Jones v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
| Decision Date | 24 April 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 87-1865,WAL-MART,87-1865 |
| Citation | 870 F.2d 982 |
| Parties | Michael JONES and Harold Jones, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.STORES, INC., and Shinn Fu of America, Inc., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Michol O'Connor, Houston, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Jack O. Tidwell, Odessa, Tex., for defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before GEE, SNEED * and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
Appellants, father and son, challenge the district court's denial of their motion for a new trial in their products' liability suit involving defective jacks which collapsed while raising a trailer. The jury in this diversity case awarded medical damages below the stipulated amount, no damages in several categories for Michael Jones, the son, and no damages at all for Harold Jones, the father, (except $200 for "medical expenses"). The Joneses argue that each of these different jury findings is against the great weight of the evidence and necessitates a new trial. We find the stipulated medical damages were correctly enforced by the trial judge, but that the jury's verdict must be reversed for failure to award all the damages to which Michael Jones and his father, Harold Jones, were entitled under the clear weight of the evidence. We affirm in part and reverse in part, remanding for a new trial on the issue of damages.
Michael Jones used two jacks, manufactured by Shinn Fu and sold by Wal-Mart, the two appellees, to raise his mobile home in order to repair its foundation. While he was under the mobile home, the support collapsed and Michael's right hip was broken when the mobile home fell. Harold Jones, was helping his son when the mobile home collapsed. The falling mobile home hit Harold's head, but the major injury was a crushed foot, which was pierced and impaled with screws and trapped so that he could not move.
The jury found liability for a defective product and awarded damages to Michael Jones as follows:
A. Past physical pain $ 5,000
B. Future physical pain 25,000
C. Past mental anguish 5,000
D. Future mental anguish None
E. Past medical expenses 4,500
F. Future medical expenses 30,000
G. Physical impairment in the past 5,000
H. Physical impairment that, in reasonable probability, Plaintiff 30,000
will suffer in the future
I. Physical disfigurement in the past None
J. Physical disfigurement that, in reasonable probability, plaintiff None
will suffer in the future
K. Loss of earnings in the past 1,500
L. Loss of earning capacity in the future None
The jury found no damages at all for Harold Jones as to all his claims, those based upon past physical pain, future physical pain, past mental anguish, future mental anguish, and physical impairment in the past. The jury did add a category which it called "Medical Expense" for which it awarded $200.
The jury's total award to Michael Jones was $106,000. The trial court, without noting the reason for doing so, stated that it was of the opinion that Michael Jones should receive $114,000 in damages. While it is not clear from the judgment why the $8,000 was added, both the Joneses and Wal-Mart agree that the judge added the $8,000 to the damages to raise past medical expenses from $4,500 to $12,500.
The jury also assessed percentages of responsibility for causation and determined that Michael and Harold each were found to be 32% responsible for causing the accident, while the defective jacks were 36% responsible. The court, however, assessed all damages against Shinn Fu and Wal-Mart. 1
After judgment the Joneses moved for a new trial. The motion was denied. They now appeal this denial on three grounds. They contend that the jury (1) failed to return the full amount of medical damages stipulated, (2) failed to award Michael Jones damages in three categories where damage was shown, and (3) failed to award Harold Jones any damages (except medical) even though injury and damage was shown. We examine each of these grounds of appeal in order.
Michael Jones provided undisputed evidence at trial that his past medical expenses were $12,500. While that figure is mentioned nowhere in the pretrial order, both parties agree that $12,500 was the stipulated amount of past medical expenses. Michael Jones now argues that the addition by the trial judge of $8000 to the total damages was an additur, which is prohibited under the Seventh Amendment, at least where the amount of damages in is dispute. Dimick v. Schiedt, 293 U.S. 474, 55 S.Ct. 296, 79 L.Ed. 603 (1935); Hawkes v. Ayers, 537 F.2d 836, 837 (5th Cir.1976); Silverman v. Travelers Insurance Co., 277 F.2d 257, 264 (5th Cir.1960). If the trial judge finds the damages assessed inadequate as a matter of law, then the plaintiff deserves a new jury trial. An additur is a constitutionally inadequate substitute because it would require the plaintiff to "forego his constitutional right to the verdict of a jury and accept 'an assessment partly made by a jury which has acted improperly, and partly by a tribunal which has no power to assess.' " 11 C. Wright and A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure 2816 (1973), quoting Dimick v. Schiedt, 293 U.S. at 486-487, 55 S.Ct. at 301. When the plaintiff stipulates the amount of his damages however, as here, he waives his right to a jury verdict regarding the amount. Hence, Michael Jones' argument that the trial court's action was an additur requiring a new trial is not well founded.
