Gumbs v. Pueblo Intern., Inc.

• Decision Date: 17 July 1987
• Docket Number: Nos. 86-3047,86-3285,s. 86-3047
• Citation: 823 F.2d 768
• Parties: Celia GUMBS and James Gumbs v. PUEBLO INTERNATIONAL, INC. d/b/a Pueblo Supermarkets. Appeal of PUEBLO INTERNATIONAL, INC.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 768

823 F.2d 768

Celia GUMBS and James Gumbs v. PUEBLO INTERNATIONAL, INC. d/b/a Pueblo Supermarkets Appeal of PUEBLO INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Nos. 86-3047, 86-3285.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued April 27, 1987.

Decided July 17, 1987.

Wilfredo A. Geigel (argued), Frederick Owen Ferrand, Christiansted, St. Croix, V.I., for appellant.

Ethel Carr Hunter Mitchell (argued), St. Thomas, V.I., for appellees.

Before SEITZ, HIGGINBOTHAM, and ROSENN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the unfortunately increasingly familiar scenario in the Virgin Islands of an enormous jury award apparently far in excess of the injuries suffered by the plaintiff. In this action for damages for injuries suffered by the plaintiff when she slipped on spilled oil in the defendant's supermarket, the district court denied the defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but, finding the jury's award shocking to the judicial conscience, ordered a remittitur. The defendant now appeals from the judgment both with respect to liability, based on the district court's failure to give a requested jury instruction and on an asserted impropriety in the plaintiffs' counsel's closing argument, and with respect to the amount of the reduced award. Because we find no reversible error respecting the determination of liability, we will affirm that portion of the district court's opinion. As we find the award even as remitted far beyond the outermost limits of a reasonable verdict, however, we will return the case to the district court for a new trial on the amount of damages unless the plaintiff elects to file a remittitur as herein directed.

I.

A bottle of cooking oil broke in a checkout lane at a supermarket owned by defendant Pueblo International, Inc. (Pueblo). A janitor spread cornmeal over the oil, but no one blocked off the lane. Within ten minutes, Celia Gumbs, a shopper, slipped on the oil and fell, spreadeagled, to the floor, and fell again repeatedly trying to get up.

Gumbs felt immediate pain, which has continued to be present, and which will bother her intermittently for the rest of her life. She incurred medical expenses, but proved no future expenses, although surgery may some day be necessary. Gumbs was not hospitalized nor did she miss even a day of work. Despite her injury, she climbed twenty-five steps to her office twice every working day.

Gumbs testified that after the fall, she found sexual relations too painful for her, and she had difficulty performing household chores, which then had to be assumed by her husband, James Gumbs. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gumbs testified their eventual separation was caused by these disruptions in a previously happy marriage, that she is no longer able to engage in the outdoor activities and dancing she once enjoyed, and she has difficulty playing with her children and taking them places.

At trial, Doctor Sylvia Payne, who had treated Gumbs on several occasions testified that as a result of the accident she had sprained her coccyx, experienced abdominal and vaginal pain, had a back spasm, and may require surgery at some point. She also testified that medication prescribed for the back pain had caused Gumbs to develop an ulcerated stomach. Other expert testimony revealed preexisting or unrelated conditions of scoliosis, osteoarthritis, obesity, and an elevated uric acid level, but no evidence that these had caused any discomfort before the accident. There was conflicting evidence of two herniated discs.

The jury awarded Gumbs $900,000 for past and future pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. Her medical expenses were also included, but represented only an insignificant part of the award. No award was permitted for economic losses or future medical expenses. The jury also awarded James Gumbs $10,000 for loss of consortium.

Pueblo immediately moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or alternatively for a new trial. The district court summarily rejected Pueblo's arguments regarding liability as meritless, but agreed that the jury's award was so unreasonable as to require remittitur. The court stated:

[T]he injuries to Mrs. Gumbs ... are not to be denigrated. They ... were worthy of a sizable jury award. However, the amount of $900,000 is shocking to the conscience of this Court. It can rightly be said that ultimately a judge's decision on whether he or she is "shocked" by the size of an award depends on personal predilection, and one judge's "shock" level may be substantially higher than another's. Be that as it may, we cannot let this verdict stand.

But we cannot reduce it by remittitur to what we would have given, because that is not the applicable law governing such a situation. Rather, we can only require reduction to a level that is no longer shocking, which will still be substantial in size. That level is $575,000.

