Ex parte Weyerhaeuser Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 22 November 1996
• Citation: 702 So.2d 1227
• Parties: Ex parte WEYERHAEUSER COMPANY, INC., and Thomas Webb. (In re Willia Dean Lawrence SEWELL, as Trustee of the Bessie Maddox Lawrence Trust v. Thomas WEBB and Weyerhaeuser Company). 1950022.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 1227

702 So.2d 1227

Ex parte WEYERHAEUSER COMPANY, INC., and Thomas Webb (In re Willia Dean Lawrence SEWELL, as Trustee of the Bessie Maddox Lawrence Trust v. Thomas WEBB and Weyerhaeuser Company).

1950022.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

Nov. 22, 1996.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 21, 1997.

John A. Owens of Owens & Carver, Tuscaloosa; and Sandra C. Guin of Phelps, Jenkins, Gibson & Fowler, Tuscaloosa, for petitioners.

Robert F. Prince and Silas G. Cross, Jr., of Prince, Poole & Cross, P.C., Tuscaloosa, for respondent.

HOOPER, Chief Justice.

On November 6, 1991, Willia Dean Lawrence Sewell sued Thomas Webb and the Weyerhaeuser Company, Inc., alleging that Webb and Weyerhaeuser had unlawfully entered 37 acres of land and cut down or otherwise destroyed trees, saplings, seedlings, shrubs, and other plant life. Sewell sought $100,000 in compensatory damages, claiming that Webb and Weyerhaeuser's trespass had damaged the land. Sewell also sought $500,000 in punitive damages, claiming that the defendants' conduct had been willful, wanton, oppressive, or reckless.

At the close of the evidence, the trial court directed a verdict in favor of Sewell. The jury awarded Sewell $35,000 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages. Sewell filed a post-trial motion for a new trial and additur. After conducting a hearing, the trial court denied the plaintiff's motion.

Sewell appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals, raising two issues: (1) Whether the trial court abused its discretion and thereby erred in denying her challenges for cause as to three prospective jurors; and (2) Whether the trial court abused its discretion and erred to reversal in failing to set aside the jury's punitive damages verdict and in not granting a new trial. The Court of Civil Appeals held that the trial court had abused its discretion by not granting Sewell's motions to strike the three jurors for cause. Sewell v. Webb, 702 So.2d 1222 (Ala.Civ.App.1995). We granted the defendants' petition for certiorari review.

Before this Court can address the issue of the challenged jurors, it must consider a preliminary question of procedure. Should the Court of Civil Appeals have addressed this issue at all? Sewell, the plaintiff, prevailed in the trial court; it was she who on appeal raised the issue of the challenged jurors. Alabama caselaw is clear that a party who prevailed in the trial court can appeal only on the issue of adequacy of damages awarded. DeBardeleben v. Tynes, 290 Ala. 263, 276 So.2d 126 (1973); Beatty v. McMillan, 226 Ala. 405, 147 So. 180 (1933); Nichols v. Perryman, 615 So.2d 636 (Ala.Civ.App.1992); Cleveland v. Gilbert, 473 So.2d 1075 (Ala.Civ.App.1985). We, therefore, reverse the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals.

In Nichols, supra, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, who then moved for a new trial based an alleged inadequacy of the damages award. The motion was denied. On appeal, the plaintiff raised three issues--one relating to the claimed inadequacy of the compensatory damages; one relating to evidence; and one relating to the constitutionality of the law prohibiting additur. The Court of Civil Appeals held that because the plaintiff had prevailed in the trial court, the only issue that could be considered on appeal was the adequacy of the compensatory damages. Nichols, 615 So.2d at 637.

Sewell prevailed in the trial court. Therefore, the issue whether the trial court erred in failing to strike the three jurors for cause was improperly considered by the Court of Civil Appeals. Sewell also moved for a new trial on the basis that the jury's punitive damages award of $10,000 was against the weight of the evidence. Sewell claims the defendants acted wantonly and/or willfully, and, therefore, that the punitive damages award should be higher. After a hearing on the motion for a new trial, the trial judge denied her motion. On appeal, Sewell claimed the case should be remanded for a hearing pursuant to Hammond v. City of Gadsden, 493 So.2d 1374 (Ala.1986), because the trial court failed to set forth in the record its reasons for denying her motion for a new trial. The Court of Civil Appeals stated that if it were not reversing the...