Both parties agree that Michael Jones' past medical expenses were stipulated. Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows for such pretrial stipulations, which are binding unless modified, United States v. Tampa Bay Garden Apartments, Inc., 294 F.2d 598, 606 (5th Cir.1961), and should be strictly enforced. City of Lakeland, Florida v. Union Oil Co. of California, 352 F.Supp. 758, 768 (M.D.Fla.1973). Because of the stipulation, the issue of past medical expenses should never have gone to the jury. The jury should merely have considered the issue of liability for the agreed medical expenses. After the jury returned its verdict, however, the trial court corrected the submission to the jury and raised the damages to the stipulated amount. Because this was an issue over which the jury had no control, it was within the trial court's power to ignore the jury finding and enforce the stipulation.
Once liability was determined, Michael Jones was entitled to the stipulated damages as a matter of law. It would be a useless formality to grant a new trial on this issue since the trial court would be required to grant summary judgment for the stipulated amount. See Taylor v. Green, 868 F.2d 162, 165 (5th Cir.1989). Trial courts must be able to enforce stipulations; this court's enforcement of the stipulated past medical expenses was not reversible error.
The Joneses requested a new trial pursuant to Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, claiming that the jury's award of damages for both Michael and Harold went against the great weight of the evidence. Their motion was denied. A federal trial court may in its discretion set aside a jury verdict and order a new trial if the amount of the verdict is excessive or inadequate. Lucas v. American Manufacturing Co., 630 F.2d 291, 293 (5th Cir.1980). When a new trial is requested on such evidentiary grounds, the motion should not be granted unless the verdict is against the great, not merely the preponderance, of the evidence. Conway v. Chemical Leaman Tank Lines, Inc., 610 F.2d 360, 362-63 (5th Cir.1980); Herrmann v. Nicor Marine Co., Inc., 664 F.Supp. 241, 245 (E.D.La.1985).
A decision denying a motion for a new trial can be overturned only in response to a finding of abuse of discretion. Franks v. Associated Air Center, Inc., 663 F.2d 583, 586 (5th Cir.1981); Conway, 610 F.2d at 362-63. Our standard of review is somewhat narrower when a new trial is denied, and somewhat broader when a new trial is granted. Franks, 663 F.2d at 586; Evers v. Equifax, Inc., 650 F.2d 793, 796-97 (5th Cir. Unit B, July, 1981). "However, it is the duty of this Court when the evidence furnishes no sound basis for the verdict to reverse a judgment for error of law when the trial court has refused to set the verdict aside." McKinzie v. Fleming, 588 F.2d 165, 166 (5th Cir.1979).
Because this is a diversity case, state law determines the type of evidence that must be produced to support a verdict but "the sufficiency or the insufficiency of the evidence in relation to the verdict is indisputably governed by a federal standard." McCandless v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 779 F.2d 220, 223 (5th Cir.1985), vacated on other grounds, 798 F.2d 163, 164 (5th Cir.1986). 2
The controlling federal standard of review is that all the evidence must be viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict, and the verdict must be affirmed unless the evidence points "so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the court believes that reasonable men could not arrive at a contrary [conclusion]." Whatley v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 861 F.2d 837, 839 (5th Cir.1988), quoting Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir.1969).
A final, important underlying principle of Texas law is that while the amount of damages is largely within a jury's discretion, the jury...
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