Gumbs v. Pueblo Int'l, Inc., No. 1983-95, mem. op. at 5 (D.V.I. Dec. 12, 1985). The court ordered Gumbs to remit that portion of the award over $575,000 or to face a new trial. She agreed to the remittitur. The court permitted James Gumbs' award to stand.

II.

Liability

A. Pueblo's Requested Jury Instruction

Trial courts have broad discretion regarding jury instructions. This court will not reverse a district court's decision to give or refuse jury instructions unless there has been an abuse of that discretion. United States v. Fischbach and Moore, Inc., 750 F.2d 1183, 1195 (3d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1029, 105 S.Ct. 1397, 84 L.Ed.2d 785 (1985).

Pueblo requested a jury instruction regarding the relationship between the length of time a substance is on the floor and negligence by the possessor of land as discussed in David v. Pueblo Supermarket, 740 F.2d 230 (3d Cir.1984). The district court declined to give the instruction, explaining that in David the issue was whether the defendant had had constructive notice of the dangerous condition, whereas in the present case Pueblo had conceded that it had had actual notice of the spilled oil. The David court had expressly stated that it considered the question of time "[a]bsent direct testimony proving actual notice." 740 F.2d at 234, 236.

Pueblo asks us to extend David to address a related issue of reasonable response time. The duty of a possessor of land to take reasonable care to remedy or warn of dangerous conditions, see Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 343(c) (1966), argues Pueblo, inherently gives the possessor of land a reasonable time to respond to the condition before it can be negligent. Some jurisdictions have apparently taken this position. In Gaidymowicz v. Winn-Dixie Stores, 371 So.2d 212 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1979), the court held that one minute of actual notice was insufficient opportunity to correct a spill in the supermarket, and therefore there was no negligence. In Seganish v. District of Columbia Safeway Stores, Inc., 406 F.2d 653 (D.C.Cir.1968), the court said that "negligence can be found in relation to a customer-created hazard only if it is known, or because of its duration it should have been discovered, in time to afford a fair opportunity to remove it." Id. at 656 (footnote omitted). See also All v. Smith's Management Corp., 109 Idaho 479, 708 P.2d 884, 886 (1985); Buttrey Food Stores Div. v. Coulson, 620 P.2d 549, 553 (Wyo.1980); Jasko v. F.W. Woolworth Co., 177 Colo. 418, 494 P.2d 839, 840 (1972).

It seems, however, that even if David were thus extended, the jury still properly could have found Pueblo negligent. It is not unreasonable to find that ten minutes is enough time to clean up this type of spill, or at least to close off the aisle until it was cleaned up. We therefore decline to formulate a general rule respecting reasonable response time in every situation, and we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to give Pueblo's requested instruction.

B. Reference to Ad Damnum Clause in Closing Argument

Prior to closing arguments, in a side bar discussion, Pueblo asked the court to prohibit references in closing arguments to the specific lump sum damages sought. Judge O'Brien refused, noting that the practice in the Virgin Islands was to allow such references, but adding that he would, as he customarily did, require Gumbs to make any such reference in the opening part of the argument, to allow rebuttal by Pueblo. Counsel for Gumbs informed the jury that plaintiff was asking for the sum of $3 million in damages.

Pueblo admits that the majority of jurisdictions do permit references to ad damnum clauses in closing arguments. The Virgin Islands has no specific rule, but has allowed this troublesome practice by custom. This circuit has not decided the question, specifically reserving it in Murray v. Fairbanks Morse, 610 F.2d 149, 152 (3d Cir.1979), where the defense counsel had failed to object to the reference. ¹

Pennsylvania and New Jersey both take the minority position. See Murray v. Fairbanks Morse, supra at 152 n. 5; Botta v. Brenner, 26 N.J. 82, 138 A.2d 713 (1958); Joyce v. Smith, 269 Pa. 439, 112 A. 549 (1921). This position is based on the theory that ad damnum clauses tend to be too exaggerated to be useful guides for juries and are aimed to substitute prejudice for reason and passion for an intelligent analysis of the evidence. Furthermore, they are confusing to the general public as well. Pueblo argues that Virgin Islands jurors similarly would be confused. Pueblo contends that such a rule as Pennsylvania and New Jersey have adopted can help control the exorbitant awards currently common, and we agree. Even where references are not permitted, however, prejudice is not presumed, and reversal is not automatic. See Annotation, Propriety and Prejudicial Effect of Reference by Plaintiff's Counsel, In Jury Trial of Personal Injuries or Death Action, to Amount Claimed or Expected by His Client, 14 A.L.R.3d 541, 544 (1967). An instruction...