Hook v. B.C. Inv., Inc.
| Decision Date | 18 April 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 19926,19926 |
| Citation | 872 P.2d 716,125 Idaho 453 |
| Parties | Emma Lou HOOK and Wayne D. Hook, wife and husband, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. B.C. INVESTMENT, INC., an Idaho corporation, d/b/a Harold's Foods, Defendant-Appellant. North Idaho, October 1993 Term |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Beard, St. Clair, Peterson, Sullivan & Barber, Idaho Falls, for appellant. John G. St. Clair argued.
Cooke, LaManna, Smith & Cogswell, Priest River, for respondents. Nicholas M. LaManna argued.
This is an appeal by B.C. Investment, Inc. (BCI) of the district court's granting of a new trial for Emma Lou Hook on the issue of damages in a personal injury action. After a jury trial in which BCI was found liable for Hook's injury and limited damages were awarded to Hook, the district court ordered a new trial on the issue of damages, pursuant to I.R.C.P. 59(a)(7), because it determined that there had been a significant typographical error in the jury instructions. We conclude that the district court erred in granting a new trial.
Emma Lou Hook sustained personal injuries when she slipped and fell on a wet floor in Harold's Foods (a supermarket owned by B.C. Investment, Inc.) in Sandpoint, Idaho, on April 2, 1988. Both parties agree that in this fall Hook sprained a ligament in her right knee. Hook eventually had surgery on her knee which resulted in severe complications and was only partially successful. The parties disagree on whether Hook's subsequent difficulties with her knee were primarily caused by this injury or by another injury she sustained several months later when the sprain had nearly healed, and by aggravation to a pre-existing arthritic condition.
Comparative fault was the issue at the trial in the district court. The jury found BCI ninety percent liable for Hook's problems but it awarded Hook only limited damages, $13,000, instead of the much larger sum she sought. The court entered judgment on the jury's verdict for $11,700, which reduced the $13,000 by the ten percent reflecting Hook's comparative negligence pursuant to I.C. § 6-801.
Hook moved for a new trial, judgment n.o.v., and additur. Hook's claim of error was based on Jury Instruction No. 25 in which the word "plaintiff" was inadvertently substituted for "defendant." Instruction No. 25 reads:
You are to apportion, if possible, between the condition, pain, or disability prior to this occurrence and the condition, pain, or disability caused by this occurrence [and] assess liability accordingly. If no apportionment can reasonably be made by you, then the plaintiff is liable for the entire damage.
(Emphasis added.)
At the conclusion of oral argument on Hook's motions, Judge Michaud ordered a new trial on the issue of damages only, solely on the basis of the error in Instruction No. 25. Judge Michaud denied Hook's other motions. BCI appealed from that order.
This Court generally gives a trial court wide discretion on whether to grant a new trial. Luther v. Howland, 101 Idaho 373, 613 P.2d 666 (1980). However, where a new trial is granted because of a flawed jury instruction, this is an issue of law over which this Court exercises free review. Grimes v. Green, 113 Idaho 519, 746 P.2d 978 (1987). We have repeatedly held that where a mistake in a jury instruction was irrelevant, no new trial is required. See e.g. Sherwood v. Carter, 119 Idaho 246, 805 P.2d 452 (1991).
We find that the flaw in Instruction 25, at issue in this case, was harmless error because the law was correctly stated in Instructions No. 26 and 28. As we explained in Sherwood:
On appeal, the review of jury instructions is generally limited to a determination of whether the instructions, when considered as a whole and not individually, fairly and adequately present the issues and state the applicable law [citations omitted]. If the instructions fairly and adequately present the issues and state the law, then no reversible error is committed [citations omitted].
119 Idaho at 256, 805 P.2d at 462. Similarly, "[w]here, considering the instructions in connection with one another and without straining the language, the charge harmonizes as a whole and fairly and accurately states the law, the [verdict] should not be disturbed." Luzar v. Western Sur. Co., 107 Idaho 693, 698, 692 P.2d 337, 342 (1984). The district court in two separate instructions, Nos. 26 and 28, clearly told the jury that BCI was liable for all of Hook's injuries if the jury could not apportion between the pre-existing injuries and new ones caused by the accident.
Sherwood also states that "the giving of an erroneous instruction...
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