Meyer v. Ricklick
Decision Date | 29 December 1965 |
Docket Number | No. 7648-PR,7648-PR |
Citation | 409 P.2d 280,99 Ariz. 355 |
Parties | Ralph L. MEYER and Peggy Ellen Meyer, husband and wife, Appellants, v. Ronald J. RICKLICK and Ray J. Ricklick, Appellees. |
Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
McKesson, Renaud & Cook, Phoenix, for appellants.
Stockton & Aldrich, Phoenix, for appellees.
This cause is before us on a petition to review the decision of the Court of Appeals which reversed a judgment of the Superior Court and granted a new trial. Meyer v. Ricklick, Ariz.App., 405 P.2d 285.
This case arose out of an automobile accident in which Peggy E. Meyer, hereinafter referred to as plaintiff, sustained personal injuries. She brought suit resulting in a verdict and judgment in her favor for five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500) which she appeals as being inadequate.
At trial plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove $5,497.45 in special medical damages. Included in this amount was the bill of Dr. Daniel T. Fridena, Jr., for $3,546.00 which had not been paid. Although neither party introduced evidence regarding reasonableness of these charges Dr. Fridena and plaintiff testified fully as to the treatment rendered and the length of such. Other medical expenses where testified to by plaintiff.
In her complaint plaintiff alleged, and on direct examination testifed she earned $500 per month as an average over the six months immediately preceding the accident, and thereafter was unable to continue in such employment due to her injuries. Considerable doubt was placed on this allegation by the evidence introduced concerning her earnings prior to the accident, wherein her employer's records reveraled that the commissions she earned from August 1957, through January 1958, amounted to only $2,091.73, and for the entire year of 1957 only $2,448.65. The determination of her loss of earnings due to the injury was left to the jury under proper instructions.
In addition to uncertainty of her loss of earnings the evidence was conflicting regarding the proximate cause of her disabilty and the extent thereof. It was brought out by the evidence that she had a congenital deformity of the spine and in 1951 was involved in another automobile accident, after which she received treatments from an osteopathic physician.
In Carr v. Florian, 43 Ariz. 149, 29 P.2d 728, and alleged inadequate verdict was upheld with an apt quotation regarding the role of the appellate tribunal in cases of this nature:
." (43 Ariz. at 155, 29 P.2d at 730.)
We note that Ocana v. Ray Consolidated Copper Co., 22 Ariz. 112, at 114, 194 P. 959, contains some misleading language regarding the viewing of the evidence by the appellate court. 1 Recent decisions of this Court have clarified the rule without commenting on the language of Ocana. E. g., Stallcup v. Coscarart, 79 Ariz. 42, 282 P.2d 791, wherein it is stated:
79 Ariz. at 45, 282 P.2d at 793. (Emphasis added)
See also, Nalbandian v. Bryan Jackson Pumps, Inc., 97 Ariz. 280, 399 P.2d 681, and Truck Insurance Exchange v. Hale, 95 Ariz. 76, 386 P.2d 846.
The size of a verdict in a personal injury action is not alone...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Desert Palm Surgical Grp., P. L.C. v. Petta
...Ariz. 1, 6, ¶ 21, 31 P.3d 114, 119 (2001) ; Acheson v. Shafter, 107 Ariz. 576, 579, 490 P.2d 832, 835 (1971) ; Meyer v. Ricklick, 99 Ariz. 355, 357, 409 P.2d 280, 281 (1965) ; Young Candy & Tobacco Co. v. Montoya, 91 Ariz. 363, 370, 372 P.2d 703, 707 (1962) ; Sheppard v. Crow–Barker–Paul No......
-
Desert Palm Surgical Grp., P. L.C. v. Petta
...201 Ariz. 1, 6, ¶ 21, 31 P.3d 114, 119 (2001); Acheson v. Shafter, 107 Ariz. 576, 579, 490 P.2d 832, 835 (1971); Meyer v. Ricklick, 99 Ariz. 355, 357, 409 P.2d 280, 281 (1965); Young Candy & Tobacco Co. v. Montoya, 91 Ariz. 363, 370, 372 P.2d 703, 707 (1962); Sheppard v. Crow–Barker–Paul No......
-
Starkins v. Bateman, 1
...(1966). The size of the verdict alone is insufficient evidence of prejudice and passion on the part of a jury. Meyer v. Ricklick, 99 Ariz. 355, 357, 409 P.2d 280, 281 (1965). The test as to whether the jury's verdict is the result of passion and prejudice is whether the result reached in da......
-
Anderson v. Nissei ASB Mach. Co., Ltd.
...and whether the plaintiff suffered damages. See Dietz v. Waller, 141 Ariz. 107, 111, 685 P.2d 744, 748 (1984); Meyer v. Ricklick, 99 Ariz. 355, 357, 409 P.2d 280, 282 (1965). The jury also decides whether the product proximately caused the plaintiff's injuries, unless the facts are undisput......