Moore v. Bailey

• Decision Date: 10 December 1968
• Docket Number: No. 53182,53182
• Citation: 163 N.W.2d 435
• Parties: E. K. MOORE, Appellant, v. Guy La Roy BAILEY, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 435

163 N.W.2d 435

E. K. MOORE, Appellant, v. Guy La Roy BAILEY, Appellee.

No. 53182.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 10, 1968.

Virgil Moore, Des Moines, for appellant.

Roy W. Meadows, Des Moines, for appellee.

LeGRAND, Justice.

On December 10, 1965, plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident which occurred near the intersection of East 14th Street and Euclid Avenue in the city of Des Moines. He suffered back and neck injuries described by his attending physician as traumatic myositis of the cervical and dorsal spine.

Trial of the case resulted in a verdict of $3000.00 for plaintiff. He appeals, asking that a new trial be granted on the ground of inadequacy of damages. We affirm.

This appeal does not involve any questions of liability, instructions, or rulings of the trial court. It raises only the one question of whether the jury abused its discretion by returning a verdict for $3000.00 under the evidence shown by the record. We therefore limit our references to the facts relating to plaintiff's injuries and the medical testimony describing them.

Our task is not to determine whether a higher verdict would have been justified under the evidence, but whether the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to grant a new trial because of inadequacy of the award actually made.

The principles involved are well established and easy to state. However, their application to particular facts is more difficult. It is well settled the trial court has wide, but not unlimited, discretion in ruling on a motion for new trial. Rules of Civil Procedure, 344(f)(3); Lantz v. Cook, 256 Iowa 409, 413, 127 N.W.2d 675, 677. Ordinarily the jury should be allowed to settle disputed fact questions, but that, too, is a limited power and one which must be exercised within the framework of the evidence in any particular case. Webster v. City of Colfax, 250 Iowa 181, 185, 93 N.W.2d 91, 93 and citations; Lantz v. Cook, supra. A verdict should not be set aside as either too large or too small simply because the reviewing court would have reached a different conclusion. The court always has inherent power to set aside a verdict which fails to do substantial justice between the parties. Waterloo Savings Bank v. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad, 244 Iowa 1364, 1376, 60 N.W.2d 572, 579; Webster v. City of Colfax, supra.

To all of these we may add another rule which says precedents in this field are of little value. Each case must be decided by relating its own unique circumstances to the general principles above announced. Ferris v. Riley, 251 Iowa 400, 412, 101 N.W.2d 176, 183; Waterloo Savings Bank v. Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad, 244 Iowa 1364, 1376, 60 N.W.2d 572, 579.

Plaintiff cites a number of cases in which new trials have been awarded, either by the trial court or by us, for inadequacy of damages. In virtually all of these the evidence was uncontroverted and the jury's disregard of it was a failure to do substantial justice, Tathwell v. City of Cedar Rapids, 122 Iowa 50, 58, 97 N.W. 96, 98; Feldhahn v. Van DeVenter, 253 Iowa 1194, 1196, 115 N.W.2d 862, 864; or there was a failure to award any amount above the special damages when these were not contested, DeMoss v. Brown Cab Co., 218 Iowa 77, 78, 254 N.W. 17, 18; or the award was only nominal in the face of uncontroverted testimony as to damages, Strever v. Woodard, 160 Iowa 332, 338, 141 N.W. 931, 933, 46 L.R.A.,N.S., 644 or the undisputed evidence showed inability to work, permanent disability and great pain and suffering, which the jury disregarded. Webster v. City of Colfax, supra.

These cases are interesting as following the general rules above mentioned, but they are of little help in reaching a proper conclusion under the facts before us. Plaintiff called two doctors as his witnesses, Dr. A. W. Dennis, an osteopathic surgeon, and Dr. Charles Hintz, a psychiatrist. Their testimony was such that it would easily have supported a larger verdict than the one rendered. Dr. Dennis n particular testified to plaintiff's continuing than the one rendered. Dr. Dennis in particular prescribing mild sedation at the time of trial. He estimated future medical expense; he described plaintiff's inability to sleep and to carry on many of his usual day-to-day activities; he predicted plaintiff would continue to have trouble, and diagnosed his condition as 'chronic hypertrophic arthritis...