( ); Honeywell, Inc. v. Trend Coin Co., 449 So.2d 876, 879 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (same), reversed on other grounds, 487 So.2d 1029, (Fla.1986), and therefore D.O.C. is liable for the full amount of any damages caused by its false imprisonment of Hill. In the present case, however, the jury was misled by instructions on the reduction of damages. Accordingly, we reverse for a new trial on the damages resulting from the false imprisonment, without consideration of the negligence of either party. See Besett v. Basnett, 437 So.2d 172 (Fla. 2d...
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...Florida's statutory waiver of sovereign immunity permitted suits against the State and its agencies under § 1983. Department of Corrections v. Hill, 490 So.2d 118 (1986). The State Supreme Court answered that question in the negative. Hill v. Department of Corrections, 513 So.2d 129 (1987),......
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Hill v. Department of Corrections, State of Fla.
...OVERTON, Justice. This is a petition to review a decision of the Third District Court of Appeal reported as Department of Corrections v. Hill, 490 So.2d 118 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). The district court certified the following question as one of great public Has the State of Florida, pursuant to s......